Getting Dogs to Costa Rica
After making the decision to emigrate to Costa Rica we were left with a whole lot of planning. We had to purchase land; obtain an architect and builder; sell US property; and decide what to take in our the allotted six suitcases (my wife’s decision to fill hers with clothes is quite another story). Perhaps the most important issue to confront was how to get our pets here safely.
Initially we did a whole lot of reading about other peoples’ adventures, and the rather wide range of experiences really put us off doing it ourselves. We contacted professional pet movers for quotes whilst we continued to dig for the best information available on the Internet.
It took weeks to get solid information about our rabbit. Ultimately we learned that importing rabbits was not allowed by Costa Rica. Even if it were, we found absolutely no airline that was willing to carry our Hershey internationally. We did find a wonderful family for him and gained new friends in the process. It took about three solid months to re-home Hershey properly. A big thank you to the Taufmann family who adopted him!
This left our retriever mix and our pit bull mix. The pet movers came back with a quote of $4995- wow! We actually entertained driving from Chicago to Costa Rica when we got that quote. Our rationale was that it might be better to spend that kind of money on three weeks of travel adventures, and have the benefit of bringing a car to Costa Rica.
When we told family that we might drive, it panicked them; story after story of misfortune along the PanAmerican Highway quickly filled voicemail. My mother-in-law even offered to pitch-in to charter a plane. That would have been 20 grand. No dice. Darnit.
After much to-and-fro-ing we backed down from the idea of driving. The two options left were DIY international dog-moving or paying the experts big money to make things go smoothly. We opted in the end to pay for peace of mind.
We paid a $500 deposit and got the ball rolling. At first it was pretty easy; we received instruction lists involving vet visits ($350 for both dogs), vaccinations, and USDA-stamps and followed the directions accordingly.
Summary of Vaccinations and Preventatives
A one year rabies shot at least 30 days before travel
Bordatella
DHLPPC; Distemper, Hepatitis, Leptospirosis, Parainfluenza, Parvovirus & Corona virus
Flea and tick medication.
Forms and Instructions:
Dog height (for the crate size) must be high enough for dog to stand up with room above the head (2–4").
Each dog will need a signed Rabies Certificate from their last rabies vaccines given. A multi-year shot from the previous year(s) won’t suffice. The form MUST also have the vets ink pen signature on them.
You will need a vaccine record showing the last DHLPPC vaccines given signed in ink pen.
Form APHIS7001 must be completed and signed by a USDA approved vet not more than 10 days before travel.
Make an appointment to visit to the USDA to get the APHIS7001 stamp (thirty-eight dollars is their total endorsement fee for both pets showing on one certificate).
Send copies of all certificates and forms via e-mail/fax to the professional pet movers. Original forms fly with the dogs.
No problem.
Then things got weird. After we sent the initial vaccination records to the pet movers, we were asked to get the vet to change the breed ‘pit bull’ to ‘pit bull mix,’ which they did. Later in the process we were asked to change it again. The movers wanted the paperwork to have no mention of pit bull at all. My wife, confused and panicked, pleaded to know why, but they simply insisted this is how things were done.
Eventually my wife worked out that Khaleesi’s breed was costing the movers. They wanted it removed because they quoted us wrongly; they forgot to budget the expensive metal cage United requires for pit bulls in their original quote. We were too worried about Khaleesi to fight. We were willing to cough up more money for a cage.
The pet mover company we used didn’t supply the cages, so I had to research and purchase one myself. I ordered a Zinger 5000 crate with the air-travel pack from Canada and paid about $1000! Nice crate, but comes flat pack with a million bolts/nuts ☹. Unfun. We are now re-selling it in Costa Rica for $600.
We also had to ask the company to send Buster’s crate prior to the flight, so he could get used to it before travel. Apparently, the movers were just going to turn up on the day and put the dogs in cages! Not a good idea. We spent plenty of time associating the dogs with the cages and treats. We fed them in the cages, and when they’d enter the cages on their own, they’d get something yummy.
Take-off
The dogs set off on a Tuesday via United to Houston , where they slept in a United pet facility. On Wednesday they were flown to Costa Rica. It’s really important to understand that animals won’t be processed in Costa Rica after 3:30pm. It was impossible to get the dogs to San Jose by 3:30pm because Chicago doesn’t have direct flights to Costa Rica.
We left on the same day as the dogs, Tuesday, but on a different flight/airline than they. We made it into San Jose by 7pm on that Tuesday. With the advantage of arriving earlier than they, we could get checked-in to the AirBnB I’d booked and take care of some business without worry of the dogs. Donato, the owner of the AirBnB, picked us up from the airport which meant a lot to us.
While we waited, the pet movers kept us up-to-date with the dogs’ progress with regular e-mails:
“Just a quick note that the kids are all checked in and ready to go for their flight. Everything went great at the airport. I’ll continue to track them and will send you another update soon”
“Just another update that the kids are confirmed on board their flight and on the way to Houston. All is great!!”
“Just a quick note that the kids were accepted today in Houston safe and sound and they are doing great. All is well and they said they seem relaxed and happy.
Tomorrow they will head for home at 9:00 AM Houston time. I’ll check on them again then and will send you another update. Please let me now if you have any questions in the meantime. I’m happy to help!”
On Wednesday morning we went to pick up a car we’d bought from a company called YCRC. They sent someone to pick us up; took us through the paperwork; and had us pay the insurance. It was an approximately 3.5 hour deal. We were now the owners of a 2000 Toyota 4Runner.
Back at Donato’s we waited and waited. It was getting late and the E-Mail updates had stopped. Donato kindly did some calling to the airport for us to see if anything was wrong. The computers used to process the dogs were down, but the dogs were safe.
Eventually, up rolled Khaleesi and Buster. They were happy to see us and we were happy to see no accidents in the cages. We stayed one more night in San Jose and the next morning we were off to new digs in the Southern Caribbean of Costa Rica, Puerto Viejo.
If you have any questions about any part of our ‘dog move,’ please don’t hesitate to drop us a message at our Facebook page Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica: Pura Vida Caribbean Side [link below].
If you want to know more about us and the town we chose, Puerto Viejo, visit our collection:
