Hi everyone, it's Dave Johnson and I'm joined today by Melissa Allman, our advocacy and Government Relations Specialist.

Dr. Kyle Quigley, our director of canine medicine and genetics. And our moderator today is Sandy Moretta. Thank you, Sandy. Who's our senior specialist information technology.

And we are talking about international travel I'm going to kick it off by talking about some of the things you can think about before you travel.

First of all, I think it's probably a good idea to know the cultural norms of the place that you're traveling to, how dogs are viewed.

There are countries that you might want to consider not taking your dog with you.

Dr. Quigley can talk about some of the medical reasons for that.

I will just say that from a training and a behavioral perspective.

I would be thinking about countries that have populations of feral dogs or street dogs.

That might be of uncontrolled and dangerous to you and your guide while you are there.

There are a number of places like that. I know that I've spoken with someone who is from Turkey who's interested in getting a guide but could not use a guide in Turkey because of the huge feral dog population there.

So as you travel by sea, there's the consideration of what you might come up against going from island to island or from to different ports. Our experience has been that Many of the islands have their own regulations. And if you're cruising, and we have a number of grads who do like to cruise, you need to

Check in on the requirements of each and every port that you're stopping at.

What some people choose to do if the If the demands are too rigorous about the clearances that you need to get off at a particular port People will stay on the boat with their guide at that port and it

And therefore avoids the problem. Of having to get the clearances. Of course, it kind of also defeats the purpose of your travel So it takes you back to the decision of whether your dog belongs with you in the travels that you're seeking to do or whether it might be better left

At home for some of these trips. So with that said, I think I'll pass it on to Dr. Quigley, who can talk about some of the health regulations that we're facing today and And how they might be an obstacle and what you might have to do to be able to take your guide with you.

Dr. Quigley?

All right. Thanks, Dave. There's a few things you can do ahead of time for preparing to travel internationally with your dog when it comes to the medical sides of things.

The biggest thing I would emphasize is give yourself plenty of time.

Six months or more ahead of time is is not unreasonable considering the requirements of some countries such as Japan.

But there are other countries that have similar requirements that require rabies titer testing, which can take Several months, depending on the requirements.

And some require two negative tests. Several months apart. So giving yourself plenty of time is very important.

I think one of the other things to remember is there's two government agencies involved in dog travel.

The USDA being probably the most recognizable because they're the ones going to be endorsing health certificates for exporting.

Dogs to other countries. But it's important to remember that the CDC is in charge of import or import regulations around dogs coming back and requirements for certain diseases such as rabies.

So, um. Giving yourself as much time as possible you know several months to over six months, depending on the location starting to become familiar with the import requirements of the destination you're traveling to is very important. You can go to the Seeing Eyes International Travel page.

From there, you can go to the USDA pet travel page You can select the country.

That you're traveling to. And from there, you can start looking at the requirements for that country to bring your guide.

It's important to know that the requirements for countries very countries very by quite a bit. So there's huge differences when it comes to travel.

From one country to another. In most cases, when you're traveling internationally.

Nationally, you're going to need an international health certificate endorsed by the USDA.

So to do that, you're going to need a USDA accredited veterinarian.

Not all USDA, sorry, not all veterinarians are USDA accredited and the proportion of vets that are accredited is declined.

It's important to ask your vet if they are USDA accredited.

And if they are not, to ask for a recommendation of one in your area.

If they cannot provide you with one, there are resources. Online. So you can use the resources under the international travel page again to find a USDA vet in your area.

And it's important to make those appointments well in advance. If you have an idea of the requirements ahead of time.

Then you can plan accordingly for the for the health certificate.

In some cases, you might need to make two trips because of the requirements needed.

You know, again, starting well in advance of your travel plans.

The USDA vet is going to need to examine your dog as part of the requirements, as well as review any medical records, including all the vaccine history.

Rabies is probably going to be the most important um vaccine history that they're looking at.

If the country is a free-free or low risk country.

There's less involved for your return. But that USDA export health certificate is going to be very important for both.

Leaving the country with your guide and returning to the US.

If you're traveling from Canada, so if you live in Canada, the CFIA or Department of Agricultural agriculture has accredited veterinarians to fill out those forms.

The vet will need to complete the USDA health certificate and then send it to the USDA. This is all done online.

It's 100%. Digital now.

However, once the USDA receives it. You're at their mercy until they endorse it. And then once they endorse it, in most cases they're going to need to mail you the embossed stamped health certificate for travel.

So again, starting well in advance.

Blood tests. So some countries or destinations are going to require rabies titer testing that can be done at a few different labs in the US, but they specify which labs They're currently accepting. So the USDA vet will know where to send them to.

The endorsement fees are waived. That's just the endorsement fee from the USDA.

Not the USDA veteran accredited veterinarian, but from the USDA, the endorsement of the health certificate That fee is waived.

For service dogs. So it's important to let the USDA accredited vet who's filling out the health certificate know that that dog is an active service dog.

And that they should request that they should request that the endorsement be waived.

So the endorsement occurs within 10 days of travel. So this is This is where the timing is very important. So within 10 days of travel, the USDA accredited vet is going to submit the health certificate And then you're going to wait for the endorsement once the endorsement happens, then you're waiting for the

Actual embossed stamped certificate to come back.

Via FedEx. In most cases.

Recently in Mexico, your dog does get inspected upon arrival so um you still read the, it's still important to read the USDA requirements If you're going to Mexico, Canada, or countries that have additional guidelines for importing dogs.

Or different guidelines for importing dogs you may not need the international health certificate, but there might be other concerns such as screw worm and foot and mouth disease. So it's important to look at every location even if you've traveled there before, because those things are always changing screwworm

Has um recently has his recently shown up in the US and it was eradicated many years ago. So they're on heightened alert to make sure it does not get a foothold in the US. So they're looking at all animals.

And not just livestock They just want to make sure the dog or any other animal is not bringing potential pathogens into the US or parasites.

