The Quarantine Countries: Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and Hawaii

For most of the world, taking a dog across a border means a microchip, a rabies vaccination and a certificate. A handful of places ask for much more. They are islands that have no rabies, or have got rid of it, and they intend to keep it out. Getting a dog into them takes months of preparation, and in some of them the dog still spends time in a government quarantine station when it lands. The word quarantine frightens people more than it should. The quarantine itself is now short, ten days in the strictest countries and none at all in others if you prepare properly. What is long is the wait before you travel. This guide takes the five places people ask about most, says what each one requires, and is honest about which trips are worth it.

What These Places Have in Common

Every one of them works in the same way. Your dog is microchipped and vaccinated against rabies. Then, some weeks later, a blood sample is taken and sent to an approved laboratory to prove that the vaccine has worked, which is called the rabies titre test. And then you wait, usually about six months from the date of that blood sample, before the dog is allowed in.

That wait is the heart of it. It is not spent in kennels, and your dog lives at home with you as normal. But it cannot be shortened, and if you arrive early, the days still owed are spent in quarantine. So the rule for all five is the same: start early, and do things in the right order. A step done out of order usually cannot be repaired, only repeated, and repeating it can cost you months.

Australia

Australia is the strictest of the five, and the only one where every dog arriving from abroad goes into quarantine, with the exception of dogs from New Zealand. The preparation takes at least seven months. Before anything else, an official government vet in your country must verify your dog's identity from its microchip, and this has to be done before the blood is taken for the titre test, at a separate visit.

Then comes the blood test, and after it the dog cannot travel until at least 180 days after the sample reaches the laboratory. The test is valid for twelve months, so there is a window: not sooner than 180 days and not later than a year. You also need an import permit, and further tests and treatments in the last weeks before you fly, including tests for diseases that Australia does not have. The government's guide sets them out one by one, and it is worth reading from start to finish before you begin.

Every dog must fly into Melbourne, and from the airport it is taken to the government quarantine station at Mickleham. If the identity check was done properly, the stay is 10 days. If it was not, it is 30. You cannot visit during a ten day stay. The fees are set out by the Australian government in Australian dollars: $282 to reserve a place, $1,132 as an importation charge, and $560 for ten days of accommodation, or $1,680 for thirty. With inspection fees and airport handling on top, the quarantine alone comes to about $2,000 for a ten day stay, before the vet bills, the laboratory tests, the permit and the flight. Five breeds are banned from import outright.

New Zealand

New Zealand's system is close to Australia's. For dogs from most countries there is a rabies titre test, a permit from the Ministry for Primary Industries applied for at least twenty working days ahead, and further tests before travel. Then, according to the USDA's summary of New Zealand's rules, the dog spends at least 10 days in an approved quarantine facility after you land. You must also give the ministry notice at least 72 hours before the dog travels.

The facilities are privately run and set their own fees, so you book and pay them directly, and they fill up, so book early. Dogs coming from Australia are the exception and do not go into quarantine. New Zealand bans the import of the same group of breeds as Australia, and requires paperwork for every arriving dog to confirm that it is not one of them.

Japan

Japan is the one that surprises people, because done correctly there is almost no quarantine at all. Japan's Animal Quarantine Service says that if a dog meets all the import requirements on arrival, the quarantine period will be within 12 hours. In practice that means an inspection at the airport, after which you leave together.

The requirements are what take the time. The dog is microchipped, then vaccinated against rabies twice, at least 30 days apart. Then comes the blood test, at a laboratory Japan has approved, and then a wait of 180 days from the day the blood was taken. You must also notify the quarantine service at least 40 days before you arrive, and enter through a port or airport that it covers.

The 180 days are counted exactly. If your dog lands before they are up, it is held in a quarantine facility for the days remaining, and the service can hold a dog for up to 180 days if the paperwork is deficient. One day early is one day in quarantine. So for Japan, the whole task is patience and arithmetic, and an owner who counts carefully need never see the inside of a quarantine kennel.

Singapore

Singapore sorts countries into groups according to their rabies risk, and what your dog needs depends on where it is coming from. The United States, for example, is in the second group. For a dog from a country in that group, Singapore's Animal and Veterinary Service requires a rabies vaccination, a titre test with the sample taken between 90 days and 12 months before export, and an import licence, which costs 50 Singapore dollars and is valid for 90 days.

For a family pet from such a country there may be no quarantine at all. The stay is waived if the dog has lived with you at the same address for at least six months and arrives within five days of you. Otherwise it is at least ten days. Dogs from higher risk countries face longer stays in the government quarantine centre, and places there have to be booked. Singapore also has a long list of breeds it will not admit, including the pit bull types, the Akita, the Tosa and several mastiffs, so check that before anything else.

Hawaii

Hawaii is part of the United States, but it is rabies free and has its own rules, which apply even to a dog flying in from California. They catch out American families every year. Here too, the quarantine can be avoided completely. A dog that meets every requirement qualifies for what Hawaii calls Direct Airport Release and leaves the airport with you the same day. A dog that misses any one of them, in the words of Hawaii's Animal Quarantine Branch, can be quarantined for up to 120 days.

The requirements are a microchip, two rabies vaccinations, and a passing blood test from one of the few laboratories Hawaii accepts. The dog must then wait at least 30 days after the test before arriving. The state must receive your paperwork more than 10 days before you land, and you should arrive in Honolulu by half past three in the afternoon, because dogs that land late are held overnight. Direct Airport Release costs $185 if your documents arrive on time and $244 if they are late. For a family holiday, that makes Hawaii the only one of these five where taking the dog is practical, and our guide to taking your dog to Hawaii goes through the checklist step by step.

What It Is Like for the Dog

In the countries that still quarantine, the stay is in a purpose built kennel with staff who do this every day. Your dog is fed, cleaned and checked, and you are told how it is getting on. What you generally cannot do during a short stay is visit. Australia's station says plainly that there are no visits during a ten day stay, and it will not give certain medicines, so a dog with a serious medical condition needs careful thought and a conversation with your vet and the station before you commit.

Most dogs come through ten days in good shape. The dogs that find it hardest are the very old, the very anxious and those that have never spent a night away from their owners. If that is your dog, some practice stays in a kennel at home in the months before will help a great deal. The journey itself is the other strain, since every one of these places is reached by a long flight in the hold, and for most dogs that is harder than the quarantine at the end of it.

Is It Worth It?

For a holiday, almost never, with the exception of Hawaii. Months of preparation and a long flight in the hold, followed in Australia or New Zealand by ten days apart, is a great deal to ask of a dog for a fortnight's trip. Leave the dog with someone it loves and go. Our guide to whether your dog should come on the trip explains how to arrange that well.

For a move, yes. Families take their dogs to all five of these places every year, and the dogs settle into their new homes none the worse for it. Start as soon as you know you are going, even before you have a date, because the blood test clock is what sets your earliest arrival. For Australia and New Zealand, most people use a pet shipping company, and it is money well spent, because one missed step can cost you months.

A Closing Thought

The quarantine countries are hard, but they are hard in a predictable way. Each one publishes exactly what it wants, in order, on its government website, and each rewards the owner who reads it carefully and starts early. Find the official page for your destination, write the dates on a calendar, count the days twice, and the day you land will be an ordinary arrival with a dog.