Moving On

We were very excited to finally get our life dream, which was an overseas work assignment.  And we were going to Tokyo!  One of our top picks, if we were given a choice (we weren't).  Unfortunately, the process dragged out a looooooooong time, to the point we thought it wouldn't happen.  After months of stress, and at the last minute, it did all work out.  That left its own scar, but we were still excited to be going.

Our biggest concern was moving the dogs - they've never flown before, if we do something wrong with the paperwork they end up in quarantine for six months, and we heard Japan wasn't as dog friendly to mid-size dogs (well, for Japan they're considered big - 40-50 lbs).

So I'm going to start with the ending, which is that we all made it to Tokyo safe and sound, the dogs spent less than 30 minutes clearing customs, and they're doing fine in the big city.  If that's all you cared about knowing, you can stop reading now!  But I wanted to explain the process to move our dogs from the US to Japan, in case it helps someone else.

The photo that made the Japan apartment owner accept the dogs.

We had enough advance notice that we might be moving to Tokyo so we went ahead and started the seven month process which would allow the dogs to basically skip quarantine in Japan.  In fact, we started so early we ended up needing to give the dogs a rabies booster (just a regular shot) so their vaccines wouldn't expire while we were still in the US.  The Japan guidelines were fairly simple to follow, though they rewrote them while we were going through their steps.  They were trying to make them clearer, but you're still dealing with a 24-page document written by someone who does not speak English as a first language.  At least no changes occurred that made us have to start the entire process over.

The hiccups really came during the last few days before we left the States.  I had spent four hours meticulously filling out the paperwork for both dogs, making sure it was perfect.  Japan did have a procedure to follow if an error was made in the forms (cross out with two horizontal lines, so you can still read what was behind it, then write the correction, sign it (NOT just your initials) and date it).  Absolutely no white out, erasable pens, etc.  I decided I'd rather just have it correct in the first place, therefore four hours doing paperwork in block letters.

When I arrived at my vet later that week for their final "healthy dog" checkup, I found out the local USDA office told them (that afternoon) they had to type all the paperwork - even though it was clearly stated on the forms they could be written in block letters or typed.  So we sat there for 90 minutes while the office typed up everything I had written out.  The USDA also told my vet only two rabies vaccinations needed to be recorded on the forms, not three.  I told them they were completely wrong - because we needed the booster all three shots had to be recorded.  That was when I had my first inkling that the USDA might not be as knowledgeable as I thought they would be.

After the vet office, I stopped by FedEx so I could scan the paperwork in and email it to Japan to double check (I had to go to an office because my printer had been packed by the movers the day before).  I love that the Japan AQS (Animal Quarantine System) was willing to look over the forms before I arrived - less chance something would be wrong and my dogs would spend six months in a cage.

The house, emptying out...with Tahoe surveying her (diminished) domain.

So I thought all was well until later that night when I finally got a chance to look over the paperwork myself.  I saw a date had a typo - instead of 2015 it said 12015.  Very obvious it was just a typo, but I worried about what would happen.  I decided I would wait and see what they said - I had already sent copies of everything to Japan.

Sure enough, when I woke up Friday morning there was an email from AQS saying it needed to be fixed.  I called my vet office as soon as they opened, and they still had the forms saved, so it was easy for them to edit and have the vet resign.  My mother generously offered to pick up the form, since I had movers at the house and I sold our last car that morning (did I mention my husband had gone ahead three weeks earlier and was in Japan to start work and to get the apartment ready so we could move the dogs in without having to bring them to a hotel?).  So while my father and I were overseeing the movers, my mother picked up the form, went back to FedEx to scan and save the forms electronically, and then she went to pick up lunch for everyone (movers and all) at the house. 

While she's getting lunch, the vet office calls.  They caught another typo, one we'd all missed.  We're right on the border of two states, and they put the wrong state abbreviation for one address.  They felt so bad they offered to drive the corrected form out to me ("I couldn't sleep tonight if you didn't have the form filled out correctly," she says).  The offer was very much appreciated since I no longer had a car and I lived over 30 minutes from their office.  That was one of the highlights of a very stressful day!  Sometimes people are just so incredibly nice.  

Unfortunately that wasn't really the case at the USDA appointment on Monday....