Chinglish:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100649436940071.1073741826.11002393&type=1&l=a10b8cb1c9
Me and Leo
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Leo
I've been living in Beijing since March working as an English teacher, and will soon return to the United States. Booking airline tickets home would normally take me about 20 minutes on kayak.com, but this time I'll have a unique travel companion...
Leo is a puppy I found on the street outside my apartment in late May. He was so friendly, I assumed he was someone's lost pet, so I posted these all over the neighborhood:
No luck. A neighbor told me through a translator that she'd seen him with a family that moved away a couple weeks before, so our best guess is that he was simply abandoned.
At this point, older and wiser individuals (i.e. my parents) repeatedly reminded me that adopting a 4-month-old puppy while broke and living alone in a foreign country probably wasn't the best life plan... so I tried to re-home him. I had more luck at this endeavor.
Shortly after sharing his picture on some social media sites, I got an email from a woman who'd already rescued two dogs and was smitten with his photo. Seemed like a perfect match. A few days later, I said a tearful goodbye and dropped "puppy" (I hadn't named him yet) off at her apartment. He spent about a week there until one of her other dogs kept attacking him and the lady emailed me to ask if I wanted him back.
This is when I decided I wasn't ready to be an adult. You see his face -- can you blame me? Most of my family thinks I'm crazy for keeping him, but now that I'm committed, I have to figure out how to get him into America.
Moving internationally with pets is pretty complicated -- hopefully by sharing my findings here, I can help other pet owners navigate this daunting task.
There are three main parts to this process: 1) getting the documents required to take the dog out of China, 2) getting the documents required to get the dog into whatever country you're moving to or visiting, and 3) the logistics of actually getting the dog safely from point A to point B.
Exporting a dog from China sounds fairly straightforward. My vet, ICVS, does a good job outlining the process here. Your dog needs four things: 1) proof of rabies vaccination, 2) a microchip, 3) a health inspection, and 4) an exit permit.
We've got the vaccine and microchip already. About a week before flying out, I'll take Leo to the Guan Shang Animal Hospital for an inspection to make sure he's healthy for transport. Assuming he passes, they'll give us a health certificate that we'll take (along with my passport and Leo's “red book” of vaccination records) to an office in the same building that will process the exit permit, which I'll likely need to come back to pick up several days later.
These office visits could be pretty difficult to navigate without an interpreter, so I'll be taking a Chinese friend along to help translate. I'll let you know how it goes!
Next up: airline tickets and import regulations for the U.S. and Canada. Stay tuned for more!
 | |
| Leo |
Leo is a puppy I found on the street outside my apartment in late May. He was so friendly, I assumed he was someone's lost pet, so I posted these all over the neighborhood:
 |
| Yup. Mine now! |
At this point, older and wiser individuals (i.e. my parents) repeatedly reminded me that adopting a 4-month-old puppy while broke and living alone in a foreign country probably wasn't the best life plan... so I tried to re-home him. I had more luck at this endeavor.
Shortly after sharing his picture on some social media sites, I got an email from a woman who'd already rescued two dogs and was smitten with his photo. Seemed like a perfect match. A few days later, I said a tearful goodbye and dropped "puppy" (I hadn't named him yet) off at her apartment. He spent about a week there until one of her other dogs kept attacking him and the lady emailed me to ask if I wanted him back.
This is when I decided I wasn't ready to be an adult. You see his face -- can you blame me? Most of my family thinks I'm crazy for keeping him, but now that I'm committed, I have to figure out how to get him into America.
Moving internationally with pets is pretty complicated -- hopefully by sharing my findings here, I can help other pet owners navigate this daunting task.
There are three main parts to this process: 1) getting the documents required to take the dog out of China, 2) getting the documents required to get the dog into whatever country you're moving to or visiting, and 3) the logistics of actually getting the dog safely from point A to point B.
Exporting a dog from China sounds fairly straightforward. My vet, ICVS, does a good job outlining the process here. Your dog needs four things: 1) proof of rabies vaccination, 2) a microchip, 3) a health inspection, and 4) an exit permit.
We've got the vaccine and microchip already. About a week before flying out, I'll take Leo to the Guan Shang Animal Hospital for an inspection to make sure he's healthy for transport. Assuming he passes, they'll give us a health certificate that we'll take (along with my passport and Leo's “red book” of vaccination records) to an office in the same building that will process the exit permit, which I'll likely need to come back to pick up several days later.
These office visits could be pretty difficult to navigate without an interpreter, so I'll be taking a Chinese friend along to help translate. I'll let you know how it goes!
Next up: airline tickets and import regulations for the U.S. and Canada. Stay tuned for more!
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