My experience of importing a dog from Latin America to Europe

A short description of the 6 months long process to bring a pet into Europe.



Official webpage to find details on importing a pet into Europe.
http://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/pet-movement/index_en.htm
www.bmel.de

Alea iacta est

Alea iacta est. Skippy has made her final decision on what to do next...

Should she stay or should she go now?

Back on the road again and Lyra went from good to bad and back to good. What to do?

+++ Is this the end? +++ Colombia's back country roads and a stop at Pablo Escobar's hacienda

Colombia's back country roads are nice and offer stunning landscapes. I had a short stop for a photo shoot at Pablo Escobar's (the drug dealer) hacienda and later on Skippy vanished for quite a while...

A thirsty donkey and fun with shelter dogs (San Juan Cosala last part 25.-29.4.2015)

Another travelogue ...

Another house guest

That poor donkey was so thirsty.

Nice banana flower - somewhere along the road

Dogs, dogs and more dogs (Lake Chapala 19. - 24.4.15)

A real fun video

Another morning walk under a cool looking sky.

Some minor trouble left at the bike assembly. One thread of the fork bridge was gone and since I was not able to get a Helicoil, I decided to make a small adapter piece and tighten the bolt with a lock-nut.

SilberWolf without the sidecar cover.

And then we visited Lucky dog rescue and adaption center near Chapala. What a great fun that was to walk a few dogs.

Photo taken by Lee from the Luck Dog rescue adoption center

Photo taken by Lee from the Luck Dog rescue adoption center

Getting ready for Central and South America, Greater Phoenix, Arizona 21. - 30.1.2015

My bike was ready to go and there were only small things left at Skippy's bike: valve clearance check (and maybe adjustment) and fixing the rear shock. Skippy wanted a few nights in "solitude" before we continue our couch-surfing tour north of Phoenix.

Hyperpro seals waiting to be installed

I had something very exciting to look forward to. One of my favorite My ever favorite band is Judas Priest and so happens that the lead singer Rob Halford has a house in Paradise Valley (Phoenix)! Imagine that!!! Rob is sooooo coool!!! Pity for me that he seemed to be on tour in Australia making other fans happy :D

Anyway we passed by house and yeah nobody there ;p

Rob Halford's residence in Paradise Valley

The view from the Halford residence (the house on the left)

Then we invaded Rich and Lorraine's home. Rich was a bit concerned about how all the dogs would get along and in "worst" case we would be able to camp in the front yard. Now that sounded first spooky to us. We had wildest imaginations about the front yard being besides the street, all the neighbors coming by and watching what the crazy Finns were doing. It's good to have fantasy :D
We gave it a try with the dogs and after one day everybody was ok and got along with each other. Rich and Lorraine - thank you very much for your hospitality!

Ulpu found her spot on top of my tank bag.

Trixie

Henry

Oh yeah ... lovely ... more please!!!

Walking in desert landscape.

People cover the tops of the cacti to prevent them from freezing during cold nights.

We take our dogs for a walk and the neighbor takes the horse for a ride ;)

Steep hills on this mountain road. Skippy had good evening runs here!

Shangri La - Nudist resort. Prices for accommodation were a bit too high for our taste (also assuming that the average age is above mine was a no-go factor).

We had many beautiful sunsets.

Real veggie dogs - they loved ALL veggies and fruits!

Lyra a little bit exhausted? Maybe she is dreaming of snowy Finland ;)

Rich and Lorraine with Trixie and Henry.

Besides the fixing of Skippy's bike, I only needed a few basic spare parts for my bike as well as for the Suzi. Also our personal gear needed a fresh-up. Since our POV HD helmet/bike camera went more and more broken I decided to buy a GoPro and see how this would work. Skippy's Vibram shoes were falling apart and we were not able to find a new pair which fitted her needs. Before spending hours and hours riding through the city she ordered them online.

When we went shopping we found this pet shop which sells puppies while holding them in horrible conditions. Many of those puppies will end up in shelters after they lose their "cuteness" and people realize that there comes responsibility with a pet. Lorraine told us that it is illegal in Phoenix to sell dogs like this, however this mall was obviously just outside the border of Phoenix.

