Importing a dog from Europe - The Pet Passport Scheme (PPS) explained
I thought it might be useful to some people to explain the import process in simple terms and to provide a step by step process that is easy to follow. I write this to encourage you to take your dogs abroad, whether it be for holidays, showing, matings or any other reason. It's a simple process even if it does take 6 months or more.
Having had experience of importing 2 dogs from Germany and gaining 9 pet passports for my own dogs, I feel I can share this simple guide with you. I hope you find it useful.
The Pet Passport Scheme allows the free travel of dogs and cats (that's all I deal with here) to and from certain countries around the world, including most of Europe, the USA and Canada and also Australia and New Zealand. There are a lot more, but too many to list here. The process to gain a pet passport is the same regardless of the country you wish to visit.
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1.First of all the dog must be microchipped. Your vet can do this but make sure its suitable for the PPS
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2.At 12 weeks old or older, your pet must have a rabies vaccination - Note, the vaccine in most cases can be given from 4 weeks old, however, the blood test cannot be done until at least 12 weeks old as its considered that the pup is still using it's mothers antibodies and won't give a true reading, we got caught by this one. So to be sure, leave it until 12 weeks old for the first vaccination (It also depends on the Vets attitude and knowledge of the PPS)
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3.In some cases you may consider a second vaccination 3 weeks later but this is not required as part of the process but may provide a better chance of passing the blood test at the first attempt (I stress may)
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4.4 weeks after the vaccination the pet can have the blood test. Again, different Vets advise different time frames but 28 days is about standard, we've had 3 weeks and we've had at least 28 days
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5.Once you get your test result and your pet passes, its the date of the blood test plus 6 months that will give you the date of travel for your pet. Note, to take your pet out of the UK to mainland Europe is no problem, this can be done at any time with or without a pet passport, However, unless your pet has a valid Pet Passport your pet will not be allowed back to the UK
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6.Once you have your pet passport, you pet will need boosters at set periods, depending on the DEFRA rules at the time this can be from 12 months to 36 months
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7.Should you allow the passport to lapse, even by a day, you will have to start the process again. Be warned.
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8.To bring the pet back to the UK, you need a valid Pet Passport, this means that Tic and Flea treatments must have been given no less than 24 hours and no more than 48 hours before travel That's the point at which you want to enter the UK. Failure to do this will delay your journey until this is done.
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9.Should your pet fail the blood test in the first place, you just repeat the process of revaccination and re-test. Out of 9 passports we had done, only 1 failed first time.
