Taking dogs into Canada and back

mooky stinks wrote:

Nvr2loud wrote:

michigansandzilla wrote:
I have personally never travelled with a dog to canada, but I know that pit bulls or any mix thereof, is illegal in Ontario. My sis-in-law has a lovely mixed breed with pit bull in it, and she won't go into Ontario with him.

Pit bulls are not banned from being in Ontario. There is a ban on breeding or purchasing a new pit bull (or mix)

Anyone who already has a valid dog tag for a pit bull is permitted to keep that animal until the dog dies. New dog tags will not be issued for pit bulls.

Visitors are permitted to travel with pit bulls into Ontario.

It is a stupid ban!

That's funny because I just looked it up and everything I see says you can't bring a Pitbull or any mix into Ontario. Can you indentify your source?

This is right off the Ontario Attorney Generals website:


Importing Pit Bulls
It is against the law to bring pit bulls into Ontario, even for a short visit.
There are no exceptions made for:
Tourists
People moving to Ontario, or
Military personnel being transferred to Ontario postings.

Well I stand corrected... we have always been of the belief that visiting dogs are exempt from the ban. Apparently that only applies to registered show dogs and flyball participant dogs. Must not be terribly enforced, there are still lots and lots of pitbull dogs here, both residents and visitors. My kids were just playing with two pitbull puppies at a provincial park last weekend... visiting from Vermont. I suppose that the owner is in direct violation of the ban and risks having his dogs seized, that would not be a risk I'd be willing to take. A fine is one thing, seizure of my dogs would not be acceptable.

I had absolutely no idea I couldn't travel with pet food. They didn't mention it at my nexus interview either.

OK I looked into it and only certain meats are not allowed into the US and everything is allowed into canada.

Pet foods of Canadian origin (fresh, frozen or chilled, cooked, canned or otherwise processed products) that contain beef, veal, bison, and cervid (e.g. deer, elk, moose, caribou etc.) are now permitted when crossing the border from Canada. However, products containing sheep, lamb, or goat will not be allowed entry. The traveller must provide proof of the origin of beef, pork, poultry, cervid meat, and pet food in order to bring them into the United States. Examples of proof of origin include the grocery store receipt where the product was purchased or the label on the product indicating the province in which it was packaged.

Pet foods that do NOT have these ingredients can be taken across the U.S./Canada border as long as they are in their original packages and the ingredient list can be read clearly. Any pet food in non-labeled packages may be confiscated. These regulations apply to both canned and dry pet foods.

When returning to Canada, you may bring your pet’s food (limit of 20 kg) into Canada, if the import meets all of the following requirements:

The pet food or product must be of United States or Canadian origin and be commercially packaged (i.e. not re-packaged into plastic bags or other containers). The pet food or product must be in the possession of the traveller at the time of entry from the U.S. The pet that will eat the imported product must accompany the traveller at the time of entry. The imported product is fed only to the pet that accompanied the traveller into Canada

rbpru wrote:
Caveman Charlie,

My “Kids” are in their late 40’s and I am about to finish my 70th orbit of the sun. We still canoe but now grandpa carries the fishing poles and the teenage youg’ns carry the packs and canoes.

We started the grandkids canoeing in the Boundary Waters before their first birthday and they have grown to love the out of doors as do my daughter and son-in-law.

Long portages are not our forte but grandma and grandpa can still hold our own on the water.

Oh , I see. I thought you meant you had kids of the "still in school" age. I hope I'm doing nearly as well as you when I've reached 70 orbits of the sun. I'm having trouble keeping up with the young teen kids we hired on the farm to pick rocks. You would think because I'm stronger that it would be easy but, for some reason my butt is really dragging at the end of the day and they are still wide awake.

I was also very interested in this topic as I have a pit of my own. The original plan was to go north through Minnesota to Canada and then west through Canada to Seattle. Now knowing the ban in Ontario cuts our trip down and makes me wonder why this ban is still in place as any dog has the potential to be aggressive. :/

Regarding pet food, it's one of those things that is going to be a per person + guard interaction. Chances are if you worry about something (and act worried,) the guards will worry about it too.

Over the last month I crossed the CAN/US border 5 times (Hyder Alaska has no inspection but Stewart does). I was not asked about dog food and I did not volunteer information about dog food. Still have the bag I started with, but it's almost empty. Also a large box of dog biscuits, both have logged a lot of road miles :)