Starting August 1st, 2024, bringing dogs into the United States will become more complicated.
This will impact clients who frequently travel to and from Canada or Mexico with their dogs. Due to cases of canine rabies found in dogs imported by various rescues and private individuals over the last few years the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has tightened requirements for all dogs (including service dogs) crossing the border into the United States regardless of their country of origin. In addition, dogs younger than 6 months of age will not be allowed to enter the U.S.
Dogs younger than 6 months of age will not be allowed to enter the U.S.
All dogs entering the U.S. will need specific documents, some of which will require endorsement by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). They recommend planning two months in advance of your planned entry into the United States.
The following link contains the information from the CDC, including a handy tool to guide you on what you will need. Please direct questions to the CDC:
https://www.cdc.gov/importation/bringing-an-animal-into-the-united-states/dogs.html
We recommend directing questions about how to handle this situation directly to the CDC.
We at Seattle Veterinary Associates will do our best to help with the required forms however the veterinary community was not notified about these changes until late May 2024. We are still learning the new rules and while most of our doctors are USDA certified they will now also need to register for the Veterinary Export Health Certification System. It will take some time for them to complete the required online training but without this registration they will not be able to fill out the new Certification of U.S.-issued Rabies Vaccination Form nor pay for its endorsement. This will slow down the process for you to acquire the proper documents for dogs to come back into the US. There will also be fees associated with this process to consider.
The document which is crucial to conforming with the CDC’s new rules for dogs entering the country has not yet been made public and is not expected to be available until July 15th which is adding a lot of difficulty and confusion to this rule change. We recognize this will cause difficulty for some clients who will be traveling prior to July 15th but returning after August 1st. At this point we recommend directing questions about how to handle this situation directly to the CDC.
Alternatively, you may be able to see a veterinarian in the nation you’re visiting to have them fill out a different form which then would need to be endorsed by that nation’s agricultural authority.
We strongly advise you to consider whether your dog absolutely must accompany you on your trip abroad this summer since without proper documentation they will not be allowed back home.