Moving dogs 6,000 miles isn't easy

When we set out to send our dogs to Germany, we knew it wouldn’t be easy. Now looking back on the process, I am surprised we managed it. The biggest hurdle was the fact that it is impossible to find clear instructions / any kind of official checklist for moving dogs internationally. Each airline is different, each country is different, each city in each country is different, etc. Hands down, moving the dogs was the most confusing and difficult part of our journey to Germany– and this includes finding jobs, landing an apartment from 6,000 miles away with broken German, or getting visa’s (which Noah’s isn’t done yet). But we wouldn’t have done it any differently – especially when I see my furry babies asleep under the coffee table.

Also, I should let you know, that from here, this post is more to serve us as a reminder/reference for when we have to make another international move. So there might not be much entertainment value. Also, Noah did most of the pre-work, so I may not have all the details, but I know enough, and I definitely was there for our German side of the story.

Prework: Noah googled, called airlines, called government agencies, utilized countless blogs and ‘official’ websites, all trying to figure out the process. He would often find that you would get different answers from the USDA or the vet or the airlines depending on the person you talked to. All in all, this made for a very convoluted process. His mode of attack was to do everything he was told, even if someone later told him it wasn’t necessary. That way all of our bases were covered.

We also decided to go with Continental, as they would fly non-stop from Houston to Frankfurt – and we could pick them up ourselves in Frankfurt. That way we could avoid the small chance that something would happen during a layover.

Basically all we really needed was them to have international microchips and an up-to-date rabies shot. That was the easy part. The paperwork was the hard part. The fact that we started the process in Phoenix and flew them out of Houston didn’t help either – but the dogs now have vets in both cities! With us flying out January 4^th, and the dogs coming on the 20^th, this left a lot for my parents to do.

10 days before their flight, the puppies had to go to the vet for a health check and get the USDA papers filled out. My mother then had to overnight the forms to the USDA, have them add their official stamps, and overnight them back. Next they got faxed to continental, who proceeded to tell my mom that we didn’t need to do that as they are going to Frankfurt (though 2 weeks before we were told we did!). Then back to the vet 24 hours before for a form that says they are healthy to fly.

Now the dogs were ready in Houston to start their journey in their ‘3 sizes too big’ crates (what can I say, I wanted my babies to fly comfortably). They were dropped off at Continental, who gave my mom a tracking number. This turned out to be pretty worthless – it was updated after we picked them up.

Germany: Meanwhile we are driving from Munich to Frankfurt in snowstorms, 3 traffic jams, then rainstorms. The typically 4 hour drive took us over 6. The next morning we noticed their flight said it would arrive an hour early, at 11am. At 10:30am, we are at Cargo City Süd (all continental told us was to go there, then we have to clear customs….it would have been nice if they told us ALL the steps).

At Cargo City Süd, we are told to come back at noon. Like we could just run home and come back, and we didn’t have to get security clearance to even enter the cargo area! The next hour and a half we sat in the car, turning the car on every once in a while to heat up the seats (I love seat warmers!). With periodically warm butts, and anxiety creeping up, we head back up at 11:50. After waiting 15 minutes with no instructions, they finally give us 2 papers, charge us 30 EUR, and tell us to go to Tor 26. Ok – where is Tor 26?? About 4 miles away, on the other side of the gigantic Frankfurt airport. And we naively thought the dogs were being delivered to the building we were at…. Silly us!

Back to the car to find Tor 26. After driving for about 15 minutes (about 12:20 now, the dogs landed an hour ago), and another security clearance, we find the Lufthansa (Continental’s partner) animal building. Again, we stupidly thought we were going to see the puppies soon! We make our way upstairs (no signs to point us in the direction, of course), and walk into an office. Here the people are nice, and give us the rest of the dogs’ paperwork. We then are told to go to the other office on the same floor.

Here, the guy was not so nice. He was very condescending to our basic German, and even though he knew English, he would give all directions in German. Normally, this would be ok, but when we are dealing with German government documents, and getting our dogs cleared in a new country, we want to make sure we understand 100% what we are supposed to do. After paying another 175 EUR for some stamped form, he tells us, “Go to Lufthansa, Customs, then back to Lufthansa”. Ummmm…. where is Lufthansa? Customs? When we ask, apparently he meant the office on the same floor we were just at. He couldn’t say that???

Back to the Lufthansa office (as we now know it). We get two security cards, and a map to Customs (like I said, here, they are nice), and are told we should walk to Customs. 10 minutes later, we are in the Customs building. It is 1pm now. We wait for the next person, and explain in German that we want to pick up our dogs who are here. She asks if we are American. Yes. She hands us a form to fill out, and we see it is for the Army. We explain we are not with the Army, and she says she asked us. I guess American = Army. Got it. We try again to explain what we want – she takes it as we want to send our dogs here. No, they are already here. Now she thinks we want to live here. No, we already do. Finally, after a few more back/forwarths, she realizes what we are trying to do, and says she has to ask because she doesn’t know the process. And for the record, according to the nice German girl next to us trying to get her dog (from Tucson – small world!), our German was fine – the girl knew what we were saying.

1:20, done with Customs and back to Lufthansa’s office. Dogs landed 2 hours ago. L We wait in line again, and finally hand our forms over. We are charged 70 EUR for ‘storage’ (you know, the whole 2 hours we have been jumping through hoops and they had to watch the dogs – guess that isn’t included in the $1375 we paid for their flight), and they call down to get our dogs ready. We run downstairs and outside to wait for them. After 5 minutes, the door opens and they are rolled out. 1:40 – we have the dogs!!!!

When they are rolled out in their crates, they are just laying down. Once they realize we are there, the crying starts and Sadie is jumping on the door to get let out. At this point they love us – they are so relieved to see us. We walk them around a bit to let them go to the bathroom, then get them in the rental car. I sit with them in the back seat while Noah breaks down the crates (which were clean - thanks girls!!). Now I can tell they are not happy with me. Rita gets up and goes to the other side of the car, as far away from me as possible, and Sadie won’t look at me. I am officially the bad guy that caused the past 12+ hours of stress for them.

Noah gets in the car, and Rita starts ‘talking’. If you have met her, you know what I mean. After some attention, we decide to head out and find a park. Miraculously, not too far from the airport, is a wooded area with parking and many trails. I am their friend again when I have their leash, and we take them on an hour walk. I guess I redeemed myself, because they are both looking at me again. We pile them back in the car and head back home to Munich. They must have been pretty jetlagged because they were out the whole ride – only 4 ½ hours this time, thankfully.

Now it is the next day, and they are doing great in the apartment. We took them on a long walk in the Nympenburg park, and they have spent the rest of the day sleeping. I hope this doesn’t mean they are wide-awake all night, but then again, I can’t blame them if they are. Jetlag sucks, for dogs too.