Tank arrived safely in Cape Town!

[Lalaloopsie]

Hooray! Tank arrived safely in Capetown and is already sniffing around and familiarises himself with South Africa!

 

[Annie1991]

Great News !!!

 

[sisters3]

Hooray! Tank arrived safely in Capetown and is already sniffing around and familiarises himself with South Africa!

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Oh thank God!!!!! What a trooper!!!!!!! The photos are beautiful!! Does he seem tired or jet lagged at all? I can't wait to hear of the Cape Town adventures!!!!!

 

[Cbrugs]

Fantastic news!! Enjoy your new adventures!


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[thett]

Wow!! I am just now seeing this whole thread. What an amazing adventure you are all on.
I am not sure if you are there for good or just a visit but I am so happy to hear Tank is safe and sound and sniffing out his new diggs!

Beautiful pictures.. please keep updates and pictures coming on all of your adventures.

 

[Manydogs]

Is Tank with his Daddy? I am so relieved that he is now safe,and off the plane! If you don't mind,can you tell how you arranged all this? Not being a traveller, I am so interested! Thank goodness-seemed like a pretty fast trip.

 

[oscarmayer]

Is it my understanding that Natallia and Tank and hubby are NOT returning to USA?

 

[cefe13]

Great news; thanks for letting us know! Castor and I have talked about Tank's trip so we're excited to hear he arrived safely.

 

[2BullyMama]

AWESOME!!!!


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[Lalaloopsie]

Oh thank God!!!!! What a trooper!!!!!!! The photos are beautiful!! Does he seem tired or jet lagged at all? I can't wait to hear of the Cape Town adventures!!!!!

My husband says he was all day very nervous after traveling, didn’t sleep even one minute during the day ( he arrived in the morning 10 am) and was following hubby everywhere, probably was super scared that he will abandon him again like bad mom did in Atlanta Poor baby. He had a guest today - gentleman who was installing internet brought his Jack Russell terrier with him, so they had some fun together. Then he was shocked with Hadeda screams (it is quite a big bird, very useful for your garden, but it screams like...imagine 25 pigs slaughtered at the same time...this is how Hadeda sounds)...a lot of new things to get used to...
Now it is late evening in SA and he crashed in the middle of the floor and snores. Finally tiredness got over him.

 

[Lalaloopsie]

Great news; thanks for letting us know! Castor and I have talked about Tank's trip so we're excited to hear he arrived safely.

Oh, this is so cute, you talked to precious Castor about Tank travel! I also like to tell Tank different news from our bulldog forum! And TV news, too! He always supports my opinions

 

[2BullyMama]

My husband says he was all day very nervous after traveling, didn’t sleep even one minute during the day ( he arrived in the morning 10 am) and was following hubby everywhere, probably was super scared that he will abandon him again like bad mom did in Atlanta Poor baby. He had a guest today - gentleman who was installing internet brought his Jack Russell terrier with him, so they had some fun together. Then he was shocked with Hadeda screams (it is quite a big bird, very useful for your garden, but it screams like...imagine 25 pigs slaughtered at the same time...this is how Hadeda sounds)...a lot of new things to get used to...
Now it is late evening in SA and he crashed in the middle of the floor and snores. Finally tiredness got over him.

I can imagine the bulldog OCD having to be reworked... poor fella, he’ll be fine in a few days.

When do you join them?


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[Lalaloopsie]

Is it my understanding that Natallia and Tank and hubby are NOT returning to USA?

Yeah, the plan is that me and my daughter and of course, Mr.Tank will stay in South Africa for couple of years and my husband will look for a new place for the factory (unfortunately our investor decided not to build in the US) in EU. When they will decide on the new location we will see if we relocate to EU where factory will be set or stay in SA.

 

[oscarmayer]

Wow...wherever you end up, I hope it works out great for everyone and you(and Tank) can continue to stay in touch.

 

[Lalaloopsie]

Is Tank with his Daddy? I am so relieved that he is now safe,and off the plane! If you don't mind,can you tell how you arranged all this? Not being a traveller, I am so interested! Thank goodness-seemed like a pretty fast trip.

