Registering/passporting our American dog

[Megan le Fey]

10 days ago we collected a GSD from near Paris, originally imported from USA.  Most of the story in on the Animal welfare,rescue & protection forum but by the time we arrived to collect him his registered owner had already left to return to the States and I was afraid that the documentation we had received was going to be insufficient for us to transfer ownership to us.  All we had was a letter from his owner transferring "a German Shepherd Dog" from his owner to me but without mention of his microchip number;  a tiny tear-off slip from the American Kennel Club pet recovery service showing his microchip number; a certificate from the USA vet for his 3 year vaccination dated June 2008 but unsigned & unstamped by the attending vet and finally, a pets passport showing his American vaccination details as copied from the certificate by the Paris vet who issued it and with a "valid to" date of June 2011, and no blood test.  I had asked her for the original importation docs which would have included the health certificate etc and she said she would leave them for me but unfortunately did not.

I was quite sure that this was not going to be enough to register me as the owner of this gorgeous dog and spoke to Christine who sent me a copy of a formulaire which she had used in similar circumstances, along with much needed encouragement[:D]. I spoke on the 'phone to a very helpful gentleman at SIEV who said that I should take everything I had to my vet and to ask him to 'phone him  at SIEV for instructions on what we should do.  After speaking to SIEV the vet was able to print out a copy of the form to register his chip with the French system ,which Christine had sent, and a health certificate both of which he completed after examining the dog.  We then put together a package comprising, copies of pages 1- 3 of the passport, the completed form to register his chip with me as owner at same time, the health certificate, the letter from his previous owner transferring him to me and a cheque for 11euro36cents.  All of these I posted to SIEV Tuesday. 

I had hoped to have blood taken immediately to save the month wait after the French annual vaccination which we also did that day but the vet 'phoned the laboratory who said that because the annual vaccination date was about 6 weeks late, I had to start from scratch.   I am not sure that this is correct as I have it in writing from DEFRA that the 3 year vacs. are valid but that was UK  vacs not USA ones and by that time I had had enough and just gave in so I will return to the vet in 3 - 4 weeks to have the blood test done and hopefully 6 months after that, all will be well, he will be legally ours and properly passported.

 

 

[Russethouse]

All kudos to you for following through with this, and to Christine for her support [:)]

[Christine Animal]

I missed this thread.  I thought all vets should have the necessary forms, but maybe yours is not used to treating "foreign" canines.  Keep going Anne, you'll get there in the end!   [8-|]

Most importantly, you have saved a lovely dog.  I don't know what would have happened to him without you.  Step by step and one day it will all be sorted.

 

[Megan le Fey]

I got it just now, the Carte d'Identification d'un Chien!  So, now he is mine, all mine [:-))][:D] not only that but he is now properly registered in France and if he gets lost, he has a good chance of getting back to me.  As you can probably guess, I am over the moon[:P], he is just so perfect a dog and already we both love him to bits.  I was just a little bit afraid that we just didn't have enough documentation to prove that we owned him but once we got it started it got fixed so quickly.  I had thought it was going to take a month or more. Now all we have to do is to get the passport sorted.

On the sad side[:(], last week someone (no-one here) suggested to me that I was a little bit heartless to be able to take another dog so soon after losing Utopie but it doesn't stop me loving and missing her and Val didn't have the time to wait for me to finish grieving.

[Christine Animal]

I am always grieving, but I carry on for the others who need rescuing.  Waiting won't change anything, but it will for those in need.  You know how you feel Anne and you have done a wonderful thing.  It doesn't matter what others say, who are they to judge.

Bravo for the card and so quickly sorted, that's great.   [:)]

 

[valB]

Wonderful news !!! All true dog lovers will be pleased for you and take no notice of negative comments as you have given hope to a lovely boy. We are always so sad when we lose a faithful friend but life goes on and your memories will always be with you. Now you have a chance to make new memories with your new faithful friend. Once again, so very pleased it is all going well for you and my namesake.  [:D]

 

[Jo]

I hope no-one is ever put off rescuing an animal due to someone's negative comments around it being too soon after the loss of a loved friend, I was selfish once and passed up the chance of taking another rescue dog having just lost my own, I so often wonder what happened to the poor chap[:(]

[wallifer]

So pleased to managed to get the paperwork sorted out and don't take any notice of what people say, they are probably jealous, to me it seemed that Utopie sent Val to look after you and help ease your broken heart. [kiss]

[Megan le Fey]

Thank-you very much everyone.  You really are a lovely lot.[:D]