So that's the a rough idea on international travel.

And then we'll touch on returning to the US in a moment.

I'm going to turn it over to Melissa at this time.

That would be.

Okay, awesome. Thanks, Dr. Quigley. I actually have one question about timing.

That I just want to make sure people are clear on. So once the USDA that has conducted the examination and, you know, and then sent everything off to the USDA to be endorsed. Can they send it off to the USDA?

To be endorsed well in advance and it's just that the endorsed certificate has to be received back Within 10 days of travel, did I understand that correctly?

Right. So, well, it varies from location to location. But if you have to In most cases, you have to submit the health certificate within 10 days of travel.

So they, you know, the health certificate might be, you might be able to have the exam done ahead of time, you might be able to do some things ahead of time.

And have everything filled out and then just all they have to do is hit submit.

Within the 10-day guidelines. There can be additional requirements.

That needs to take place within say three or four days of travel, such as antiparasitic medications so It's important to know all those guidelines ahead of time and discuss them with the USDA accredited vet so that that health certificate

It's important for the grads to know when the health certificate kit is going to be submitted and when they can expect it back.

Okay. Okay. Gotcha. All right.

Thanks for that. All right. So now I'm going to talk a little bit about what you can do to be an informed self-advocate.

And these are things you can start doing as soon as you decide that you might want to you know be accompanied by your dog in this country that you're going to all right So one of the things to remember is that access laws vary widely between countries and so does enforcement. Some countries don't actually have very clear

Access laws because you know service animals aren't very common in some countries. So you want to get as much information as you can well before you go. And this can actually help you with what Dave was talking about at the beginning as far as helping inform you about whether or not you're going to

Bring your dog with you. So one thing that you can do is find out if there's a guide dog school in the country that you're visiting and whether or not it's accredited by IGDF, which is the International Guide Dog Federation.

The seeing eye is an accredited member of the International Guide Dog Federation, which means that we and other accredited members have to abide by certain standards, right, to get and maintain that accreditation.

And there may be countries that have guide dog schools that are just not accredited by IGDF. And it's just good to know You know, to know a little bit about that. If you want to look into this, you can check our webpage. If you go to the international travel page and how you get there

Is you can go to seeingi.org slash advocacy. Or access. You can put in either one of those terms, but just think about advocacy, seeingi.org slash advocacy.

And then you can go from there. There's a link to our international travel page. So one way to do this, one easy way to do this is to go put in seeingi.org slash advocacy into your browser. If you want to bypass the stuff on the landing page, if you're a JAWS user, you can just do insert F7.

And hit R for rights and legal information. Hit enter, go back to your links list, do insert F7, and then hit I and it'll take you right to international travel if you choose to navigate that way.

That's how I often do it because I'm familiar with the website.

So when you look there, we have on our international travel page, we have a link to accredited guide dog schools on the International Guide Dog Federation page.

So, um. What I would suggest is if you learn by looking at the IGDF website which is linked there, that there is an IGDF accredited school in the country that you're going to be traveling to reach out to that school.

Just say, you know, my name is so-and-so and I am a guide dog handler and I have a dog from the seeing eye and I'm going to be traveling to your country. And I thought that you would be the best person to tell me about what I might experience and face in terms of access to places with my dog.

What kind of pushback I can expect, whether or not it's legal for them to ask me for my ID, So it's always good to have your seeing IID on you.

And how these laws are generally enforced. Is there anything that I can call upon you for while I'm in the country if I get stuck, what sort of support, if any, would you be able to provide me?

I am aware of one situation where somebody was traveling to France and they discovered for whatever reason, I don't think they had their seeing IID with them. That was just a thing that they forgot to bring. And so they reached out to the French Guide Dog School and the French Guide Dog School said, okay, well, we'll give you an ID that you can use while you're in country. So that was something that was helpful to this person because they were being asked for ID left and right. And it was not against the law.

Like it is here in the US. So that's something to keep in mind. Another thing that I think is a really good idea But you want to make sure that you are a good consumer of information if you do this, is to reach out to other guide dog handlers

And you can do that on social media You can ask us if we happen to know anybody who's traveled to this country. There are ways that you can get in touch with people. We used to have a program and it sort of has, I think social media has kind of taken its place but

We used to have a list of people who have traveled to various places and would agree to be travel mentors that if you're going to be going to this country.

You could call us and we could say, oh, yeah, we have somebody we can connect you with But I think that has that model has shifted a bit You know, due to the presence of social media but if you

Have, if you are well-traveled And you have not already offered yourself as somebody who would be willing to be a resource for people who are traveling and you would like to do that. Like I've traveled to a million countries and I'm happy to talk to grads about my experience and I don't know if the seeing eye knows that I'm willing to do that.

Just send an email to advocacy at seeingi.org. And we would be happy to be happy to have you as a resource.

So, but if you are going to consume information on social media about what people's experiences have been in various countries and how they handled situations.

And it could be information not just from other grads, it could be from all over the place. I strongly advise you to be a kind of a savvy consumer of information. And if this person is saying something that doesn't sound right to you or it sounds

Like something you wouldn't want to do, go with your gut.

And verify the validity of that source. It would be a really good idea if you're traveling or you can feel free to reach out to us and ask us for what's known as a certification letter.

It's probably a good idea just to have this if you're traveling international anyway. You're seeing IID is a good thing to have.

But this letter is basically something that we can easily generate for you that says, you know.

So-and-so has completed training at our program with Fido.

Which is a black male lab and the Seeing Eyes accredited by the International Guide Dog Federation. It's a very basic letter, but it kind of legitimizes your dog If you run into trouble when you're traveling internationally.

And you feel like you're being questioned or maybe you're at customs and you get a weird official who doesn't seem to get it. That's something that you can provide. And also, it might be of assistance to your USDA vet if they need something

To send along in order to get the endorsement fee waived for your USDA or CFIA. I am unsure And I'm realizing this now, and maybe there are some Canadian some traveled Canadians on this call who can help me with this. But I realize that I'm not certain if CFIA waives

Those endorsement fees or not. I don't really know. Or if there is a fee even. So that's something that I'd like to get a little bit clear on myself. I'll just admit that.

