Dog import info

[Nebsy]

Hi guys 

 

Looking on some advice for the Australian side for our dog. we’ve been made aware that companies only deal with this side and you must deal with Australian side separately. So Can anyone give any info on where to get the import permits and how to book the quarantine spaces and how much these currently cost at the moment. Prices seem to be constantly increasing! Thanks for any info in advance

[Marisawright]

5 minutes ago, Nebsy said:

Looking on some advice for the Australian side for our dog. we’ve been made aware that companies only deal with this side and you must deal with Australian side separately. 

That's not true.  You can DIY but it's much too complicated and will end up costing you more in stress on you and your pet.  The only sensible way is to book a company that will do the whole thing from start to finish, including booking the quarantine for you.

I can see you've already spoken to  PetAir UK, was there a problem with them?

Edited June 7, 2022 by Marisawright

[Nebsy]

No problems as such no. They just don’t currently offer a route for my dog unfortunately as he’s a chow, but even Pet air included they were unable to include the quarantine fees as they must be paid locally… Any other recommendations would be fab. 

[Jon the Hat]

7 minutes ago, Nebsy said:

No problems as such no. They just don’t currently offer a route for my dog unfortunately as he’s a chow, but even Pet air included they were unable to include the quarantine fees as they must be paid locally… Any other recommendations would be fab. 

Pretty much all import agencies work like this - we had the same importing our car.  I expect they will send you the invoice for quarantine if it needs to be paid in advance.

[talktosi]

You can apply for the import permit and book quarantine space yourself - and pay for them - doesnt matter where you are in the world, you will be charged in local currency. Im in the UK and recently applied and paid for import permit - I have a currency card (mastercard) - load it with Aussie dollars and do online payment and avoid rubbish conversion rates and fee you will get using a uk bank account. Equally any pet transport company can do these things for you but you will obviously have to pay them extra for the service.

[talktosi]

Forgot to add to above - I am assuming you are talking UK to Australia ?  Current import permit cost is $480, quarantine costs will be about $1800. But this will all be irrelevant if there is not a route/airline that will carry your dog. I assume all transport companies have access to the same routes/airlines.

[Marisawright]

5 hours ago, Nebsy said:

No problems as such no. They just don’t currently offer a route for my dog unfortunately as he’s a chow, but even Pet air included they were unable to include the quarantine fees as they must be paid locally… Any other recommendations would be fab. 

You have to pay the fees locally but Perair still does all the arrangements.

Petair does not refuse any dog AFAIK. It’s the airlines which won’t fly them

Edited June 7, 2022 by Marisawright

[Nebsy]

I can’t use pet air right now as they don’t have a flight that will accommodate my dog breed at this moment unfortunately. Thanks for all your help though, You’ve all all answered everything I was querying. Thanks again. 

[Jon the Hat]

4 hours ago, Nebsy said:

I can’t use pet air right now as they don’t have a flight that will accommodate my dog breed at this moment unfortunately. Thanks for all your help though, You’ve all all answered everything I was querying. Thanks again. 

Good luck!  Its a stressful time.

[Marisawright]

5 hours ago, Nebsy said:

I can’t use pet air right now as they don’t have a flight that will accommodate my dog breed at this moment unfortunately. Thanks for all your help though, You’ve all all answered everything I was querying. Thanks again. 

Like I said, if PetAir can't find a flight, it's very likely there IS no flight.  So your first step is to find an airline.

[pob]

Is it pet air who won't ship the dog or is it the airlines?

Some airlines will not ship certain breeds of dogs.

Yes YOU have to pay the quarentine fees, when YOU get to Australia as YOU have used THEIR service, not pet air.

[Nebsy]

Petair would ship for me they just don’t have their usual route with Qantas yet and don’t know when it will be back operational. Lots of airlines wont accept snub nosed dogs. This is an airline problem, Zero problems with petair. Yes the payments aren’t an issue I was just looking for some clarification on how it all worked.

[Marisawright]

6 hours ago, Nebsy said:

Petair would ship for me they just don’t have their usual route with Qantas yet and don’t know when it will be back operational. Lots of airlines wont accept snub nosed dogs. This is an airline problem, Zero problems with petair. Yes the payments aren’t an issue I was just looking for some clarification on how it all worked.

Well, the main clarification is that your original statement was incorrect.   You don't have to deal with the Australian side yourself.  The only thing you deal with is the actual payment of the quarantine which is separate.

[PaulM]

On 07/06/2022 at 21:57, Nebsy said:

Hi guys 

 

Looking on some advice for the Australian side for our dog. we’ve been made aware that companies only deal with this side and you must deal with Australian side separately. So Can anyone give any info on where to get the import permits and how to book the quarantine spaces and how much these currently cost at the moment. Prices seem to be constantly increasing! Thanks for any info in advance

My answer may be a bit late, but we used JetPets in Melbourne (https://www.jetpets.com.au/) for our three guys. They took care of everything. We dropped them off in Amsterdam (though we could have had them collected from our house in Hamburg) and then collected them from JetPets in Melbourne after quarantine (though they could have been delivered to our house). All very smooth and easy with lots of help and advice on the veterinary requirements etc. Good people to deal with who kept us informed when one dog was off his food in quarantine and coordinated us being able to send in his normal diet.

