Bringing Dog To Thailand

[Incobart]

Hi,

after a long search for a aircompany who could bring my 2 dogs for a acceptable price from europe to Thailand(1000€ or 45.000 I finaly arrived at bkk with my dogs. Before I had booked a ticket also with thaiairways from bkk to Phuket on a flight 2.5 hour after arrival in bkk.

It took a whole mountain of difficulty to be able to get my dogs, a guy from cargo offered me some help and we run from one desk to another ..

finaly the 2.5 hours past bye .. and 1) still had no dogs, 2) next to price for flying the dogs to phuket (7.400 I had to pay the guy 41.000 B !!!

otherways no dogs .. I had no choice, had to check in, because all next plains were full and so I went away without even seeing my dogs. Finaly they arrived in Phuket 7 hours laters. They have been locked up in a box for more than 24 hours :-( and had cost me a lot of money

there was a paper that proved the costs of where importtax was 33.000 B ! + docter + taking care + this and that ..

Is this normal ? I never heard of people have to pay so much on arrival in bkk. also not one aircompany told me I would have to pay these taxes ..

anyone with the same expierence ? can I try to get my money back ?

txs for help

Chris in Phuket

[Maestro]

cost me a lot of money

there was a paper that proved the costs of where importtax was 33.000 B ! + docter + taking care + this and that ..

Is this normal ? I never heard of people have to pay so much on arrival in bkk. also not one aircompany told me I would have to pay these taxes ..

anyone with the same expierence ? can I try to get my money back ?

There is an old adage saying that once you put a sugar cane into an elephant’s mouth, you cannot get it back.

At any rate, it was certainly not the airline’s job to volunteer information about the rate of customs duty and other import expenses in Thailand.

Just wait until you bring a couple of dogs to the UK and see what happens there!

-----------------

Maestro

[chanchao]

If i ever bring a dog I will just dope it up, put it in a backpack and walk through customs.

[Godders]

Assuming you had all the right paperwork with you (import cert, health and vaccination certs etc), you should have expected the animals to have been inspected by a doctor as a matter of curse before being allowed into the country. If the doctor wishes, he can quarantine the animals - at the owner's expense - until he is satisfied they meet Thai health requirements (which are, of course, very different from those applying to indigenous canines!). All this is explained in information freely available from Thai embassies overseas, which I assume you perused before making the journey.

A friend of mine avoided these common delays at Don Muang by the simple expedient of proferring a few hundred baht with the paperwork relating the animals he was importing. Sure enough, they sailed through smooth as Thai silk.

[astral]

There are so many stray dogs in Thailand in need of good homes, it would have been cheaper to adopt one or two of them.

[Incobart]

There are so many stray dogs in Thailand in need of good homes, it would have been cheaper to adopt one or two of them.

waaw i hope you don't have kids, maybe put your kids in a lost-childeren home in you country .. and take some new ones here !!!

what kind of anwser is this, !? its not a pair of shoes !

[TAWP]

When I brought my dog here the costs for medication, vaccination, airplane-ticket (counted as 'overweight'-charge from first kilo in rate) and import-fee stacked up, but I would say that it went smooth anyway.

Infact, just making sure getting vaccinations is done in time (atleast 21 days before traveling), signed papers from lic. vet. employed by the goverment (usually through Ministry of Agriculture or the like, not a normal vet.) maximum 2 days before traveling, was the stressfull part...the paying at checkin for the dog as you would normal over-weight-cargo (note: the ticket must be pre-booked with 'dog'-status to be able to reservate a space on the airplane, maximum of 2 large crates allowed per flight, in a 747-400) and then 11.5h of flying.

Arrived, and as we had already called ahead before flying and told them when we would arrive, the vet. was on location even though it was early in the morning. He checked all the papers, my dogs blood-line of awarded breed-dogs and only needed to pay a mere service-fee of 500 baht, even though the tax-value of 30% of the dogs value is much higher, as his value for insurance is ~35K baht.