Don't assume that the country that you're going to has laws equivalent to the US or Canada in terms of access and in terms of what you have to show or provide. So, you know, if you're asked if you're in a country where

The law says that you have to show ID for your dog or you don't know if that's what the law says, but it might say that.

I would not suggest arguing. I would suggest just complying in those situations. Enforcement of laws varies.

Country to country. We have enough problems. I hate to say it, but we have enough problems with enforcement here in the US and not necessarily being able to take for granted that the police know the law that we're talking about or they're going to enforce it the way

We think they should. So given that you know that about the US, you may want to think twice about how far you push things with police in countries where you don't live and where you may not be as conversant in the language as might behoove, you know, might be beneficial.

These are just things, some of them seem kind of self-explanatory, but they're just things to keep in mind.

Because it can get in the heat of the moment, it might be easy to forget those things.

So that's what I want to say about that. I'm going to turn it back over to Dr. Quigley.

And I will chime in with, well, actually, I'll start us off.

Sorry about that with returning to the US. Our expert is going to come in in a minute, but I just want to say a couple of things. Now we have a regulation in place Which kind of blindsided everybody and you you may have

Been some of the people that participated in our CDC webinar that we did last spring.

So in May. 2024, the CDC announced that there was a dog import regulation going into effect on August 1st. And it did in fact go into effect. But before it did, we were conducting a webinar And on the new regulation. And as we were doing that

As we were doing that, literally the CDC was making, Dr. Quigley was watching things on the website change.

If you recall that, I know I remember that because the CDC was making changes to the regulation as implemented.

Or what was going to be implemented of the regulation and relaxing the implementation of it as we were conducting the webinar. So if you've gone back and reviewed our webinars and you find that that one is a bit disjointed, that's why.

Because things were changing under our feet. But now where we are is that if you are returning, I'm going to focus for a minute on Just the general, when you come back to the US from any country.

Now you have to complete before you return a CDC dog import form.

The last time we came together, there were still a lot of issues around the accessibility of the form.

It isn't, it's a sort of now it's accessible. It's sort of a clunky workaround the CDC has created a separate screen reader, text-based friendly form, as opposed to just making the original form fully accessible.

So, but if you are returning to the US from a low risk rabies or rabies free country, you can complete the form and there are very few fields that are absolutely required. It's pretty basic. Your information, the dog's name.

And a couple of other pieces of information. But now it is accessible.

Albeit in a sort of strange and not very sophisticated way.

And then once you fill out the form you will and submit the form, you will receive a receipt that is emailed to you by the CDC. And that receipt is what you show at the border.

Before you return to the US with your dog. You can do that form a couple days ahead of time. You can do it a few minutes before you arrive at the border if you want to take that chance. You can do it on your computer. You can do it on your phone.

The key thing that you have to show is that receipt.

Now, one thing that has one thing that your receipt says and has confused a lot of people, but if you look at the receipt, they make this a little clearer is that if you are going from if you're coming back to the US from a

Low risk or rabies free country that receipt is valid for six months as long as you're just going back and forth between those two countries. So like if you are like if you live very close to the border between the US and Canada as some of our graduates do and as some graduates of other schools in particular, I think Leader Dog.

Do and do you just kind of go over the border to have lunch with your kids or your friends or you have family that lives there or you're just going shopping or whatever the situation may be.

You don't have to do, you know, obviously to get into Canada at this point, unless things change You don't have to do international health certificates or anything like that. You can go and then when you come, but before you come back, you just as at the border, you have to make sure that you're prepared

To show either on your phone or in your hand your cdc receipt. And if you went to Canada last week and you're going to be going there again in two weeks to see a show.

And you're coming back to the US, you can still use that same receipt. As long as you haven't been to other countries in the interim And as long as you You know, as long as it's within six months all right so

That is… the easy that's the easy. Oh, and what I want to say is um to find information about the dog import regulation and what you need to do in order to return to the US from another country, you can go to seeingi.org slash CDC. We've created a way to easily get there. So seeingi.org slash CDC, and it'll take you first to the low-risk

Requirements. But then, of course, there is a link to what you do when you're returning from a high risk country. And I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Quigley to talk more about that and of course say anything that I may have forgotten to say or said wrong or

Whatever that may be hopefully not There you go.

So as Melissa was saying, you do have to complete the CDC dog import form.

To return into the United States.

One thing to note about this is about this that when you travel outside the US, it's important to make sure that any rabies vaccines that were administered in the US are going to be still effective in the duration of the vaccine is is

Still valid through your entire trip. You don't want the rabies vaccine to expire while you're traveling.

That'll create several additional headaches for you. So the CDC import form to come back in And then… this whole period where they relax some of the international travel regulations is considered part of their transition period.

So the transition period is going to expire this summer on July 31st.

And additional regulations will start right after that. So right now you just need the CDC import form And if you're traveling.

Abroad and you're you're using a USDA export health certificate, that export health certificate can get you back into the United States.

I think. From what I understand is from both the lower risk countries and the higher risk countries until the end of July this summer.

As long as you meet the certain criteria. And the rabies vaccines have not, or rabies vaccine has not expired.

Starting after July 31st, you're going to need an additional form which is a certification of US issued rabies vaccination.

So this again is going to need to be filled out by an accredited veterinarian.

Through. The USDA.

Website.

And is that, Dr. Quigley, is that just for people coming back from high-risk countries?

Mm-hmm. That's just for high risk. Yep, exactly.

So to our knowledge, nothing, and this could change tomorrow, but as far as we know.

There isn't this new thing popping up for people from low risk coming from low risk countries.

Correct. At least not at least Not yet. This is the latest notification that i just Pulled off the USDA website today.

And this one only specifies high-risk countries.