Yeah, Tank is now with his Daddy, for a change he can wipe his butt and cook him holistic food))
Flying inside US for bulldogs is pretty much impossible, I believe all airlines refuse to fly them as they cannot guarantee safety. Unless you hire a charter flight for animals (they exist but very pricey) or pilot yourself (actually a very affordable thing to do if you are a pilot, I was preparing for my pilot license in US, but as we move never finished), the price of plane rental is 150 usd per hour including fuel and flight dispatcher fees so it’s actually a very cool option!
Preparation for overseas travel must start very well in advance. Prepare A LOT of money.
For international traveling you have to hire an agent, it is quite costly, but pays off, as these guys know exactly what are veterinary and customs requirements for every country. They will guide you and your vet through the paperwork. Many countries require some blood work which costs big money, must be made within a very tight time frame, so if you make any kind of mistake in paperwork, all your previous steps must done all over again.
Most of vets didn’t do this testing and medical paperwork before (unless you stay in Washington DC or NY) and need a lot of help from the agent during the process.

Besides, for safety reasons, general public is not allowed into cargo terminals to drop off dog, and only agent can handle this issue for you. They do the drop off in cargo terminal and other person in country of destination get your dog in cargo and does customs clearance. So, agent you need.

First of all, agent orders an import permit from the country you travel to. Every country has their own. Takes about 2-3 weeks to get reply from vet customs.

Ticket for two flights Atlanta -Frankfurt, then stay in Frankfurt Pet Hotel for 14 hours, then flight Frankfurt- Cape Town and agents services costed us 5200usd. Price depends on the size of the cage too, most bulldogs fit into Large size, but I use for Tank the biggest available XXL Petmate kennel cage, 48" L X 32" W X 35"H. Using smaller one could save us 800 usd, but I would never risk his safety for money, because extra space reduces claustrophobic feelings and gives more air to breathe and to move, so I used oversized crate.

Medical paperwork was tricky one, we had to do 5 tests, including 2 tests for a very rare infection, which is not even present in the US - Surra, but this test must be done in Belgium Institute of Tropical disease, so blood was sent overnight by FEDEX to Belgium. Other 4 infections can be tested in US lab, but also in very few...you understood, that was a quest on its own! And results expire quick, couple of days of delay and they are not good any more! Geez, it was difficult!
Blood tests costed 1100 usd. Your vet who draws blood for laboratory and sends it there must be USDA-approved. I think most of them are, but double check. Otherwise blood won’t be accepted. Blood must be drawn within 30 days of travel and final health exam and certificate must be issued within 10 days before entering country of destination.

Be sure to have a fresh Rabies vaccination, made at least 30 days before travel but not more than 1 year (3 year vaccines are not accepted, even between states in the USA, so basically3 year vaccine is useless). Except for EU - they are not interested in date of vaccination, they ask for blood test of rabies antibodies titres, which is clever.

Then, when tests are ready, our doctor filled in the health certificate (300 usd) and after that you have to make an appointment in USDA (in Georgia it is in Conyers), where they will endorse it (180 usd) and then medical papers are ready.

Checklist of paperwork for international travel:

1) health certificate original endorsed by USDA
2)laboratory results both from US lab and overseas Lab (some tests are required to be done in Belgium or Japan, there are only 2 of them in the whole world!)
3) original rabies certificate
4) receipt from USDA for the endorsement services! Don’t forget it!
5) import permit from country of destination

IMPORTANT! Dog must have a chip inserted before rabies vaccination and all the tests, so EACH paper has his chip number in it. So actually, first steps to do before travel is chipping your dog and getting rabies vaccination and certificate.

Kennel must be IATA compliant, on the day of travel you attach to it 2 portions of dry food (as Tank doesn’t eat kibble, I chopped him home made turkey jerky, no problem with airline). Standard water bowls included with kennel are pretty much useless, as bulldog snout will never fit in it, so what I did to make sure he has water
1) I filled standard bowls with water and iced it in advance, at least he could lick it
2) there are bottles with licking device, they work very well, but you have to train them to use it. The best way is to fill it first with broth, they lick it with pleasure. Then for travel you fill it with water
Kennel must have bedding in it. Leash and collar are attached from out side, so dog cannot hang himself accidentally. Better not to give toys, so they don’t eat them or choke.
It is necessary to familiarise dog with kennel, let them sleep in it, so they not too scared to be locked in it for travel.

The only company I know about that flies bulldogs and other snub-nosed breeds is German Lufthansa. It is one of the best companies to fly with in Europe. They have temperature restrictions, which mean that when outside temps are over 80 Fahrenheit in port of exit or transit or entry, they won’t fly your dog. Their pet compartments are temp-controlled and air-pressurised. But that moment when the crate is traveling from terminal to airplane, and sometimes can be delay in boarding, so crate is on the trolley on the tarmac, they cannot take responsibility and very strict with this requirement.

We flew with them from China to the US and now from US to South Africa and both times it was a success. I would definitely prefer not to fly poor baby as a cargo, but I can pilot only very small planes, no big aircrafts we never thought we will leave US, but life happens...