Not fun at all. This scenario broke our hearts! We were wondering from what kind of puppy mills these are coming from...

This was just a fraction. The shop had at least two more of this 2x3 boxes.

Puppies running on wire fence. Some already had signs of malformation on their paws because of that. Almost like some fur farm!

There are very many rescue shelters out there with plenty of pets who are waiting for a new home. Please adopt a pet instead of buying one! Every time you by a pet from a breeder a shelter animal looses it's chances for a good life!
"Approximately 3 to 4 million cats and dogs—many of them healthy, young, and adoptable—must be euthanized in animal shelters every year."

The valves on the Suzi were still within tolerance and the rear shock was fixed quickly. Rich and Lorraine would get some other visitors shortly and we needed to find another accommodation. Our timing was poor because it was Superbowl weekend in Phoenix. This meant that prices in all motels were sky-high, campgrounds were also pretty booked and then, do we really want to spend an extended weekend with drinking, shouting, barbecuing folks - maybe not. The next cheapest motel was in Globe and that was where we headed next.

Riding around in greater Phoenix area (700+km - yeah!)

Skippy shows off her new clothes ... very soft material!!! :P

Surviving ... or the show must go on.

We were pushing ourselves forward. One day at the time. Our minds were too occupied with thoughts and memories of Hertta. Sometimes I got a feeling of guilt like it would be wrong to continue without her ... continuing this journey, making blog entries like nothing would have happened.

We rode along the west coast and the weather was generally chilly, cloudy and rainy which reflected pretty much how we felt.

Walking along the beach in Seaside

Nosy Ulpu.

In Yachats we found a nice motel with direct beach access. The beach was inviting, yet the weather remained unfriendly.

Girls got a nice Scooby-Doo blanket.

Autumn beach weather - really foggy.

Seemed like the ocean demands more land.

When the beach was not fortified, the waves clearly take their toll.

Skippy made some really delicious creamy soup.

The next day was much better for riding. Sunny with some overcast, warm yet with some strong winds once in a while. We rode south on the mostly curvy Hwy101 along the west coast towards Gold Beach through many beautiful forests and parks. When the road was closer to the shore we could admire the cliffs and the beaches.

Coastline along Hwy 101 in Oregon.

Plenty of rocks along the shore creating stunning scenarios.

Lyra made a new friend.

Skippy & girls.

It rained all the time in Gold Beach. The weather forecast expressed the chance of rain as probability and they promised 100% rain for the next few days all the way to San Francisco. That was not too tempting. Maybe the weather reflected our mood. It had been one week since Hertta passed away and we missed her still very much. One of the most difficult moments were to fall asleep without hearing her snoring.

It was raining all day sometimes heavy sometimes milder. The ride along the shore on Hwy101 continued to be very scenic. Plenty of cool rocks coming out of the water and typically the creeks flew into the ocean by forming deep canyons. Stunning forests again on Hwy 197 and 199 towards Obrien. It was raining so heavily on many nice spots that I did not take the camera out.

The last tens of miles towards Happy camp brought us back into the mountains. The Indian Creek Road climbed over 1400m altitude and for a tiny moment I saw the sun through the clouds. The Garmin maps did not like that road AT ALL. Navigation was a total nightmare as the GPS told me to take all sorts of turn towards gravel roads of which many looked like hiking paths to me. This re-calculation route play went on and on until we reached Happy Camp ... somewhat annoying.

I think it was good that I booked the motel in advance as otherwise I might have gotten second thoughts on riding there in this horrible weather. This leg was only some 200km long and we were soaking wet even though we had our rain overalls on all the time. I got an extra hairdryer from the reception and I was busy getting our stuff dryish. Tomorrow would be another riding day with 100% chance of rain ... I could hardly wait.

Our track about 850km

Skippy got herself together and made another travelogue.

~ Wolfi

Hertta – you are always with us!

Tragedy had come to our life, and joy and happiness were replaced with sadness and emptiness. Hertta died on November 21st 2014.