Dr. Quigley, can you say a little bit about the differences between what is required on the CDC dog import form if you're just coming from a low risk country versus what you're going to have to have together to put on there if you're coming back from a high risk country.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put you on the spot there.

Let me take a look. They have… No, it's all right. I just want to make sure nothing has changed.

So for…

Oh, as far as the CDC import form.

There are all these new boxes that pop up if you say you're coming from a high risk country.

Yeah, and I can only…

My understanding, having had to test it for accessibility, is that if you're coming from a low risk country, you pretty much just have to put your contact information, the country that you're returning from and you know the dog's name. You don't even have to put the microchip number

There's not a lot that's required. It's not a very, in my opinion, a very useful form.

But that additional boxes appear once you check the box saying that you're coming from a high-risk country and you have to provide a lot of things like the dog's microchip number, and I believe you have to upload some photos of your dogs

Face and things like that so it's more involved.

That's everything I remember as well. Oh, and so the new CDC import form asks if you're using a screen reader to complete the form.

I don't know if that changes anything once you switch it to us.

Yep. Okay.

It does. So that's what I was talking about with the rudimentary way of dealing with accessibility issues rather than just make their form the same and accessible for everybody. They made a special one for us.

All right. So once you select that the dog has been to a high-risk country.

You'll need to fill out all your viewer information.

Your identification information as far as passport or driver's license information.

Your contact information. And the physical address of where the dog will be located in the United States.

Then you'll need… information on the guide. So everything from Name, age, sex, breed, colors, markings.

Um You would select service animal at that point And then microchip number and then images of the dog.

Then in the next section, you'll be asked for current and valid certification of U.S. Issued rabies vaccination form.

Or… In this case, a USDA endorsed export health certificate. Now, this is the portion that's changing after July 31st, in which case you'll need the US issued rabies vaccination form.

And you would most likely still have the export form with you.

As well. Yeah.

So or becomes an and again. Yeah.

And then… Last but not least is the signatures and the signatures verifying that all the information is correct. But yeah, those are the I don't think anything there really changed other than You can select that it's a service animal you can

It's a little more user friendly. You can drag and drop files for the images.

But yeah, that's all the additional information that is going to be required.

And are they clear about what parts of your dog they want images of or just images of the dog, just a picture of the dog.

There's insane. Directions so the attach a photo of your dog taking no more than 90 days before travel.

Dogs under one year of age. Well, that doesn't apply to any of our dogs. So a photo must be of the face and body.

It says see example below, but there is no example

And then you select your file.

Okay. Yeah. So if you have a picture saved of your dog or you could have You know, if you're like me, I'm not the greatest at taking pictures But what I would probably do is either use IRA Or be my eyes to take the picture or ask a sighted person to do it.

And then I would save it in a file and upload it into this form.

So that's a strategy I think that you could use if you If you don't have those options, then it gets a little bit more more complicated. But those would be my suggestions if you're wondering how the heck am I going to get this picture of my dog and get it in there.

I just wanted to add, though, another important thing to all this is that six month time frame all the forms require you to list any high-risk countries that the dog has been to in the past six months.

So if you travel to a high risk country, because I know a lot of our graduates travel quite a bit.

And you return to the US if you're traveling again within that six month timeframe, you're going to end up listing that same high risk country again and and going through the same process.

So if timing is at all adjustable, you might want to consider that when when making your travel plans, if you do have to go to a a high-risk country, maybe.

You know. Plan accordingly for any future trips so that you can avoid some of the Extra.

Regulations that are in place.

I think that's everything that we… we had to formally cover obviously this may be in flux.

We can tell you what we know today. There are some things that are going to stay the same, right? Like, you know.

Make sure you plan ahead and the usda export certificates, those things aren't going to change But if anything else changes with the CDC regulations, we will obviously update our graduates.

Again, if you go to seeingi.org slash advocacy, we'll try to we'll keep The information is updated as we have access to.

You can send us emails at advocacy at seeingi.org if you have questions, you can call us.

At 1-800-973-4000. 539-4425.

So that's how you can reach us. And did I say 1-800-973? Oh, gosh. Okay.

I think everyone knows what I mean. You can dial our 1-800 number And then 539-4425 or you know our Area code is 973.

What I want to say, though, is we are all aware that We are in a situation right now where we have a new administration. There may be differing attitudes toward regulations in general.

So we may see some changes that we are not expecting either these things going away or being relaxed or changing in ways that we don't expect.

All we can do is just get the information that we have and give it to you as soon as we can and distill it the best way that we can with you.

If Dr. Quigley or Dave do not have anything to add, I think we could probably open it up for questions. Do you guys have anything else you wanted to add?

I would just add that as we go to questions, Sandy, could you review the uh what we need to know about asking questions on Zoom?

Sure. It'll be my pleasure. So Alt Y is to raise your hand.

Alt A is to mute and unmute. And if you're doing it via phone call, star nine is to raise your hand.

Of course and to lower it. And star six is to mute and unmute.

So we'll start and we have one question. And this is from Vernon. So Vernon, I'm going to allow you to talk now.

Please unmute yourself. You're muted now.

Great.

Let me share with you guys. I learned the hard way in my business travel.

That traveling to multiple countries on one trip really presents the USDA a problem.

They will. I was told that they will not certify Because they can't guarantee problems in the previous country you've been to?

That problem and then also it can present you a problem in the 10-day time frame that countries want the certification.

They definitely want that certification. To be from the US and not from another country.

So I would warn people. To try to avoid making multiple country stops on one trip.

Can you tell us what exactly happened to you, Vernon?

I had a business trip to Chile and I wanted to stop in Peru.

On the way to Chile. And I had a time compression. I actually ended up going to the USDA office you know in or in Sacramento, California.

And actually met with the officer and he initially refused. And frankly, I begged him And he said he would approve it, but he couldn't guarantee that Shelley would stand by it.

So when I got in Chile, obviously. You know, when he got in, but I also then was over the 10-day requirement for certification by one day ended up having to pay a vet there to certify my dog.

