Pet Quarantine Issues

Shipping our miniature schnauzer Scottie involved a long trail of paperwork and a good deal of $ - but it's done, he's arrived!

Back in Sg, we shopped around for a pet exporter who could take care of all the paperwork, including providing a cage that met AQIS's requirements, sending Scottie for the required vaccinations, obtaining the AQIS Import Permit, securing a place for him at the AQIS quarantine station in Spotswood, and of course, putting him on the plane to Melb. It cost us a little over $2k to get all that done.

We chose The Pet Hotel for its management's prompt attention to our email enquiries and good customer service over the phone and in person. All of their staff, from the manager to the handlers who came to pick Scottie up for his medical checkup, came through impressively. When we emailed the manager from Melb to find out if Scottie had arrived, he replied promptly that Scottie was due to arrive on 19 Sep, and sent us the AQIS Import Permit details so that we could contact AQIS.

The only thing left to do is to pay AQIS the charges due:
Accomodation ($17.55 a day for food and care)
Transport to the quarantine station (up to $120)
Entry fee ($10)
Doc clearance ($27)
Vet inspection ($71 per 1/2 hr)

The invoice is sent to our mailing address.

This afternoon, we drove to Spotswood (which is next door to Newport) and had a joyous reunion with Scottie, who spotted us from his kennel as we walked into reception and couldn't stop barking and leaping. We were taken to his kennel (which has an outdoor section where he can look out into the driveway, and an indoor section with his own lamp for warmth, and a fleecy bed - what a good life!), where he jumped on each one of us, hugged Cheng Ann and kissed Beth!

We were given a leash to walk him in the exercise yard until 4 pm, the end of visiting hours. What a fantastic time he had racing around with CA and Beth! Each yard is equipped with a dog bin with black bags for picking up after the dog, and a tin pail connected to an underground pipe and filled to the brim with water.

While we're only allowed 2 visits a week, we have liberty to bring treats, special dog food, a collar or leash or anything else we want Scottie to have. All we need to do is deposit the items in the kitchen in Scottie's designated cubbyhole.

Had a bit of trouble explaining to Beth why Scottie couldn't come with us when it was time to leave. There's a 30-day mandatory quarantine period for dogs arriving from countries like Sg. This is in keeping with AQIS' mission: Nature made Australia unique - Quarantine keeps it that way.

Note
When we were considering whether to bring Scottie, some people warned that the quarantine process could be cruel and suggested we re-home him. However, after viewing the quarantine station facilities for ourselves and seeing how happy and well-adjusted Scottie is, and how much the staff obviously enjoy caring for their charges, we have every confidence in the system.
To anyone who is considering shipping their pets when they move to Oz, we say go for it!