It was love at first sight when Skippy rescued Hertta in August 2011. Hertta had had a rough life before she came to us. She lived her first years on the streets of Estonia before she came to Finland where she was passed around. The doctors estimated her to be about 11 years old and only gave her 6 months to live because of her mammal tumors (and that was in late 2011)! Skippy changed her to a clean vegan diet and a healthy life style with plenty of love and exercise in fresh countryside air.

She really loved to be in the sidecar. Hertta was our guardian, the protector of our family. She watched over us and everything what she regarded suspicious was barked at. She was able to make people jump when they approached the sidecar without permission. Ever since we started our journey Hertta was almost 24/7 with mommy - and she was happy! Hertta saw the world and she loved sniffing around those millions of different smells. 

We miss her badly and feel very lost without her!

Her final resting place we found from a very beautiful temperate rainforest, with lovely waterfalls and rainbows nearby. Next day when we continued our journey it was very grey and rainy weather. A moment after we passed by her place the rain stopped and sun came out! Soon after that we saw the most beautiful rainbow over the sea! It was like Hertta was smiling at us and trying to cheer us up :)

Wolfi was too slow with the camera to capture this full and bright rainbow.

In case you cannot see the video in youtube, click here for an alternative source.

Hertta, you'll always be our sunshine!

- Wolfi, Skippy, Lyra & Ulpu

Silt - Grand Junction Aug 28th - Sep 3rd 2014

The following day we went to see a vet - Rebecca - because of Lyra. She had had some problems with her back legs and we could not identify ourselves what it could be. Rebecca did not find anything serious and thought Lyra might have beginning of arthritis. Well we got some medication to see whether that would help. We will see.

Somewhere along the road before Grand Mesa.

We were done early and this would be a short riding day. To avoid that issue and not to be too early at Uli's place we rode via Grand Mesa. Beautiful roads through the forest and fantastic views into the valley, until we reached the clouds or better said the soup. The fog was in some places so thick that I could not see Skippy riding in front of me – maybe 10m visibility.

Driving through soup.

The great view to the valley :)

It was also pretty chilly up there and wet. We tried to catch the few sun beams which came through the cloud layer when we had a break. We rode through Delta and continued on HWY 50 north towards Grand Junction. What a difference in temperature and landscape. In the valley it was hot and dry and no tree in sight. We stopped somewhere along the highway and stripped all warm clothes off :)

Break nearby Delta.

Uli welcomed us with an open heart. Our girls and Uli's dog Ludwig got along right away – a big relief. We did not know how long we would stay here. Plenty of things to organize and several posts to publish including the travelogues. Uli showed us Grand Junction downtown with the Farmers Market and then shortly the Colorado National Monument.

Funny art in Grand Junction downtown.

Skippy was shopping for peaches.

 A few impressions from Colorado National Monument:

Skippy loves the heights! (the place appeared to be known for successful suicides)

We got to talk to a few neighbors and we thank one person very much for generous contribution!

Uli made some plans for us and Sunday was a hiking day southwest of Red Mountain Pass together with his girlfriend Cindy. We climbed up the hills with his off-road vehicle and then had a nice walk around Porphyry Lake in the Porphyry Basin. Our girls loved it and even Hertta lost all her senses, which resulted in the fact that she had a big blister on her paw in the afternoon.

Skippy got new pants...

... and a few stickers :)

Great selections of organic produce at local Sprouts! Fruitarian heaven :D

Wolfi's beer collection!

Ludvig & Lyra.

My Finnish girls enjoying the snow!

Porphyry Lake

Lyra loved the place and was heavily trying to catch some Pika.

Pika's food storage.

Marmot having a sun bath :)

Yes, this area really reminded us of Switzerland, both in nature and in price level!!!

We had lunch in some Mexican restaurant in Ouray and they had a habit of pinning the tip money to the roof and then later donating it to some charity.

Unfortunately this "herb store" was closed when we got there and Skippy didn't get her Alien-medicine :( Have to go there at some other time...

There was also some bike maintenance to do, but first there was the idea to ride White Rim Trail with my sidecar :)

Our track.

A short travelogue by Skippy, should be visible in all countries!

and in case it is not, find here an alternative source.

 - Wolfi