So...I guess it depends a little on luck and how you approach the vet. doing the check-up before letting the dog into the country... often more then not a persons ways, look and company can alter the events taking place with people in charge.

(Was flying ThaiAir btw.)

Edited January 31, 2006 by TAWP

[simon43]

Jeez, its a dog, not a person. I treat dogs kindly, but Im not so cracked as to treat them like my children

[TAWP]

And some people eat dogs. While others eat their enemies.

What is your point?

[pwllgrgn]

Hi,

after a long search for a aircompany who could bring my 2 dogs for a acceptable price from europe to Thailand(1000€ or 45.000 I finaly arrived at bkk with my dogs. Before I had booked a ticket also with thaiairways from bkk to Phuket on a flight 2.5 hour after arrival in bkk.

It took a whole mountain of difficulty to be able to get my dogs, a guy from cargo offered me some help and we run from one desk to another ..

finaly the 2.5 hours past bye .. and 1) still had no dogs, 2) next to price for flying the dogs to phuket (7.400 I had to pay the guy 41.000 B !!!

otherways no dogs .. I had no choice, had to check in, because all next plains were full and so I went away without even seeing my dogs. Finaly they arrived in Phuket 7 hours laters. They have been locked up in a box for more than 24 hours :-( and had cost me a lot of money

there was a paper that proved the costs of where importtax was 33.000 B ! + docter + taking care + this and that ..

Is this normal ? I never heard of people have to pay so much on arrival in bkk. also not one aircompany told me I would have to pay these taxes ..

anyone with the same expierence ? can I try to get my money back ?

txs for help

Chris in Phuket

[OZONE]

I love my pets also. They are more loyal to you than your best friends.

Anyway, here's a question for all animal lovers:

What airline take the best care of your pets ? are there any airline or company specialized in transporting pets (from the US and vice versa).

[TAWP]

I used ThaiAir and it went without any problems at all.

(Infact, they under-charged me for the weight of the dog for some reason. Even though I gave them all info she wrote in less and seemed happy with that. Kinda like they never seem to force anyone to pay overweight-charge for bags topping at 22kilo instead of stated limit of 20.)

[pwllgrgn]

Hi

I was just wondering if you were going to Phuket why your dog had to be seen at Bangkok Airport. I have been told that Phuket's is an international airport, so it has all the animal inspection

facilities required of any international airport. Apparantly the info came from Sunart Wongchawalit, chief of the Phuket Livestock Dept. Also Thai Airways have quoted me a price from Manchester UK to Phuket and told me that my dog will be checked through to Phuket, as my checked baggage. As you can see my pet dog is a beautiful boy and I couldn't leave him behind whatever the cost.

[lenamay]

Hi I have just seen your post and wondered if all went ok when flying into Phuket with your lovely dog. We are flying with Air Berlin from Spain to Phuket and like you said the dog will be going as checked baggage all the way through to Phuket.

Did you have to pay import tax on your dog and apart from the usual rabies and health certificate anything else that needed to be done on arrival in PHuket.

I look forward to hearing from you and any advice.

Kind regards

Lena May

Hi

I was just wondering if you were going to Phuket why your dog had to be seen at Bangkok Airport. I have been told that Phuket's is an international airport, so it has all the animal inspection

facilities required of any international airport. Apparantly the info came from Sunart Wongchawalit, chief of the Phuket Livestock Dept. Also Thai Airways have quoted me a price from Manchester UK to Phuket and told me that my dog will be checked through to Phuket, as my checked baggage. As you can see my pet dog is a beautiful boy and I couldn't leave him behind whatever the cost.

[snowgard]

I don't know what happened now but 2,5 years ago I bring a big 40kg German Sheperd Dog from Germany with inside and paid only a income fee about the dog from 1200 Baht.

My dog had all vaccinations what needed: Bureau of Animal Disease Control and Department of Livestock Development

The price for flight was 60,- EUR to Bangkok with Air Berlin/LTU from Duesseldorf (Germany).

Ozone

What airline take the best care of your pets ? are there any airline or company specialized in transporting pets (from the US and vice versa).

