pet requirements/Alaskan trip

[pattcook]

Were leaving for a trip to Alaska from N. Cal shortly and one rig has a dog and the other a cat. Just wondering what others have done as far as health certificates, proof of rabies, etc. We are taking the ferry one way and will be going in and out of US/ Canada several times. Our vet can only give us a health certificate for 30 days and that won,t help as it will expire before we even get to Canada, but we do have up to date rabies certificate and all required shots. Have others worried about the 30 day rule or just presented what you have and hoped for the best? thanks

[OLD1SGT]

Bring all your pet paper work with you and you should be ok.

[Skip426]

Canadian Government web site.

Automated Import Reference System (AIRS) - Plants - Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Click
Travelers ; on first page
Click
Visitor to Canada ; on second page
Click
pet imports, in the text near the bottom of page three.

[DancinCampers]

We brought all ours last year and were never asked. We did have a health certificate within the 30 day window.

[nothermark]

Check your ferry requirements. When I looked last year I scrubbed any thoughts of the ferry with our dog. The dog goes.

[777Rich]

Suggest checking with ferry company, while it has been 30 years I was allowed to have my dog on ferry,BUT he had to stay in the RV. We were permitted to go down to walk and feed.

[pattcook]

We have only one section of our ferry trip that is overnite. From all who have done the trip we understand the dog must stay in the ferry but we have a few times during that period to allow the dog out in a restricted area. Doesn,t appear to be a problem for one day anyway. The other sections of the trip, such as PR to Ketchikan is only a 6 hour period. Juneau to Haines is even shorter. Ketchikan to Juneau is one day overnite.

[Hikerdogs]

Originally Posted by pattcook

We have only one section of our ferry trip that is overnite. From all who have done the trip we understand the dog must stay in the ferry but we have a few times during that period to allow the dog out in a restricted area. Doesn,t appear to be a problem for one day anyway. The other sections of the trip, such as PR to Ketchikan is only a 6 hour period. Juneau to Haines is even shorter. Ketchikan to Juneau is one day overnite.

Whether or not you can go down to the RV and see your pet is determined by the captain and the weather. The official policy when we did it a few years ago was no one was allowed on the car deck while the ship is in route. However if you have a captain that is accommodating and calm seas there's a good possibility he/she will let you go visit your dog. When we did it we had to meet in a designated spot at a designated time. We had a supervisor with us the entire time. We were allowed 15 minutes to walk the dogs and feed them. At the end of the time period we were escorted back to the main deck.

[3ares]

We spent 10 weeks in Alaska in 2009, we didn't have any pets with us but, there were some places (posted) you could not take dogs because of animal attacks.

[Americanrascal]

Last year we came down to Bellingham from Whittier AK on the Kennicott. We were in a truck camper for that trip and we had our 2 dogs, a Redbone Hound and a Yorkie.

Our options were to either leave them in the camper or crate them on the deck. We opted to prep the camper for any potential accidents. The prep work paid ff as we could only go to the car deck 3-4 times per day (about once every 8 hours). We had to walk the dogs on the deck during those rigid 15 minute visits. In ports we would get off and walk the dogs for as long as we were in port.

The Yorkie did well, buy the Redbone could not relax and would not relieve herself on the steel deck. She loved the port visits.

As soon as we got to Bellingham we hit a dog park to let them run.

Not sure we'll ever do the ferry with the dogs for 4.5 days again . Might do a 1 day run on a ferry though