Hi

I have been offered a puppy from Finland and having no experience of importing a dog from another country, I wondered if anyone could help.  The breeder has said that the puppy needs to be at least 10 months old before it can come and I just wanted to know if this is the case.

Would be grateful to hear from anyone with any ideas.

Thanks

or older it all depends on the rabies vacc if it takes,
my puppies first shoot didnt take so had to start all over again so he would have been nearly 15 months before he came to the uk.

The puppy will need a rabies shot & can then be tested to check the titre level, the titre test can be done from 21 days or so after the shot, my vets prefer 28 days as they have never had an unsuccessful test at 28 days. You then have to wait for 6 calendar months from the date of the successful test( at the lab & not when the blood is drawn)& there are certain labs abroad whose tests are acceptable in the UK.

So the puppy will be around 10 months of age when the passport is valid.

If the titre test isn't high enough you can have another test done later, you don't have to start over with another rabies shot you can just take more bloods & submit them again.

I imported my girl from Finland last september and will be (hopefully) bringing in another one next summer,the litter not born yet so we will see if there is a suitable little girl there.
In Finland pups get their first Rabies jab usually at 14 or 16 weeks and then you have to wait for a month to get the blood and if the titre test proves the vaccination has taken, your 6 months wait starts to roll...
So I would say in the puppy will be about 11 months I think, as most vets do not want to give the rabies too early.
In Finland pups receive their first jab at 12 weeks, then another at 14... and the rabies is given last, usually at 16 weeks.

We drove there and found another person who had a dog going to Finland and saved in costs that way.
We took their boy to Finland on our way there and came back with my girl :)...
Sharing the costs.

Hi

I've recently imported a RR from Finland - he arrived on 11th June. He was 10 1/2 months old. The earliest he could have come in was 9th June, because of the timing of his rabies jab.

I ended up flying him over.

If I can be of any help, just ask :)
Carina

Thanks everyone for your replies I will just have to patient and wait until next year for the pup to come over :-(

>You then have to wait for 6 calendar months from the date of the successful test( at the lab & not when the blood is drawn

Do they have different rules overseas? In the UK it's 6 months from the date the blood with an acceptable titre response was taken, not when it was tested.

Defra information
"You will not be able to bring your pet into the UK under the Scheme until 6 calendar months have passed from the date that the blood sample was taken that gave a satisfactory result."

> You then have to wait for 6 calendar months from the date of the successful test( at the lab & not when the blood is drawn)&

Has this changed as it used to be 6 months from the date of the Rabies jab that yielded the sufficient titre level, as it used often to take a long time for the tests, with only a few labs accepted for doing them.

> Do they have different rules overseas?

Doh I was having a senior moment !!

Oh that is good.

Really must get around to doing Inka.

I have a quandary though.  I am most likely to want to take her to Scandinavia where some of the countries require the titre test to be more than 120 and less than 365 days after a Rabies shot.

I tried this with my Myka and she failed :(

So do I do Rabies then a month later one titre test and then later again a second, or do I do two Rabies shots and test 120 days after the last, or what?

If I get a positive result a month after testing I will be OK for rest of Europe, but if she then fails the 120 plus day one she won't be valid for Norway/Sweden.  Grrr.

Now she is over a year old with mature immune system are my chances of getting a good titre level better than if I had done her as a pup like her half sister Myka?

I had no problems with the oridnary month after with their Mum, but she won't be valid for Norway.

i imported a male tibetan terrier from finland and he arrived on the 30th of may firstly into heathrow and then on a flight to dublin he was 9 months and 1 week old

Ginastarr