No airline take care the dog. You must look that they become enough to drink. You give the dog to the airport staff, they bring it inside the plane. They take it out of plane and give it back to you. Maybe it's a little bit different if you sent it as airfreight and you not fly self with your dog.

[Kiwiinthailand]

We just imported our dog into Thailand. It seems that things have changed, in particular concerning taxes. We were told that the vet would be present to admit the dog. In fact, we've never seen the vet nor has he or she seen the dog.

It was Friday night, 10:00 pm and no one could tell us where the dog was taken to, We found out she was taken to the cargo building. We went over there and it took us till 4:30 am to get the dog released. They wanted 20.000 bht which appears the going rate now after talking to some other dog owners. We finally settled for 13.000 Bht.

It is nice to mention that your dog is a mixed breed but it doesn't really change anything. Firstly, the breed is mentioned in the vaccination passport and secondly, taxation is based on the cost of transportation. Interestingly enough, it did not mention taxes on the receipt but "expenses".

I'm sure things would be easier if you could arrive at daytime but you don't always have that choice. BTW, we are on a work visa.

Hope this will help

[JeffreyC]

We have travelled several times to Thailand with our dog always making sure that his documentation was exceptionally well prepared complying with every legal requirement. I never paid more than hundred BHT in fees and have always left the airport building within minutes after passing immigration.

In BKK, the crate was picked up near the bulky baggage area and there is a vet's office in the baggage claim area where they checked the paperwork and cashed the taxes. (2007)

In Chiangmai I arrived late one night and passed with the dog but without entering the vet's office as it was closed. A customs' officer asked us to pass by next day, which we did. We then presented the paperwork only, paid the tax and left.(2009)

Once we entered Don Muang and just walked right through without seeing any vet. (2010)

I am not sure where the 13k BHT went the Kiwi paid, but it all looks like a major rip-off. To my knowledge, there is no such fee and I would request a receipt and complain utterly.

[harsu]

KLM were excellent at looking after my dogs en-route to Bkk. All dog's paperwork was spot-on, in triplicate etc. Had notified the airport vet they would be arriving and when. Collected dogs in their crates and wheeled them along to veterinary inspection office. Seen by very courteous gentleman. No problems. Paid 1000 baht 'import fee' to the customs officials when leaving airport. Don't think you should have had the problems/expence you did.

Hi,

after a long search for a aircompany who could bring my 2 dogs for a acceptable price from europe to Thailand(1000€ or 45.000 I finaly arrived at bkk with my dogs. Before I had booked a ticket also with thaiairways from bkk to Phuket on a flight 2.5 hour after arrival in bkk.

It took a whole mountain of difficulty to be able to get my dogs, a guy from cargo offered me some help and we run from one desk to another ..

finaly the 2.5 hours past bye .. and 1) still had no dogs, 2) next to price for flying the dogs to phuket (7.400 I had to pay the guy 41.000 B !!!

otherways no dogs .. I had no choice, had to check in, because all next plains were full and so I went away without even seeing my dogs. Finaly they arrived in Phuket 7 hours laters. They have been locked up in a box for more than 24 hours :-( and had cost me a lot of money

there was a paper that proved the costs of where importtax was 33.000 B ! + docter + taking care + this and that ..

Is this normal ? I never heard of people have to pay so much on arrival in bkk. also not one aircompany told me I would have to pay these taxes ..

anyone with the same expierence ? can I try to get my money back ?

txs for help

Chris in Phuket

[BottleBlonde]

5yrs ago we flew from heathrow to Don Muang (Bkk) with our 2 German Shepherds on Thai Airways. The dogs went cargo and arrived unbeknown to us in the cargo terminal when we had been told to collect them from conveyor belt 1. Anyway, it took us just over 6hrs to get our dogs as they wanted 76,000 baht, at this point we were not even allowed to see them or know that they were ok. A thai friend eventually bargained over the phone down to 46,000 baht. No receipt was issued and this money was divided up in front of us between the several thai men and went straight into their wallets. It was an awful experience but i was just glad to walk away with my dogs, who by the way were both in an air con room when we finally got to see them and were fine. Our nerves on the other hand were in tatters!

