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dedmiston's avatar
dedmiston
Moderator
Aug 22, 2019

Traveling through Canada with Dogs

I've always heard that you need to bring your "papers" with you when you cross the Canadian border with your dogs, but I don't know what this entails. What kind of papers do you need to bring?

What's the source of this requirement? Do you need their papers to get from the US into CA or from CA back into the US.

Thanks.

18 Replies

  • I always travel with my dog's complete medical history, as it proved invaluable when my 8 year golden succumbed to a terminal ruptured tumor 500 miles from home. That being said, I have crossed back and forth many times with different dogs over many years and only once was I asked about a rabies inoculation. I showed the Canadian Officer the rabies tag and he was satisfied. I can tell you the Canadians are so much more pleasant than the Americans at the border.
  • It's a good idea to have your dog's vaccination records with you all the time. You never know what might happen and those papers can keep your dog out of quarrantine in case of an incident.

    Just have your vet give you two originals. Keep one in the RV and one in the car/truck. Then you will be covered no matter where you go.
  • We carried the vaccination records but were never asked about them. It is a good idea to have them, the one time you don't you will get questioned.
  • We went thru getting the papers route before we went thru north of Glacier. The Canadian Border agent didn't want to see any papers and acted like he didn't know what we were talking about. Still you better have them with you.

    For us getting the 'papers' just meant going by our vet and having them print out their health records. That shows vaccinations, once we got to talk to someone it took 2 minutes max.
  • The official Canadian policy can be found here:

    http://www.temporaryresidentpermitcanada.com/bringing-dog-into-canada.php
  • A current rabies vaccination certificate. is all we were asked for on the many times we took our furry mutt to Canada
  • When we cross into the US (and back), they may ask for vaccination papers. They may also ask at the campground (they do at some US state parks, but I’ve never been asked at a Canadian one).