So it was just a hole. It was just money, of course, but also a big hassle.

Okay. Yes.

And I will freely tell people now that I'm retired. And I usually travel with my wife I frankly find traveling with my guide dog to be rather problematic. Even the foreign airlines just are a nightmare.

Vernon, when was this trip?

Oh, that trip was probably more than 10 years ago.

Ah, okay. So it's an important story, but it's also that time frame is helpful to keep in mind as well.

I would suspect it's even more complicated today. I found international travel with my guide, Doug.

You know prior to 10 20 years ago, absolutely easy.

True.

Well, thanks for that perspective and For sharing that.

Okay, thank you, Vernon. I'm going to Okay, so now we have Emily. Emily, I'm allowing you to speak, please. You unmute yourself.

Yes.

Can you hear me? Okay, so I have actually just started the process of my international certification. So I am actually traveling to two countries. I'm going to England and I'm also going to Scotland.

And I know you guys didn't mention this, but this is for travel in the US or even if you're traveling internationally.

You do have to still fill out the DOT, Department of Transportation form and if your flight is over eight hours, you have to fill out the

Relieving attestation.

Yep.

Not say that. Yeah. So I just wanted to mention that um So, but anyway so My question is, so I I have a round trip ticket already to England, but when I get to England, I'm in London, I'm actually going to be taking

To get into Scotland, I'm going to be going by train.

So… I don't know, is there going to be some type of a border like a like a customs that I will have to go through And also, I still cannot find a definitive answer out about because Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and England, they're all part of um

The uk um I don't know. I've heard different things, but I really can't find out a solid answer. I've even asked the vet if I'm going to need one or two international certifications. And then I do want to comment, I've been learning about this because I have friends in these countries

As well that have been helping me And one of the things is they do offer Just if you ever travel to the UK.

On all their trains. They do provide assistance just like they would in the airport to let you guys know that.

Which is really great. And then my one other question is about traveling with dog food. I have looked up on the site for traveling to England.

They do allow you to bring two

Kilos, I think is how they weigh it, which is like 4.7 pounds of dog food.

And my dog has to have a special, my dog has a very sensitive stomach.

And it's about the only dog food she can get. And it's only a five pound bag and i mean Is it really going to be that big of a deal if it's like three tenths of a pound more bringing that over. And keep in mind, my dog and I are vegan, so we're not bringing any animal products into the

The country, which I think helps in so Yeah, those are my questions.

My guess is they're not going to weigh your dog food.

Okay.

They'll eyeball it and and they'll The other thing is there is no border between Scotland and England.

Free travel between the two. So you should be fine.

I would always encourage you to have your paperwork with you, but there's no border crossing between the two.

So would I not need an international certification for Scotland?

I'm pretty sure that is the case. Am I right, Dr. Quigley?

So you can…

Right. So Scotland, Wales, so you can travel freely between England and Scotland. It gets a little trickier if you're going to Ireland.

I'm not going. Yeah, yeah. I'm not um going there.

Yeah, so you'll just need the health certificate for the country that you're entering.

Okay. Oh. That's going to save me a lot of money.

To begin with, right? I mean, is that am i is that your understanding, Dr. Quigley?

You would put it for the… I think Scotland and Wales are included in the UK destination. So you would just select United Kingdom, Scotland, Wales.

Lasting chapter.

Yeah, they are. The only exception is the Republic of Ireland because it's no longer a part of

Right. I just want to mention one thing.

About travel to the UK and or Ireland. So all the dogs, if you graduated several years ago, things have changed. If you've graduated recently, you'll have noticed that the dogs are all leaving with one year rabies vaccines.

That is specifically to make it easier for our grads to travel internationally.

That first year they after graduating and leaving our campus. However, the important thing to remember is that what we call a one-year vaccine and a three-year vaccine may not be considered the same in other countries or in certain states to

At this point. It's important not to let any time lapse after when your one year vaccine is expiring.

You want to make sure you get the booster vaccine so you can either have another one year vaccine or a three year vaccine.

Before any time lapses. Otherwise.

Yes.

You may find yourself in a little bit of a a rough position of your vaccine not being considered, you know, a three-year vaccine that was given, say, a couple of years ago.

And you might need to be revved and have the guide revaccinated, but the dog has to be revaccinated.

At least 28 days before you travel. So again, timing is everything.

That's important. Get those things worked out ahead of time.

Okay, thank you, Emily. I'm removing your permission to talk.

Sure.

And I just want to say before we move on to the next question, I want to say something that Emily, I thought what Emily said about the DOT forms and other things that this is all very valid Our focus today.

And perhaps it would have been, this is a nice learning experience um In terms of how we couch the title of the webinar, we called it an international travel webinar perhaps a way to describe this would be the import and export requirements or export and import requirements for international travel.

In general regardless of whether it's air travel or some other means of travel however So that's why we haven't focused on that as much. But Emily makes a really good point. Like when you're When you're thinking about this stuff, you're also going to want to make sure you remember

That when you're flying, you still have to do your DOT form and you got to figure out how that airline is doing it. And if your flight is eight hours or longer, you do have to do that relief attestation form.

Which basically you're going to put on there that either your dog can hold it for eight hours or that you have a plan for what to do if your dog can't. And our dogs generally can if we have appropriately fasted them

You know, before that kind of travel But there are some airlines foreign airlines, you know, that where if your destination is not like, for example, if you have a leg that isn't in the US, and even if you do.

There could be some additional forms that those airlines might require or some additional requirements.

So for example, I know that British Airways.

Likes to make people like to make people have what's called a safety harness with them it's like like a seatbelt.

Car harness that they want you to have with you and put on your dog when you're flying Because they think it's safer. And that's if you get to that point where you're dealing with that, that's something that we can discuss with you in more detail.

I think it's not, we don't agree with this. We don't think it is safer. We don't think it's helpful.

But it's something that you should at least have with you if you are flying British Airways. So my point is.