[talktosi]

All information is easily accessible online - the department of agriculture deal with permits and quarantine. Google dog import permit and quarantine. The costs are very clear on their website. You can do all of this yourself - as long as you have the rabies vaccine and blood test all sorted. I ve recently applied for permit and booked quarantine space. Turnaround time for both was very quick.

[Phil1712]

Hi has anyone used Petair recently? Is there a notice period you have to give them to start the process? I want to start the process for my dog in October, would this be possible?

[pob]

We used pet air and they did their job very well.

 

The quarentine in Melbourne are a bunch of idiots though!

My 30kg  healthy dog was skin and bones after ten days in quarentine!

We wrote them emails about how to best care for the dogs but you could tell they were not reading them. Thay tell you that they wash the dogs every three days, this is a lie, my dogs both stank upon release and one dog was poorly due to the stress caused and had dried blood on his back legs that was not cleaned off. The blood was crusted to his body.

They kept him seperated from his sister when we sent several emails asking for them to be kept together, there were stickers on his crate as well and pet air informed them. This was all ignored.

We recieved an email several days after they were released saying that all our emails went into their spam folder because we were not useing an Australian email address.

 

The quarentine was easier on the dogs when they had the quarentine in Rooty Hill Sydney. At least they let you visit them, bring them treats and listen to your advice on how to care for your dogs.

The dog is slowly putting weight back on, he won't sleep on his dog bed any more though and sneaks into the bedroom and into bed with my wife and I and sleeps over my legs. Some nights he has nightmares, I give him a cuddle.

[Toots]

4 minutes ago, pob said:

We used pet air and they did their job very well.

 

The quarentine in Melbourne are a bunch of idiots though!

My 30kg  healthy dog was skin and bones after ten days in quarentine!

We wrote them emails about how to best care for the dogs but you could tell they were not reading them. Thay tell you that they wash the dogs every three days, this is a lie, my dogs both stank upon release and one dog was poorly due to the stress caused and had dried blood on his back legs that was not cleaned off. The blood was crusted to his body.

They kept him seperated from his sister when we sent several emails asking for them to be kept together, there were stickers on his crate as well and pet air informed them. This was all ignored.

We recieved an email several days after they were released saying that all our emails went into their spam folder because we were not useing an Australian email address.

 

The quarentine was easier on the dogs when they had the quarentine in Rooty Hill Sydney. At least they let you visit them, bring them treats and listen to your advice on how to care for your dogs.

The dog is slowly putting weight back on, he won't sleep on his dog bed any more though and sneaks into the bedroom and into bed with my wife and I and sleeps over my legs. Some nights he has nightmares, I give him a cuddle.

That's really not good enough.  Your poor dogs.  Surely people who actually care about animals should be employed to look after the dogs/cats.  Is it true the quarantine charge is $2000 for the ten days quarantine per animal?

[pob]

They also kept sending us emails asking us to pay for a outside consultant vet at a cost of about $500 per visit for the elderly dog.

When all he needed was a quiet area with his sister and he would have been fine. But they ignored this and kept him locked up in general population.

 

@Toots You have to pay all the fees in advance before you pick the dogs up.

When you approach the Quarentine station there are big grey prison walls, in Rooty Hill everything was just contained by chain link fences.

This isn't a better system.

[Toots]

1 minute ago, pob said:

They also kept sending us emails asking us to pay for a outside consultant vet at a cost of about $500 per visit for the elderly dog.

When all he needed was a quiet area with his sister and he would have been fine. But they ignored this and kept him locked up in general population.

 

@Toots You have to pay all the fees in advance before you pick the dogs up.

When you approach the Quarentine station there are big grey prison walls, in Rooty Hill everything was just contained by chain link fences.

This isn't a better system.

It sounds horrible and so expensive.

Hope your elderly boy is almost back to himself again.

[Marisawright]

54 minutes ago, Phil1712 said:

Hi has anyone used Petair recently? Is there a notice period you have to give them to start the process? I want to start the process for my dog in October, would this be possible?

They don't need notice, but the airliines AND quarantine do.   I don't know what it's like now, but a few months ago, quarantine was all booked up for a year ahead. 

Has the dog had their rabies shots etc?  

[Phil1712]

6 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

They don't need notice, but the airliines AND quarantine do.   I don't know what it's like now, but a few months ago, quarantine was all booked up for a year ahead. 

Has the dog had their rabies shots etc?  

No nothing yet 

[pob]

2 minutes ago, Phil1712 said:

No nothing yet 

Then you need to talk to pet air and get a time line in place for all the check ups and shots.

They are good with giving you a time line to follow.

It's a six month wait from the first rabies shot. The theory is that England isn't rabies free any more as a rabid rat could run down the channel tunnel from France and infect the whole country.