Late last year, I made two posts about moving my fur-babies to Australia. (Can I move my dogs to Australia? (part 1) and Can I move my dogs to Australia? (part 2)) I left you without resolution on my import permits, which I’m sure by now you’ve figured out were awarded, and without the remaining steps in the process. I was kind of stuck on step 7:
7. Book Tentative Quarantine Accommodation: A couple of days prior to the end of our waiting period, I received an email from DAFF stating that the quarantine facility was fully booked through the first of the year. I had the choice to accept that they may be delayed slightly or have them sent to Sydney instead. Since Astrid and Gizmo weren’t eligible to leave the US until 3 January, I accepted the delay.
A few days after I accepted the potential delay, I received another email stating that the import rules had changed. If my sister was willing to keep Astrid and Gizmo for an extra month, they would only have to spend 10 days physically in quarantine. I would not have to re-apply for my permit, since it had not yet been granted, instead DAFF would change it’s status for me. Again, I accepted the change (especially after I did the math on how much money it would save me!).
Then I didn’t hear anything for 2 weeks. Finally, on Dec 12, I submitted a query against my application; if you remember right, I was looking forward to Nov 29 as my import permit grant date. It was like I reminded them to finish processing my applications, because that very same day my permits were granted. To say that I cried tears of joy would be an understatement; my tears were also of relief, anxiety and excitement. This entire process was very hard on me (and Ben). There were days that I would cry just because I missed my fur-babies and was unsure what was happening.
At this point, I was also looking ahead to the transportation steps and I ended up Debbie at Animal Transporters. A friend had used her to import her dog and highly recommended her. I had some struggles with her, felt at times that I was being kept out of the loop or that things were being held to the last minute, but in the end I’m not sure what I would have done with out her. She handled booking quarantine, the travel arrangements and the final vet visit on my behalf.
Finally, I had resolution to Step 7. It was later than I had hoped, but Astrid and Gizmo had a reservation at Spotswood Quarantine Facility in Melbourne for Feb 19 – Mar 1.
8. Check General Vaccinations: This was an easy step! They really just needed to update their DHPP and Bordetella Vaccinations. Because I have the best vet in the world (Dr. Carolyn Karlin at Westgate Pet Clinic) and the best sister in the world, I barely had to think about this step. They schedule the appointment and took care of everything! If you need a vet, I highly recommend Dr. Karlin.
9. Check Canine Influenza Viris (CIV) Vaccination: This only applies to dogs being exported from the USA, of course. CIV is not something that we have in MN or much of the USA at all, which made finding the vaccination extremely hard! Dr. Karlin could only purchase it in lots of 20. We only needed 4, but would be responsible for the entire lot of 20 because the clinic did not have a need for the vaccination. Here we enlisted the help of Ben’s sister, who is a vet in New York. She was able to work her network and find it at a clinic in Wisconsin (also called Westgate Pet Clinic). They, fortunately, were willing to sell these to Sarah and ship them to our vet. The vaccinations must be issued and followed with a booster 14 days later. Thank you to my wonderful sister for making the long drive many times over late Nov – early Dec to get all of these vaccinations completed.
10 – 12. Testing for things that I’d never heard of: Dr. Karlin found a panel of experts that specialize in the export of animals and was able to submit Astrid and Gizmo’s blood samples all together and in smaller quantity than under the original rules we were working with. Again, she went above and beyond in researching the export process and ensure that everything went off without a hitch!
13. Not relevant for Astrid and Gizmo, because they’ve never been to Africa.
14. Internal Parasite Treatment: They had to have two internal parasite treatments at least 14 days apart with the second being within 5 days of export. This is where we had to start backing into when appointments needed to happen, but it was quite fortunate that we were operating under the new rules, because it formerly was within 4 days of export. Dr. Karlin and my sister worked some calendar magic and figured out how to combine appointments. We also had to demonstrate proof that we’d issued these, so she saved stickers off of the bottles that things came out of.
15. External Parasite Treatment & Ehrlichia Testing: I believe she combined this test with the ones above because the panel she found was able to expedite the process. The external parasite treatment was literally Frontline, but had to be applied by Dr. Karlin to meet the requirement.
16 – 17. Pre-export Clinical Examination & Completion of Veterinary Health Certificate A: This must take place within 5 days of export, so many of these last steps were combined together in a single appointment where they could. I believe Jackie and Dr. Karlin spent a lot of time together in the last 2 weeks. Astrid and Gizmo also had to fly to LAX to see a USDA certified veterinarian to complete an additional Health Certificate prior to export. Somehow this visit fell under the same steps as their visit with Dr. Karlin.
18. Travel to Australia: This is where I started freaking out, because I’d read so many horror stories of how United treats pets. My perception was that Debbie was withholding their flight information from me, but I had been quite clear before hiring her that I did not want them on United. They were booked in with Delta. Their travel kennels are massive and all of their bedding was thrown out upon arrival in Australia. I wanted them to travel with toys that they knew, so Jackie sent the only toy Gizmo came with in his kennel and Astrid’s favorite ladybug toy. When they were due to arrive at Spotswood, I called and was told that they had travelled well and were resting comfortably in their pens.
The 4 days that they were traveling were the worst 4 days in the entire process. They were under the care of people that I was unfamiliar with and I was receiving very infrequent updates. My sister, it turns out, fell in love with my babies over the 4 months that they lived with her. She was devastated to see them go and just as concerned about them through the travel as I was.
We were both very concerned about Gizmo having two microchips; when we collected his kennel, I saw that she’d put a sticker just above the door that says, “I have 2 microchips. Please scan the one in my left shoulder.” Thanks for making sure it was clear, sis!
19. Arrival in Australia: The quarantine official collects them from the airport, and you are not allowed to visit them until an official visiting day, which would have been Tuesday for me. They must stay in quarantine for 10 days before they can be collected.
We chose not to visit them. Because I must be in Geelong on Tuesdays, it would have been Thursday before we could see them and we were able to collect them on Saturday. We were so excited to pick them up on Saturday morning, that we could hardly sleep on Friday night. We thought we’d head over so that we got there exactly on time and ended up a few minutes early. They will make you wait. Its like going into a prison; we had to go through a wire cage just to get into the facility. While we were waiting, all the dogs were barking and crying. I swear I could hear Astrid over the rest.
The girl who finally let us in was very nice. After signing all of the paperwork to collect them, she took us out to their pens. They were staying side-by-side in 3 foot by 3 foot concrete boxes with cots. When she opened Astrid’s pen, she excitedly came running out to the girl, until she noticed me. Then the hugs and kisses were on. When she opened Gizmo’s cage, he was scared and reluctant to come out. When he saw Ben, he livened up a bit.
Now that they’re here, they’re settling in nicely. Astrid loves the beach; Gizmo hates the sand. My biggest concern through the entire process was how Gizmo would respond. I knew that Astrid would be fine; resilience and adaptability are her strengths. But with Gizmo, we were essentially re-homing him twice in 4 months with one of those homes containing small children. His transition into our home wasn’t exactly smooth the year before, but we were in it to win it when we took him. I think spending time with Jackie and the boys was actually really good for Gizmo. He is no longer aggressive towards Astrid and he fell in love with my 3-year-old nephew Jaden, my sister and her dog. We put him in the pet hotel, sharing a room with Astrid without worrying about it. The girls at the pet hotel say love having them; he’s a lover and she gets all the other dogs riled up.
