Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Moving to AUS with a dog

Will be moving to Australia for 18 months and would like to bring my dog. I've heard that you can bring a dog and not have to quarantine if certain paperwork is completed. Is this possible or just an urban legend. Any advice on pet services would be greatly appreciated.

Will be moving to Australia for 18 months and would like to bring my dog. I've heard that you can bring a dog and not have to quarantine if certain paperwork is completed. Is this possible or just an urban legend. Any advice on pet services would be greatly appreciated.

Australia is incredibly strict where quarantine of plants and animals is concerned. You will find information here: http://www (http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/cat-dogs/other).daff.gov.au/aqis/cat-dogs/other
you can do it, but for only 18 months, having the animal spend third of it or so in quarantine is probably not so favourable.

Like the above poster said, it's very difficult to take a dog to Australia. Plan on it being in quarantine for six months - very tough on the animal. When my fiancee returned to Oz she took her Spaniel and she's convinced that he was either traumatized or caught a communicable disease while in quarantine and passed shortly after he was released.

It looks like taking a dog to Oz will be difficult.

OTOH, if you were moving from Virginia to the real AUS (Austin, Texas), bringing a dog would be a snap! :)

The only countries exempted without the 6 month quarantine are NZ and UK.

I think one of the many reason for our strict laws is that we have never had Rabies here.

Forgot to mention it cost about $2,500 USD (not including airfare) for the quarantine fees, food, etc.
Guess you get a better bang for your buck if you have a large dog.

Slightly OT, but does anyone know the rule of bringing a Boston Terrier to Bali via BKK or SIN?

[QUOTE=DCATravel;8065329]Will be moving to Australia for 18 months and would like to bring my dog.[QUOTE]

Don't do it. It's expensive, involves a minimum 6 months in quarantine and is very stressful on the animal.

Visiting rights to visit your animal are also very limited.

There is also the risk of an outbreak of exotic disease which may result in all animals at that facility being put down. In these conditions it's unlikely that you'd be able to send your dog back to USA - the USA quarantine won't accept the dog.

You could consider getting yourself a dog in Australia and taking it home with you when you return. Because Australia is so strict it is probably easy to take a dog back to the USA!

I note warnings that all the quarantine facilities are booked out for at least 5 months from now.

Audrey

Just spoke with a friend in the RSPCA. It seems that there is one way to get the 6mo quarantine reduced to 30 days (from the US). You have to get a blood test for your dog which shows a negative Rabies titter at least 6mo before entering Oz. There is only one lab in the US that the Australian government recognizes. He didn't know the name off hand, but it's probably google-able. Supposedly it's pretty easy to get the dog back into the States at the end of your stint.

Just spoke with a friend in the RSPCA. It seems that there is one way to get the 6mo quarantine reduced to 30 days (from the US). You have to get a blood test for your dog which shows a negative Rabies titter at least 6mo before entering Oz. There is only one lab in the US that the Australian government recognizes. He didn't know the name off hand, but it's probably google-able. Supposedly it's pretty easy to get the dog back into the States at the end of your stint.

This is a similar process to the test you need for the UK Pets Travel Scheme - looking that up will give you the information. Most vets can draw the blood and send it to the lab in Ohio, it's not as bad as it sounds, although the rest of the process with Australia certainly is. Sad for us pup lovers - my SF dog would love to romp on Tallows beach at Byron...