[JeffreyC]

5yrs ago we flew from heathrow to Don Muang (Bkk) with our 2 German Shepherds on Thai Airways. The dogs went cargo and arrived unbeknown to us in the cargo terminal when we had been told to collect them from conveyor belt 1. Anyway, it took us just over 6hrs to get our dogs as they wanted 76,000 baht, at this point we were not even allowed to see them or know that they were ok. A thai friend eventually bargained over the phone down to 46,000 baht. No receipt was issued and this money was divided up in front of us between the several thai men and went straight into their wallets. It was an awful experience but i was just glad to walk away with my dogs, who by the way were both in an air con room when we finally got to see them and were fine. Our nerves on the other hand were in tatters!

We were talking of two different things which cannot be compared: importation or entry of accommpanying "baggage". It is a huge difference if you have the dogs as accompanied baggage or cargo, and I would never send a dog as cargo for the reasons below:

• if it's cargo, then corrupt cargo agents will take care of the importation paperwork (and take your dog hostage) and that will make it as expensive as it can get. Have in mind that jobs in customs or the right to work as an airport cargo agent are being sold to the highest bidder.

• if it's accompanied baggage, the dogs go to the bulky baggage area directly and a vet in the baggage belt area will issue the papers you need to pass customs. The vets are as "harsu" described, professional and courteous.

So we were talking of two different things which cannot be compared: importation or entry of accommpanying "baggage".

@Lenamay: If you fly direct from DUS or FRA to BKK with Airberlin you will most likely avoid the trouble other posters had up there. It seems they had a cargo agent taking care of the importation. Agents are notoriously charging what they can get, different from the government vets at the arrival airport.

When flying, the dogs are like passengers in a pressure environment of approx. 8000 ft. which makes them incredibly sleepy and indifferent, so the only stressful time is loading, starting and landing and unloading. Each stop will cause stress to your dog which you can avoid by flying direct. Also, there is always a bit more of probability that the crate gets dropped, put onto the wrong plane or gets to your destination later than you. Not to forget the fact that your dogs might get into the hands third persons who will make this incredibly expensive.

We took a taxi from BKK to CNX to avoid another loading and unloading and paid 6000 BHT for a 700 km taxi ride to Northern Thailand.

Make sure your dog is trained to sleep in the crate and accepts it as its den. You will make the trip a lot easier for your dog.

[steelepulse]

I live in Phuket and we just pay the local agent who then pays a BKK agent to handle everything. Over the last 3 years I've imported two dogs and each time I ended up paying my local agent about 15K to have the dog cleared in BKK and then flown down to Phuket where we pick up the dog. By the time I fly to BKK and hassle with it, it's easier for me to just pay and stay in Phuket. This was all done after filling out necessary import papers and getting the permit before arranging for the flight for the dog.

For someone mentioning just have your pet flown straight to Phuket and bypass BKK, we tried to do this but were told that since Lufthansa ends in BKK, the dog would have to be cleared there.

[jingjoke]

^^ quote: Make sure your dog is trained to sleep in the crate and accepts it as its den. You will make the trip a lot easier for your dog.unquote

Why not place a couple of your old T-shirts, suitably slept in for a few days, in the air kennel (Petmate) with your pet as a comfort. Works for me. Cheers

[Nawtier]

The huge fee I believe was the customs mafia lunch money.....one of the most corrupt departments in the country.

If you send them air freight...be prepared for it.

If you bring them as baggage on your flight, I believe it is much cheaper and easier and you do not have to go through the cargo customes section.

[Cliff23]

Hi,

I am planning to bring my 6 dogs over from the UK to Samui and am looking for the cheapest and best way. The above comments have been very useful but if anyone has anymore advice it would be greatly appreciated

Can anyone tell me about import permits for dogs. I have been told I need these and that they last for 45 days. Does anyone know if you have to keep renewing them every 45 days or of the cost for these ? None of the above comments mention imports permits and I am wondering if they are necessary. Also, on this thai website it says they must go into quarantine, http://www.dld.go.th/dcontrol/move/menu31e.html is this true or just old information ?