Not to scare you, but just to say If you're dealing with an airline.

That is not a US airline. Make sure you know what potential additional requirements they may have.

And make sure that you have an understanding of what those are.

So that's especially if that's the leg of your journey does not have a US origin or destination.

Great. Thanks, Melissa. So Austin, I'm allowing you to speak now. Austin chapter You can unmute yourself now.

Oh.

Okay, sorry, I didn't change my name, but it's Pamela. But um I just had a quick thing.

I went to Scotland, Ireland before and that was terrible. I didn't end up taking a dog because it was too stressful to figure out how to do these things.

And I waited too late. And so that's why I kind of joined this thing today because I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing.

And I appreciate all the information you guys have given so far.

I'm going to Italy and Greece. And so whenever it was mentioned that maybe two countries would be an issue.

If you don't know right offhand where exactly would I find out like I know before I found out those two just because I just Like, I didn't even know anything about the union and all that. We were doing that research so

Where do I… exactly find out this is this is going to be an issue or not.

Take that, Dr. Quigley?

Yeah, so it's so I think the important thing is to talk to your USDA accredited vet and look at the regulations for both countries.

And all the requirements and make sure you have a timeline in place ahead of any travel.

Okay.

Are you arriving and leaving from the same country or are you arriving in one and leaving from the other.

Arriving in one and leaving from the other.

And I…

Okay.

Through an EF education tour. So we're going through a whole organization

I would definitely do the proper research there. I can attest to the fact there's a guide dog school in Italy And there is, I think, one in Greece.

So that's…

Is Greece a high-risk country?

I believe Greece is on the list. Bye.

I think it is.

But I don't think Italy is, is it?

I think you're correct, Melissa, with both of them.

Pamela, how long is the trip? And are you traveling in a group? Does it sound like

10 days. Yeah, it's with a Girl Scout group. So we're going to be with a group and it's July 6th or 15th. Thank goodness it's before the 31st i guess but

That's good. So are you returning before the 31st? Absolutely.

Oh, excellent. Okay.

Yeah, I'm returning on the 15th. But I mean, I really depend on my dog and, you know, when I went on the last one just just felt, I was like, man, I would be so much faster and all those things. So I'm trying to make sure this time that I do everything

That I feasibly can. And then if it still is too stressful, then I'll make those decisions.

Are you entering Italy? Which country are you going to first?

Okay.

Italy.

Okay, so it sounds like you're going to need Obviously, the International Health Certificate to get into Italy, that's going to be your USDA accredited paperwork.

And that's going to depend on the regulations for Greece.

I don't know, Dr. Quigley. Going from Italy to Greece I guess that…

And that's Depending on what

That's not even USDA, right? Just whatever greece wants from Italy.

Right. Well, it could be what they want from a dog arriving from Italy or it could be what they want for the dog coming from the original destination of the US.

Right. Oh, okay.

I don't see Greece on the high risk list. So I thought it was there as well.

Thank you.

I'm not seeing it right now. And I don't see Italy either. So that'll make things a little bit easier.

But yeah, I would definitely walk through the whole trip and all the dates and everything with your accredited veterinarian that's doing the health certificate.

And just make sure that your rabies is valid through the entire trip.

Okay.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Right in heaven.

And it sounds like she can just do the CD to return to the US, do the CDC dog import And can she put both low risk, since it's low risk I'm not recalling, is there a way to put two countries on there or does she need to do two separate forms?

Right.

I believe it's the one form and you're just attesting to the fact that the dog has not been to any high-risk countries within the last six months.

Okay.

And you can put the i think you might be putting the country you're leaving from putting But you're attesting to the fact that it hasn't entered any high risk countries.

Yeah.

So that makes things easier. Good.

And crazy quick question if I don't have that because my dog is… 11. I don't have the ID anymore. Am I able to just ask for it from the school?

Yes. You can contact admissions and ask for another ID.

Okay. Awesome.

Perfect. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Pam. I'm going to mute you now. And we're going to Anne.

Anne M. Anne, I'm allowing you to speak now.

Ann?

Yes, thank you.

Thank you. Can you hear me? Good. Thank you. Okay. A response to the not a very clear one, but still a response to the questions about about.

Are guys the agricultural department that certifies the dogs. So it's been quite a while I was in Germany a few years back.

But not, and yes, I paid the fee. I don't, I suspect that hasn't changed, but it needs to be It needs to be checked out. Of course, I didn't go anywhere during COVID and that seems like forever these days.

I am going to be traveling to Ireland this summer, but I will talk to you folks separately about that because I don't have any questions about you know traveling from the US because I'm not going to be But I have some questions.

And so early next week, maybe I'll give you a call.

Sounds good. But you're saying you had to pay the endorsement fee.

I had to pay the endorsement. I certainly had to pay the fee way back when.

Okay. All right.

And how are they finding out? You know, whether I have to pay the fee.

Yeah, ask, ask. Ask CFIA, ask them Ask your vet, definitely.

Yeah. Yeah. All my… Go ahead. Sorry.

And… The important thing is the important thing is Oh, sorry.

So the USDA accredited vet may charge fees for the health certificate.

But I'm not going. I'm Canadian. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I thought you were talking to me. Apologies for that. Sorry.

Portion. No, I just wanted to let everybody know that Oh, no, you made me think of it.

Oh, okay. Yes, of course. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Which might be helpful to some of the other grads that if you're Basically, you know hiring a USDA accredited vet to fill out the health certificate they they will charge fees for that.

The only fee that's waived, I mean, they might you know, depending on that specific vet they can They might offer discounts or they might offer discounts For the health certificate, but they don't have to.

But they don't have to.

The only fee that's waived is the actual endorsement fee that the USDA, the USDA got, you know, the government is charging.

Just to clarify on that, because sometimes the more expensive fee is what the accredited vet is charging to complete the form.

Hmm.

Yep. Yeah, so it's is the governing body going to waive the fee is what we're talking about, not the vet.

