Pets are not just our companions or even friends. Oftentimes, they become family members to us. We get so bound to them that we simply cannot make those long hours at work without seeing that furry face. Hence, traveling with a pet becomes a must for most owners. This might not be an easy task, especially for those who live with people’s best friends, the dogs.

Although dogs are considered to be very close to the human heart, they are not so much welcomed when it comes to international traveling. While having international documents for pets is a reasonable idea, sometimes, acquiring them becomes a true challenge despite a relatively shortlist for most countries. In the majority of cases, your pooch will only need an international animal passport and the vaccination, though some countries require more. On top of that, you will need to translate those documents if the language of your country is different from that of your destination.

So, What Are the Documents?

Most countries have a rather generic list of required papers for your dog to travel. Yet, some countries, like Australia, will request additional documents, such as import permits, which in turn requires a few vaccination certificates to acquire. Such countries as the U.S. and most countries of the European Union, however, require an international pet passport and a separate vaccination certificate, aside from the owner’s ID. In general, a typical complete list of your dog’s travel documents will be the following:

• A copy of your airline’s customer agreement,
• A scanned copy of your pet’s vaccination certificate,
• An international health passport (EU passports work as vaccination certificates in certain cases),
• Two separate photos, one showing your dog’s face and another clearly showing your pet carrier.

While those are not many, they still require some time and effort to acquire. Vaccinations are quite time-consuming and it also might be quite challenging to get an international passport in the EU. In addition to all that, such documents as customer agreement and vaccination certificates have to be translated into the language of your destination country.

The challenge of translating the aforementioned papers for your pooch relies primarily on the need of a certified specialist that would do a high-quality job. Translating pet travel documents requires a veterinarian and legal expertise on top of proficiency in the needed language pair. Fortunately, today, it is not that hard to find a professional translation agency that will provide you, such a specialist. When searching for a translator, however, make sure that he or she is certified to make translations of documents for international travel.

Travelling with the Dog: A Rewarding Challenge

While translating the travel documents for your dog might be quite an easy fit, getting those documents before you even have a chance to translate them isn’t. Always make sure to check the full list of all needed documents before you travel to never miss anything. Overall, although, acquiring some documents for your dog to travel with you might seem like a really hard task, it is certainly rewarding.

BIO

Mark’s primary areas of interest are travel, learning, work, and modern lifestyle. Every day, he takes a closer look at each of those areas and finds something new and refreshing for you. See more of Mark’s posts for some of the most interesting pieces of news of the world.