SHIPPING A PUPPY INTERNATIONALLY

Mischa Nelson, with Brookside Pomsky, was interviewed for her extensive knowledge and experience shipping puppies internationally. Below are her procedures, as well as tips and tricks to make the transaction as smooth as possible.

Shipping A Puppy Internationally – Air Transportation

I like to add unique locations to my Brookside Pomsky map. We have babies all over the world. I’ve shipped internationally many times. Canada is easy to get a puppy into, but other countries are a bit more challenging.

FIRST STEP:

Find an IPATA shipper that can ship from your airport. Go to the IPATA Website and select your airport. If your airport is small, it’s likely you may only have a couple IPATA shippers available, which are generally more expensive. It’s cheaper to ship from a larger airport. It’s a good idea to get a quote from numerous shippers and numerous airports. Some quotes are double than others. An IPATA shipper will talk with our vet to make sure we were on the right timeline. The IPATA shipper we used was Britt’s Bow Wow. https://brittsbowwowinc.com/ Honestly, they were okay but I was told they weren’t the best. They were the least expensive. They gave us a quote via email. The quote they gave us included meet and greet at LAX, Flight from LAX to LHR, International booking fees, and customs clearance. We shipped our puppies out of California LAX because it saved 18 hrs of travel time instead of them leaving from Utah. We had a 1.5 hr in cabin flight from Utah to California.

SECOND STEP:

Find a vet that does International Health certificate. I called my local vet and asked if they can do international health certificates. Luckily the vet I usually go to was able to do it. Not all vets can do international health certificates. You cannot ship a puppy until 21 days after rabies is given. Some vets give rabies at 12 weeks, others give rabies at 16 weeks. Make sure to have the vet that is completing the international health certificate to give the rabies vaccination. Another breeder said their vet wouldn’t accept the rabies certificate from the other vet which means they had to start their 21 days over and rebook their flight. Luckily I have an awesome vet, and didn’t have that issue when we shipped two puppies together into the UK. It’s a good idea to ship two pups together because they have to go cargo and nobody likes to be alone, especially during a long flight. If you ship together they do have to be under 6 months old. All dogs must be microchipped. The microchip needs to be an iOS (15 digit microchip). We used Home Again and I inserted the microchip myself. My vet did scan the microchip to verify the number and added the microchip number to the paperwork. 48 Hours before the flight, our vet gave the puppies a deworming pill. At that vet visit they completed their portion of the international health certificate.

THIRD STEP:

Drive the Certificate to the closest USDA APHIS office. To find a USDA Aphis vet office near you go to https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/endorsement-offices and select your state. The USDA vet office was 2 hrs away from my vet. This is not a normal vet, they have signs that say no pets allowed. I thought it was interesting. I had a scheduled appointment my vet scheduled for me, I arrived at the time of my appointment, got their signature and stamp, then I was done! Now I have to get these puppies onto their flight within 48 hours. Be aware that if the flight gets canceled or delayed more than 24 hours, the International health certificate must be re-issued. It’s very risky! I arrived to Lufthansa cargo facility in California 3.5 hours before the flight was scheduled. A man from Britts Bow Wow met me there. He checked in the dogs and made sure the cage was big enough for both puppies. He verified there was fresh food and water. I might add the health certificate was signed at 10AM two days prior. The flight was scheduled for 2PM. Technically I went over 48 hours. They weren’t very strict on the timing as long as the date showed within two days. The flight was a nonstop 10 hr and 40 min flight from LAX to LHR located in London. With long flights, they do let the puppies out and have a play/potty area. Britts Bow Wow had an option to send videos and pictures to the buyer and breeder during playtime. This cost an additional $150 We shipped the puppies on a Wednesday.

They arrived in London on Thursday evening. Remember the time difference, the duration of the flight was only 10 hours. London is 8 hours ahead of California. With the time difference, you’ll want to make sure they arrive during the week (not on a weekend) so they can clear customs during business hours upon arrival. If the flight arrives too late, customs requires the dog to stay overnight (additional fee) until the agent is available to do customs clearance. Customs processing takes several hours.

SHIPPING TO CANADA:

Canada is much easier than any other country. You do not need an international health certificate to fly a puppy into Canada, a normal health certificate is just fine. You do not need to wait to deliver your puppy, It can go as early as 8 weeks old. All Canadian residents have to pay GST/taxes for every dog they purchase from the US. I believe its 13-18%. Double-check these percentages through the Canadian GST/Tax website . I delivered a puppy into Canada via nanny delivery. I flew it myself. The customer does have to pay taxes/GST upon arrival.

During the Covid19 pandemic, no US resident was allowed into Canada. I had numerous puppies go to Canada during the pandemic. No cargo options were available with any airline during the pandemic except with American and Alaska Airlines on direct flights only in the US, no international flights were available. I shipped a puppy cargo with Alaska Airline from Utah to Seatac. This was a 2-hour direct flight. Then, I had a ground pet IPATA shipper pick up the puppy from the cargo building at Seatac and drive it across the border. This was a 2-hour drive. We used Dog Gone Taxi https://doggonetaxi.com/ They were great and very easy to work with.

Another puppy I sent to Canada. I had a Canadian buyer fly into Utah from Canada to pick up his puppy. He flew with American Airlines. He did have to test for Covid and get a negative result within 3 days of flying in and out. He had to quarantine for two weeks after he got home. He was okay with that because he spent the two weeks training his new puppy.

SHIPPING TO THE UK:

I have shipped to the UK numerous times, I tried to deliver these puppies via nanny delivery. I have heard of other Pomsky breeders that have delivered via nanny. However, I couldn’t find an airline that would allow me to deliver via nanny delivery. They told me all puppies that fly international, must fly in cargo. Possibly they recently changed the rules? (APKC Note - We’ll see what we can find out in this regard)

SHIPPING TO FRANCE:

France is very similar to the UK. The only difference is the vet didn’t have to give a deworming pill 48 hours before the flight.

I hope this was helpful to all of my breeding friends. Let’s get more Pomskies all over the world and help this amazing designer breed become more known. Good Luck!