I am planning on bringing my dog from the US to Zurich soon. She has the right microchip, her rabies certificate, and health certificate usda approved. Can anyone tell me what to expect when going through customs at the airport with a dog? Also, my dog has a docked tail. Has anyone else brought their dogs over with a docked tail? What was that process like? I plan on bringing her this weekend and getting quite nervous. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!!!
Hi,
the same question was asked a while back, here
How did it work out for you? I am moving with my Aussie from the US to Lausanne in 2 weeks. He has a docked tail as well. Any paperwork to complete outside of the USDA health certificate, rabies documents, and microchip?
Hi
We brought our 2 english cocker spaniels over from the UK. Make sure you have a letter from your vet stating when the docking was done - I assume as a puppy before you got the dog, and that you did not do it recently.
We had all the paperwork in place and then found we needed this. Fortunately it was a quick phone call to our vet to sort it. Customs never checked the dogs coming in, but then they arrived by car.
Hope that helps.
indeed the key thing is something from the vet suggesting that the docking was done for medical reasons.
largely, unless it's a devil dog, it won't be looked at - but if it is and you don't have documentation, you may have issues.
I have my vet working on the note in regards to the tail. We are also current with the vaccinations, the microchip, and will apply for the certificate next week. I recieved a message from bvet.admin.ch, which I supose is the authority on the matter, but they basically said to call and ask customs. I am a bit afraid that customs may just say no, so I am wondering if it is just better to have all the documentation and just show up, then. It appears that is what everyone else has done.
Just make sure you have all the needed documents, and you will have absolutely no problems. We brought our Jack Russell with a docked tail from Canada in 2008. We were very worried about the whole process, so we made sure all the needed documents were in place (triple checked!), the correct microchip was used and that our vet wrote a letter documenting our dog's docked tail.
In the end, the customs official didn't look at any of our documents, and weren't interested in checking our dog.
The documents are really for your new Swiss vet, so they can issue your dog a Swiss pet passport after the first check-up.
Having all the paperwork in order is the key. You never know if you are going to get someone who decides to study the papers in detail so make sure every "i" is dotted and every "t" is crossed.
In addition to issuing the pet passport, your local vet needs to register your dog with Anis, the national database. Here is a link in English explaining the registration which can only be done by a veterinarian. Anis charges the fee to the veterinarian.
http://www.anis.ch/en/database-regis...-registration/
Once that is done, the owner will receive confirmation in the mail from Anis with an id card, the chip number, and log in information. This allows the owner, for example, to change the address if you move.
ANIS offers 24 hour telephone service 365 days a year on lost and found pets as long as their are registered, so please be sure this has been done.
You also need to register your dog with the local office where you live. (fee based).
I know nothng about the subject so read the Wikipedia article . It says it is banned in Switzerland since 1988.
EDIT: Just found this - an official www.bvet.admin.ch document . It says
"To make sure that dogs are not simply docked abroad or that docked dogs are not bought or acquired
abroad, there is also a ban on importing docked dogs into Switzerland. Anyone who illegally imports
a docked dog into Switzerland runs the risk of prosecution ."
BUT it says:
"Is it still possible to bring docked dogs into Switzerland despite the import ban?
In principle it is forbidden to import docked dogs. Any such dogs are therefore turned back at the border.
Owners living abroad, however, may bring their docked dog into Switzerland with them for holidays
or other short stays. Also anyone who moves to Switzerland from abroad may bring his
docked dog with him. It is essential to obtain information from customs in good time before relocation
to establish whether the criteria are met in your case, so that your dog can be classed as so-called
personal property ( http://www.ezv.admin.ch ) ."
I read this before bring the dogs and it scared me to death in case I couldn't bring them. We didn't have any problems. The docked tail issue seemed to matter more for the registration once you get here. But the vet was really helpful and we had the letter from the UK.