That's all I just wanted to mention.

Right. Okay. Thank you. Talk to you next week.

Okay. Thanks, Anne. I'm removing permission. So now we're going to Fannie.

Fannie, I'm allowing you to speak, please. Unmute yourself.

Audio now unmuted. Can you hear me? Hi.

Hey, Fanny. Fannie's very well traveled.

Yes.

At least to France. But I have a couple of questions. So while I was in France last summer.

The closest USDA vet is about 40 miles from here. I have to get someone to take me.

That cost me $220. I didn't get the papers until… I got my congressional representative involved And then they came the same day.

But so that all made me very nervous. So when I was in Paris, I got my vet there to give me a um a passport for a passport for for Baxter. And normally, as I understand it I don't need to go through all that

As far as France is concerned. But I'm just a little bit anxious because I'm just a little bit anxious I'd hate to get there and And then find out that they don't let me on the plane.

So I'm thinking I'll do it once again with the 200 and whatever. By the way, how much is the USDA, how much is that?

Fee. Do we know like to get the endorsement.

Dr. Quigley?

Yep, I'm just waiting for it to unmute the um endorsement fees just changed.

Within the past couple months. The… I think the current endorsement is close to 200

That's what's waived for service animals.

How much? Sorry.

I believe it's gone up. I think it's Yeah, 171 or closer to 200

But that…

So I'm wondering if I ended up paying that. Okay, so it is about 200, the endorsement fee.

It used to be much lower.

But are we not correct that isn't that waived for service animals but your veterinarian could be charging you we've…

I have to check that, but I want to be able to check that yeah Okay.

Right. Yeah.

Yeah, so that should be waived, but your veterinarian could charge you between $300 and $800 for all the paperwork that they have to submit.

Oh my goodness. I guess I got a good deal. Because it was 200-something.

Um…

There you go.

And the other thing is, Fannie, whatever you talked about paying in Paris is separate. And I'm not understanding what that was about.

So I got a passport so normally Normally with, so I have a European passport for Baxter now.

Which means that theoretically he can come into france As long as the vets put all the information in, you know, every time he gets a vaccine or whatever.

For France. That's a substitute for the endorsement from the USDA. So I'm just a little nervous about using it.

Even though, you know, so I'm thinking that one more time I'll go to the airport I'll show the passport first. If there's no problem, I'll assume that's good for the next time.

But I had another question linked to If I understand correctly, the CDC form we can fill out by ourselves. We don't need a vet visit coming back.

Yes. Correct. You can do that on your computer or on your phone and you can do it right before you return to the US.

Okay, so you guys have no information about the passports or if other people have used

I'm not sure. Yeah, Dr. Quigley, I'm not… conversant in the European Union. I think you're talking about the European Union pet passport, right?

Yes, yes.

Yeah, I think. I think it's specific to France maybe even. That was my recollection when we were there um I'd have to look it up again, but it's definitely, I know we broached this in France and it gives you

It's kind of like an ID pass. Like we would use our ID card here it just gives you our proves your legitimacy, despite the fact that you have an IGDF accredited stamp on your stamp on your on your CNI ID card.

I am.

I thought she was talking about the pet passport. The European Union pet passport

Okay.

So that, according to the vet in France. They shouldn't stop me. And when I looked on the remember that hassle I had with air freight?

Air France did say you either needed the USDA or the pet passport.

Yeah.

So I'm just wondering if a pet passport that's issued in France, even though I'm initiating my trip in America.

Would still be valid. Is there some way you guys could help me look into that?

What do you think, Dr. Quigley?

Yeah, I'd have to do a little digging um I mean, even the fees are are not accurate on some of the sites here.

Getting different fees on different pages. Let me do a little digging on the… on the passport in France and see if there's anything I can come up with.

We can get back to Fannie.

Thank you. And just to I appreciate that. And in response to the person who is traveling to Italy and Greece.

Since they're both in the European Union, that would be another question about once you're in the European Union, do you really need other paperwork to go from country to country? Because, you know, well, anyway, that's my question.

So one thing I'm wondering is I think you'll need the How long are you spending in France?

Probably two months.

So what I'm thinking, you'll need the USDA accredited health certificate For your return.

Oh, really?

Yes. The CDC dog import form.

Because I think you'll because it's not a high risk country. So I think you get the health certificate That'll get you over there and get you back into the country along with the pet import permit yeah Exactly.

But you're raising another question for me. So if I go to France with a pet passport.

Which means I don't get the USDA endorsement Are you saying that I'll still need the USDA endorsement to come back?

Yeah, so that's what he's saying. It's not a good idea not to get the USDA health certificate.

To go because you'll need it along with your CDC dog import form.

I see. So now I need it regardless, period.

In which case you're still going through an accredited bet, right?

To return. Or unless you want to deal with getting the US certification of vaccination, you know, which is just as bad. So you may as well Right.

Wait, what's the other option? Sorry.

The other option would be to get the certification of US vaccination of your dog.

But you don't there's no that would just be more annoying and so it would just be better to do the regular international health certificate to go to France. I you know i think we'll do some research on the European Union pet passport but i think that it

To Emily's point, I think it's um Or I think to your point about Emily's travel, that may help you if you're traveling between countries in the European Union, but we're going to verify that.

I see.

Exactly. No, that's exactly um what I'm seeing is that you can travel freely between European Union countries, but it might not be at all helpful getting back into the US.

So does that mean? Go ahead.

You'll still end up needing a usda form, whether it's the US rabies certification or whether it's the export form that you're returning with. I think the I think the export form will be your best bet after July.

Well, that's for high risk, right? Yeah.

31st, you may need both. Oh, sorry for high risk, so… It's just going to be the import form. Yeah, so if you leave with the export form with the USDA, you would be able to return with that form plus the CDC import form.

Yeah, so that's really your best bet.

I just happened. I just happened to have it with me when I came back because I usually get rid of it. I've never been asked for it before.

On coming back into the States. So one last clarification.

