Import Questions

[Esky the husky]

Seeing as we're talking quarantine today, prompts me to ask the questions I've been wondering for a while.

Wondering if those folks experienced with importing could give me a run down of approximate costs of importing.

The hypothetical dog is a medium breed, about 22-24 inches being bought in from the USA.

So costing wise what do I have to consider.

Put the purchase price at $1000 say

Cost of quarantine in Aus at present around $1600-$1700

Flights I've got no idea?

And the rest?

I'm sure I'll have more questions but this is a start

( I have done a search but I haven't found a breakdown of costs. Trying to work out whether my dream is acheivable or not ;) )

[Parkeyre]

Esky; would you be looking at a puppy or an adult? I think the weight plays a part in the costs as well.

Will watch this thread with interest!

[Esky the husky]

Still undecided on that Parkeyre, by the time a puppy got through the whole process of coming from the US it would be arounf the 10 month mark, so almost grown up anyway.

I guess the puppy would have boarding costs attached to be considered where an adult for sale may not.

[smisch]

I'd be curious about this too as I've always said if I EVER got another BC it'd be a USA kid lol they breed amazing sporting border collies well in my eyes.. Either that or we'd bring in a lowchen for the lineage lol

[Baileys mum]

Will be looking at this thread with interest too...would love to import from the US sometime in the future aswell. :)

[oakway]

Still undecided on that Parkeyre, by the time a puppy got through the whole process of coming from the US it would be arounf the 10 month mark, so almost grown up anyway.

I guess the puppy would have boarding costs attached to be considered where an adult for sale may not.

Always remember that the dog must be maintained from the first blood draw till the last one is done (Rabies) and that is quite a bit of time and will not matter if the purchase is a pup or adult.

[Esky the husky]

:) D'oh good point Oakway

[jacobite]

In my experience in importing from the UK the airlines go the size of the crate the has have so the older the dog the more expensive it becomes, I would think this would be the same from the USA .

[tashnchief]

Weight and crate size/dimensions play an important factor in shipping costs.

To give you a guideline a friend is bringing in a large breed dog from the USA, estimated weight of dog at 58-60kg ( so XL crate) the cheapest quote has come in at $8 500. (thats quotes from multiple Aust & US companies for comparison)

On top of shipping, Q, purchase price there will also be costs for bloodwork, paperwork, vet fees etc estimation somewhere between $500-$1000

Boarding costs really depend on who and where......some have been fortunate that breeders run the pup on for next to nothing whilst like myself and others run-on/boarding costs can run into a few thousand.

Having a large breed we always estimate importation costs from start to finish in the ballpark of $15 000.

[Dxenion]

Costs include:

Dog

Import permit

Import vaccinations

Boarding in US if required

Export agent fees (if using one)

Import agent fees (if using one)

Crate for flight

Flight

Australian quarantine

Quarantine playtime visitor service (if desired)

Onforward domestic flight if required

Edited July 29, 2012 by Dxenion

[Ptolomy]

Can't help you from the US - but all up it cost me $5000 to bring in a 2 1/2 year old bitch - weight 16kg (including blood tests, vet bill, quarantine and flights) from Norway - that doesn't include the cost of the dog.

[wayrod]

As for timeline for travel for pups.

(1) The puppy must be 16 weeks old for the Rabies Vaccination

(2) The puppy must wait 14-30 days after the Rabies for the Titre testing

(3) Under AQIS regulations the soonest a puppy can travel is 60 days after the blood draw date for the titre testing

so you are looking at 6 months of age before travel as a minimum age.

.....and quarantine now has to be paid for at time of booking space, no more time or progress payments.

Edited August 1, 2012 by wayrod

[Esky the husky]

Thanks Wayrod, I thought it was a longer wait with the rabies vacc.

Ptolomy did you have to pay boarding or anything on top of the $5000 + purchase price?

[Bjelkier]

I don't know about America but it cost us close to $10,000 for a Samoyed from Poland.

However we had a major issues with the rabies vacc and blood test and had to get it done twice, not to mention issues with getting the dog out from Poland and having to drive him to Prague and paying for translators to go over the paperwork etc.

We also paid for show entries for him (which aren't cheap in Europe) while he was over there.

Our breeder was kind enough to not charge boarding.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Bjelkier

[espinay2]

Make sure you have about $10,000 put aside. Should about cover it.

[Ptolomy]

Ptolomy did you have to pay boarding or anything on top of the $5000 + purchase price?

No boarding fees - the girl travelled across Norway from her breeders home and stayed with my other dogs breeder for 3 weeks before travelling to Perth, so I was very lucky. Mind you I didn't have a lot of change out of $10000 once you added on the cost of the dog.

Dogs travelling from Norway also don't need rabies vaccinations - so I didn't have to worry about that.

[espinay2]

Also as a general rule - factor in more for the purchase price of the dog than 'average' for the type of dog you are getting if you are doing import from overseas.

Whenever the words export/import are mentioned the price of the dog generally will be higher than if you were a person buying a dog in that country.

(not saying that is either right or wrong - just a common fact to consider in your calculations)

Edited July 30, 2012 by espinay2

[armahani]

(3) Under AQIS regulations the soonest a puppy can travel is 60 days after the blood draw date for the titre testing

so you are looking at 6 months of age before travel as a minimum age.

Sure ... if you want to leave them in quarantine for three months :laugh: . I can't imagine why anyone would do this!

Esky, standard currently is 150 days after RNATT blood draw for travel to have the minimum 30 days quarantine (although as you would be aware that's under review so may change by the time you come around to it). It's basically 180 days from time of blood draw to time of release from quarantine, so currently if you want less time before they travel, you pay for it with more time in quarantine.

I've always budgeted between $6000 to $10,000 - but it's more toward the higher end these days.

[Esky the husky]

I'd want the absolute least time possible in quarantine ( don't see why you would want them there any longer)

Armahani is that budget including the purchase price of the dog as well?

I was expecting to need around 10k for everything. *gulp* :laugh:

Edited July 30, 2012 by Esky the husky

[zeebie]

Yep $10 -$15K should cover depending on $$ exchange rate at time, and make sure you are absolutely certain of breeding lines and place you acquire dog from. Have dog DNA tested in country of origin regardless if pup or adult. Pups do better with the travel and quarrantine etc, but some don't

And after all this expense if you are unlucky enough to have the dog refused entry once here and in quarrantine due to an issue arising as happened to someone I know then it is all lost, where is animal insurance when you need it, I have tried on several occaisons to acquire this type of insurance and no one will give it????? And yet throughbred horses can be insured ?

Another scenario was a stud springer spanial which was exported from UK (with owners)to Melbourne served its time and then arrived in Brisbane only to escape its crate while being transferred by grund crew ran off into swamp land and was found some weeks later deceased.