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| Living life with the windows down |
One of our biggest challenges throughout this international move was to bring our dogs with us to Paris. Many of you have asked how they are doing, what the trip was like, and what it took to get them here, so here is the latest lowdown on Max & Coco:
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| Max |
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| CoCo Chanel Nornes |
Prologue: The Vision
To bring a dog to France requires a European Union pet passport (translation: tons of forms) plus the cost of the plane ticket. First you must determine if the dog, or in our case, dogs, will travel with you on the plane or in the hold. Of course, we have all heard or read the stories about pets dying in the hold, so horrors! Who wants to fly their dogs THERE? Myth busted! The hold was a great place to fly our dogs--it was climate-controlled, pressurized and they could bark to their hearts' content without disturbing the other passengers. One thing we have found is that here in France, they LOVE dogs, so flying Air France is a great choice for transporting pets. Also, if you bring your dog on board, the dog + the crate must weigh 13 kg or less and fit under the seat. Our dogs are about 10-11 pounds, plus even a soft-sided crate = more than 13 kg and I don't even know the metric system. If you are on a long flight (such as Houston-Paris) that is 8-10 hours, you won't be able to lay your seat down and sleep either, because there is no room for the dog in the crate and the dogs cannot get out once on the plane. Also, there are only certain dog crates acceptable for flight either on the plane or in the hold. You have to get the right one. (yes, Air France offers one for about $200....)
Episode 2: The Paper Chase
As mentioned earlier, many forms and documents are required to bring your dog to another country. In France, no quarantine is required, so at least that's easy. (The only easy part!) Each dog must be vaccinated against rabies, kennel cough and several other things I had never heard of, but here's the kicker: the rabies vaccine must be within a month of travel and also must be done prior to the microchipping (which must be an international microchip). The dogs must be examined and deemed healthy, parasite-free and ready to travel by a USDA-certified vet within 10 days of travel. So, you take the dogs for the exam, get all the forms filled out (there are about 6 pages for each dog) by the USDA vet and send to Austin (or your state's USDA headquarters). You overnight the papers to Austin, because USDA must overnight them back to you, so you can have the papers in hand for the flight to France. This can be seriously complicated when you have already made plans to go to your family reunion in Colorado for the 10 days prior to leaving the country. Did I mention the cost of boarding our dogs at the USDA-certified vet while we were in Colorado? (Aside: after printing out all the forms necessary for the dogs' travel, I left them on our bar, so the whole lot were packed by our super-speedy packers before I could blink twice. Lucky for us, we had our good friend, Bill, helping us. More about Bill later in The Credits.)
Episode 3: The Incredible Journey
We completed the forms, got the correct crates, shots, pills, Max & CoCo were deemed parasite-free and ready to go. Of course, I spoke to AF several times, including going out to the Houston AF gate to weigh the dogs in crates and speak to a supervisor. Reservations must be booked by phone to fly the dogs, so no booking online. Happily, Paul's company helped us with this part. Being nervous about flying with 2 teens, 2 dogs, 13 bags and moving to Paris, we arrived around noon for our 4:00 departure to Paris. AF only offers this direct flight once daily from Houston, so they suggested we arrive early to have extra time to check all the bags. Unfortunately, after getting checked-in and finding our flight was delayed until 6:00, we waited until 8:00 to find the flight was cancelled. So, our last night in Houston was spent at an Econolodge in Humble, but we had high hopes for the next day's flight.
Episode 4: Groundhog Day aka The Incredible Journey Day Deux
Did it all again--everything went really smoothly--dogs & family got on board flight to Paris. WHEW!!!
Episode 5: Up In the Air
Well, I couldn't ever sleep on the plane because I was worried the whole time about the dogs, but I did eat some really great food, have white & red wine along with some tasty champagne. Watched several excellent movies including "Argo"...or was that my flight in April? Can't remember now...But, when we reached Paris, the dogs came off the plane just fine. We immediately leashed them to let them relieve themselves. They were happy. Actually, neither of them pooped in their crates, which was a bonus, since our ride to the hotel took over an hour from the airport.
Epilogue: Dog Days of Summer
The dogs are adapting to city life with all its chaos. Their barking has lessened as they have adjusted to hearing so many people on the street below--we have no A/C, so windows are open all the time now. Living in a 3rd floor apartment has been a big change after having a big backyard with a pool. We put them on a schedule of walking morning, mid-day, afternoon and bedtime, which is working out great. Laura made a schedule in excel giving each of us all dog walking duties. We've only had a few accidents in the house, which is pretty good for 2 jet-lagged and spastic Yorkies. Max has had some stomach issues over the past year that we couldn't resolve, but after reading my friend Shelley Harrington's FB post about additives in dog food, I did some research to find some food that might help. It seems he could have food allergies, so I got him Fish 4 Dogs, which has no corn or wheat or any other gross stuff that is in some dog foods. He is doing much better (finally!) and has gained some weight. Easy to pick up poop, if you get my drift.
Our thanks and appreciation goes out to our friends, Bill & Tricia for helping us through the last few days of lost doggie paperwork, lost passports and FedEx-ing forms. Bill mailed our USDA forms to Austin, got them back and delivered them to us while we were in Colorado. He also printed them out again when they got packed. We also appreciate Champion Wood Animal Hospital & Dr. Osborne along with his peppy & helpful staff who filled out forms, stayed open late for us and boarded the dogs. Who knew a USDA-certified vet was my neighbor at Gleannloch Farms? Thanks also to the fine folks at AF who did a great job helping us out and letting me know the dogs made it on the plane after we took off. (WHAT?? There was a chance you would leave them?? I never though of that!!!!)
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| Max gazing at the pigeons from his 3rd floor vantage point |
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