Ah, we all missed the content on entry rules related to health and vaccination, right? Joking aside, now you probably know that checking the country’s entry requirements is literally the only mandatory step in planning any trip. But sometimes there are rules for dogs, too!
The U.S. has very few rules for Canadian travelers — no, your passport doesn’t have to be valid for 6 months like the U.S. requires for travelers from many other countries (or like many other countries require for Canadians).
However, they will have new requirements for what they call “importing a dog” (entering the country with a dog, even just for a short trip). Thankfully, they’re a lot less extremist than what they initially announced.
Here are the details.
Background on new U.S. rules for dogs
We shared the U.S. announcement back in May, and the new rules were incredibly demanding.
Here is the infographic we had shared — this is NOT what is happening after all, it’s just to show you how many requirements were supposed to be added.
The new rules were supposed to take effect next week, on August 1, 2024.
About a week before the start date, the U.S. finally realized how absurd the rules were — like with COVID-19 rules, better (very) late than never!
New version of the U.S. rules for dogs
The basics of the new rules have not changed:
- Apply starting August 1st, 2024
- Apply to all borders
- Apply to all trips
- Apply to all dogs
Nothing changes up to and including July 31st. While The Science™ of COVID-19 was different depending on the border, at least this applies uniformly at all locations. All trips are the same, no matter the length or anything else. The rules really do apply to all dogs, even service dogs, vaccinated dogs, U.S. citizen dogs, U.S.-born dogs, and U.S.-vaccinated dogs.
What they’ve changed is that there are now much simpler rules depending on where the dog has been in the the 6 months before their entry into the United States.
There are 2 sets of new rules:
- For dogs who have not been to high-risk countries (Canada is not a high-risk country)
- For dogs who have been to high-risk countries (official list of high-risk countries)
Rules for dogs who haven’t been to high-risk countries in 6 months
Most Canadian dogs have been in Canada for the last 6 months, so the new rules will be a lot less demanding than those initially announced.
Here are the new U.S. entry requirements for those dogs:
- Dog must be at least 6 months old
- Dog must “appear healthy”
- Dog must be microchipped
- Receipt from completed CDC Dog Import Form must be shown
That’s it.
Below, I’ll tell you more about each one and show you how to fill out the simple form, step by step.
Essentially, it’s the last complex bit of documentation in the infographic above that’s eliminated completely if your dog hasn’t been to a high-risk country in the 6 months prior to entering the U.S.
Here are more logistical details:
- Your form receipt is valid for 6 months
- Unless the dog goes to a high-risk country in the meantime
- You can show the receipt in various ways
- On your phone (save it offline and always have a charger)
- A printed version like it’s 2008
- You can fill out the form the day of
- Or up to 6 months before
- You have to show it to the airline if you fly
- Like all rules, it can be checked as soon as boarding
- You obviously need to fill out a form for each dog
- Obvious because the form only has space for 1 dog
- You don’t have to pay anything
- There’s no fee at all
Rules for dogs who have been to high-risk countries in 6 months
I want to share the news quickly so I’ll come back to add the rules for other dogs just so I can double-check if they changed anything for these rules since the initial announcement.
You can read our initial post from May in case you want to compare with the CDC website for yourself.
Minimum age requirement
It’s pretty crystal clear. If your dog is less than 6 months old, he simply can not enter the United States.
Yes, the U.S. has declared war on foreign puppies.
Healthy appearance requirement
This is obviously the most subjective of the requirements. They don’t define this part at all, so it’s hard to say what it takes to be considered “not a healthy appearance”.
We can imagine that if your dog looks too unhealthy to enter the U.S., you’ll probably notice it too, and suspect it. But who knows?
If the dog doesn’t appear healthy, veterinary examination, testing, and isolation fees may be charged by customs. This is at the dog owner’s expense, of course (we’re talking about the U.S. here, after all).
But those fees are probably by air only. By land and sea, you can probably just turn around and avoid all fees.
Microchip requirement
All dogs must have microchip that is detectable with a universal scanner.
If proof of vaccination is required for the dog (if it has been in a high-risk country in the 6 months before entering the U.S.), the microchip must have been implanted before the vaccination.
CDC Dog Import Form requirement
The free form is available on the official CDC website.
How to fill out the CDC Dog Import Form
I’ll go over this simple form step by step with you, but like almost all forms, it’s super easy. You just need to read.
Reading is extremely important to make your travel more affordable and enjoyable; I can’t stress that enough. Here at Flytrippers, we’ll be doing more video content by popular request, but the reality is you just can’t make it through planning a trip well if you can’t read and can only watch videos.
Top part
The most important section is in bright yellow with a bright red border.
You need to click “No” to confirm your dog hasn’t been to a high-risk country.
Section A
As the section title states, this section is about you, not the dog.
Fill out your personal information.
Like countries almost always ask, you need to put in the address where you’re staying. Stop stressing about this; in just about all countries, they don’t care. Put your first hotel/Airbnb/camping site/whatever and that’s it. You don’t even need to have proof that’s where you’re staying. You can put any hotel address, and if they ask (which they almost certainly won’t), you can say you’ll book it later.
If you’re just going for the day and not staying in the U.S. overnight, put the address of a national park, the Target store location, or wherever you’re going.
Section B
This is where you fill out your dog’s information.
Section C
You must indicate how you will enter the U.S., from which country you are arriving, and your arrival date (clearly, this last one isn’t that important since you can use the same form for all your entries for 6 months).
Section D
You need to acknowledge the usual terms by typing your name in lieu of an actual signature, and the day’s date will autofill.
Submission
You click on the blue “Submit” button to send the form and receive the receipt you’ll need to show at the border (or at the airport).
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Summary
U.S. entry rules for dogs will change next week, but not as drastically as they had first announced. If you want to travel, you just have to check the entry rules. And you need to consider that sometimes countries will have rules for dogs too.
What would you like to know about the rules to enter the United States with dogs? Tell us in the comments below.
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Featured image: Dog at Customs (photo credit: CDC)