Lastly, I hope to stay for 15 + years but does anyone know if I could bring the dogs back to the UK if it is needed in the future. I heard it was possible to fly them back to France.

Thanks

[JeffreyC]

Hi,

I am planning to bring my 6 dogs over from the UK to Samui and am looking for the cheapest and best way.

Cheapest: accompanied baggage with airberlin @120EUR/nose. Don't know why they charged me 120, it was always 60EUR. Nevertheless, Thai Airways might charge up to 50 EUR/kg which makes this option very, very expensive. Fly direct to BKK under all circumstances to avoid above mentioned problems with customs/agents and to avoid possible problems with connecting flights. This way you eliminate risks and keep the stress and time in the box short for your dogs.

Can anyone tell me about import permits for dogs. I have been told I need these and that they last for 45 days.

Definitely, not needed. At least not if you import them as accompanied baggage.

Also, on this thai website it says they must go into quarantine, http://www.dld.go.th...ve/menu31e.html is this true or just old information ?

Theoretically, and if the veterinarian deems it's necessary, they can make the dog go to quarantine. Here in this forum this case has never been reported.

Lastly, I hope to stay for 15 + years but does anyone know if I could bring the dogs back to the UK if it is needed in the future. I heard it was possible to fly them back to France.

Thanks

If you want to take them back to the UK, they will definitely have to go to quarantine. I have heard it is expensive, also.

If you re-import them into the EU, they will need to be chipped, have all vaccinations and shots preferably in their EU-pet passport and you'd need a anti-rabies certificate of a blood test where the dog has shown sufficient anti-bodies (called an "antibody titration") to certify that the rabies vaccination has worked. This test can only be performed by EU-vets (not sure, check on this) and there are only a few laboratories in Europe which are able to certify this for your purposes. This certificate is good for the entire life of the dog, provided that the anti-rabies vaccinations have been renewed as scheduled (yearly, usually). There must be 4 weeks between the date of vaccination and the blood test.

Also, you will need bilingual veterinary certificate that the dog is healthy, safe to travel, doesn't show signs of infections or infectious deseases, etc. See http://ec.europa.eu/...o10767r4_en.doc

You might want to use google for further information on this. The internet is full of information on how to import a pet into the EU.

Btw, I have landed in BKK yesterday with my dog. Very fast and friendly treatment as usual. This time I was received right after exiting the gate by an airport employee who quickly explained me the procedure: pass immigration, get your luggage, get your dog from the bulky luggage pick up and walk to Z8, where you will find the airport's vet's office. I was always escorted from airport officials or airberlin employees and the vet issued the importation forms. They charged 100 BHT.

Then I was walked to the customs department, to the red exit (things to declare). They checked the papers the vet just issued, asked for the length of my stay (less than 90 days) and allowed me to pass. If it is more than 90 days, they would have asked me to pay import duties.

As always, I grabbed a taxi to take me to Chiangmai. It was easy to find someone to take us right there. The price with 7000 BHT quite reasonable and have saved my dog another flight.

One last advice: think of this step to move to Thailand very well. It's not only very hard to get here, but it will be very hard for you to take the dogs back to the UK, if you ever want to go back. Last but not least, Thailand is full of dogs of Farangs who can't take care of them anymore as their life plans change. The human's life goes on but here other people will have to take care of their leftover dogs. See the page of this organization.

[Nawtier]

Anybody want to bring me a couple of dogs from England ??

[Taro]

This is an old thread, but I wanted to comment. I arrived in Thailand with two dogs and a cat and the only thing I had to pay for was the certificates at the airport (something like 300 baht each? I can't remember, but it wasn't much). Now, I had a huge amount of paperwork with me, so there was no way they could've told me something was missing. I would recommend flying in well prepared to avoid this kind of problem.

[Nawtier]

It depends on who you fly with and from where as they all have different rules...