But the CDC regulations had not come into effect when you traveled. It started till August 1st.

And yet they asked me for the USDA form when I came back, which was July 5th.

Okay.

One last clarification, because one of the things that makes me anxious about that whole last minute thing is.

Getting it back with the FedEx in time. If I got the rabies certification thing, would that still have to be with that window of waiting for the FedEx thing to arrive before I leave.

Or can I get that like three weeks ahead of time and not have to worry about that last minute? Will that FedEx package arrive.

No, you would still have to do for the yeah for the for the export certificate, you're still going to have to deal with that. That's just standard.

I see. So whether it's the endorsement or the certificate, same business 10 days ahead of time.

Mm-hmm.

Okay, thanks.

Okay, thank you fanny and removing our permission to talk now. And we're going to Suzanne.

Suzanne, I'm allowing you to speak. Please unmute yourself.

Webinar. Hey, everybody. Thank you. You may have said this at the very beginning. I came in late.

But I'm wondering about passing through countries in transit changing planes.

So you're getting off the plane to change to another plane. You're never leaving the secure area. Say I'm going to Denmark through Germany.

What would be the need for paperwork for the country in transit.

Yeah, but there's just a delay when I hit unmute, it takes a minute.

Do you get my question? Okay. Yeah. Okay. Sorry about that. It's been a bad week for me.

Yeah, we're stumped. Can you hear it? Can you smell it, Vernon? Yeah, Dr. Quigley?

Sure. So it's all going to depend on that country's requirements.

Okay.

Whether or not you need a transit certificate, right?

Right. And depending on, so is this just the two countries

Yeah, that would be it. Yeah, as far as I know, I haven't looked into travel yet directly, but… I have a hunch there's going to be a stop somewhere.

Okay.

I just have that hunch.

Good hunt.

So you're flying, you're flying one country through another.

Landmark via…

Denmark. Yes. But in any case, whatever case what would the rule be? Because I might go through France to there. I mean, it depends on what the… quickest route for a dog going would be and all that other stuff too.

Reach.

I think it's going to depend on what the requirements are like your USDA accredited vet is going to have to have that conversation with you about Okay, am I going to need a transit export certificate for this country that I'm flying into and you want to know

You know you want to be you want to be talking you want to be looking at what those options are and talking to them Dr. Quigley, did that make sense? Sorry, go ahead.

Exactly. Okay.

Yeah, in most cases it's going to be Yeah, in most cases, it's going to be best to… go directly to the final destination.

If you can, sure.

If you can. And then if you have to travel through other countries.

I don't think you go through customs, do you when you when you're changing planes?

Yeah, it's going to depend on whether you're going to going through customs the first stop or whether It all happens at the last stop and then whether the dog is going to be able to Not typically, but typically But then the dog might not be might not

I have.

Return to you. The dog might just be transferred to the next plane and not let out or anything.

Yeah. So sometimes you can also look into… there's certain companies that deal with pet transport and they might be able to You know, let the dog relieve itself and stuff at different airports but Those are all like private companies and i wouldn't

Well, I mean, the dog would be with me on the plane so

Right. Yeah, she wouldn't want to be separated from

Know too much about them. Oh, right. I mean, if you have the dog with you on the plane then um it's just a matter of where you can go in the airport.

But I think the question is, do you need a transit certificate when you're just changing planes.

Right. That's my question.

Like that.

Yeah. Yeah. I think it's still yeah you'd have to talk to the USDA accredited vet and see what's possible.

Okay, great. Sorry to stop you, Dave.

And any USDA accredited vet right you know I mean, these are, so some of these questions that are being asked are things that are things that Even if somebody happens to be a USDA accredited vet, some of these questions like the one that is just asked and is very valid

Are not things that are not USDA accredited vets are just going to have memorized. That's something that, you know, knowing that they have an appointment with you, knowing that this is what you're going to be asking about, that's something that they would have to do some research with you on.

So that's something I wanted to put out there because these things change so much.

Any USDA accredited vet would still have to look these things up on their end and work with you on this.

Yeah it might be a good thing for you guys to check out too and see if there's any particular rule in general about it.

But I think it varies by country is is what is being said.

Okay, okay. All right. Thank you much.

Okay. Thank you, Suzanne. Okay, thank you. Removing that. And our last question, I know we've gone a little above, but let's do Victoria post.

Welcome.

Victoria, I'm allowing you to speak. Please unmute yourself.

Assuming that we're tight. One thing I wanted to clarify, I am in the process of setting up a trip to France, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Fortunately, they're all EU companies and that passport really is just from country to country to country So I'm real clear that everybody's been very clear with me that I also have to do that USDA certificate. And that's what I've done in the past.

Sounds sounds good.

Um so Yeah, but for Suzanne, if you're changing planes, it might actually help to have that passport, which my vet gave me here.

There you go.

Oh.

That was good for all the EU countries because then you're in because Germany there, so… That was what I wanted to say. Thank you.

Right.

Right.

And the question then becomes, is it worth financially to do that for just that transit. And I think it depends on that country's regulations.

Yeah, exactly. Yep.

So we'll lower your hand in age right

Then you have the option of you know, going through customs in the first letting the dog park, getting something to eat yeah If you wanted to take a longer stop, then you have the option to do that and then trans

No lower. Yeah. Yep.

Continue your travel from there.

Thanks.

Thank you, Victoria.

And one thing I want to just say You know, as we start to close here is There are things about this topic that we are not going to have the perfect answers to because these are all things that you know we can we can prepare this webinar and talk about the general principles, but this is just a good example of how

Each situation, the information is going to have to be looked up and researched because they're they're specifics for each country and there are things that are constantly changing.

So thank you for your patience as we sort of have navigated some of these issues with you.

Do we have any more questions, Sandy?

I believe we're out of time, Melissa. So we're done.

Dave?

Yes. Thanks, everyone, for joining us and uh If you have further questions, please call us next week and we can address your issues individually.

Thank you.