Board of Agriculture, Customs, and "Who the hell knows?"

It's been a week (and it's only Wednesday!)....a trying week, a tiring week, a fretful week that I am hoping will soon be behind me. The bandy was good --- it was the disaster that struck the day Thom took Reese to our vet, then took Reese to the USDA Vet who proceeded to tell him "Your order of operations of executing the defined requirements is out of sequence. They will not let her into the country." UM!? HELLO!? Couldn't they have told me that BEFORE? Like the first 10 or 20 times I called "Pamela" to get the information (Pamela is the "expert" on exporting animals - dear God, if our country puts someone like this as the "expert" in anything we're screwed!) Needless to say, we've not dealt with Pamela since the whole ordeal started this week.

Note to anyone taking a pet to Sweden:

1 - Implant the Euro Chip FIRST!

2 - Vaccinate against Rabies

3 - wait 120 days to do a blood draw to test for Titre (the antibodies to prove she is ok with Rabies) - but allow yourself 4 weeks for test results!

4 - 10 days or less before you will ARRIVE (not depart as Pamela told us) in the country, have your dog injected for de-worming and a flea/tick topical treatement administered, and a health certificate.

5 - AFTER you have that deworming and topical treatment, get the USDA vet visit done and obtain the Health Certificate endorsement.

6 - Ensure that your airline will NOT make your dog travel cargo...if your dog DOES travel in cargo, you will have to have a visit within 24 hours with the USDA Vet to get a "note" put on the certificate that your pet is healthy to travel in cargo. (*NOTE - CARGO is NOT the same as "Checked Luggage"....ahhh...yes...there in lies some of the issue).

We did all of this - except - we had steps 1 & 2 in reverse order. You see, Reese had her annual vaccinations in May. I found out in June that I'd be able to come to Sweden. So, I did some research, found out I had to have a European chip/ISO certified chip implanted, so I did that in June....wrong order! HOWEVER - If I were to leave in October, to get her Rabies Vaccination in June - - - 120 days puts you past October departure.

Another side note --- If this happens and you are like most people that you keep your pet up to date on shots, find out you need a chip so you go get it - there is a way to notate it! Call the Board of Agriculture and have them send you an instruction sheet on what the letter should be that the Vet can write to say "Yes, this is the dog that does not have Rabies, yes this is the SAME dog that has the microchip". HOWEVER - do not ask the Board of Agriculture if your dog will need the vet visit within 24 hours of departure...THEY HAVE NO IDEA! What I found most interesting is that the person who was helping me was reading some of THEIR own documentation and said "Pets will not have to have..." and then said "Oh, but this says something different, which do I....I will have to put you on hold." Great - they write the rules, but they don't know what they've written and apparently, 2 different people have written them. If the country that is setting the rules doesn't know what to go by....how am I??? Who the hell knows!

I did some searching and decided that Customs should know - they are the ones that make the call at the airport anyway of letting a pet in or not...call them. The Customs phone number you can find on the web through http://www.arlanda.com/ does not work. You dial it, you get some operator (who sounds nice) telling you the number is not in service (in Swedish of course) and she hangs up on you. (b!tc*) Didn't anyone tell her it's rude to just hang up??? I figured a way around it....call the airport directly. After 5 different numbers that the airport staff told me to call (call #1 - hang up, call airport, get #2, call #2, hang up...repeat through 5), I finally get a human on the other end who speaks very broken english, but we figure out how to communicate together....I ask "I have dog coming to live here, what steps must we take to get right papers?" (Sounds barbaric huh?) She replies in steps 1-6 above - very broken English, but I've read enough about it, I know what she's saying. I respond back with my question of "Should I take my dog to the USDA vet within 1 day before she flies here?" She responds back in the Fargo stereotype accent "Only if you plan on puttin' her in da cargo area". I ask "is 'checked luggage' considered cargo?" She replies back a firm "No". WHEW!

So, now we are waiting to see if Reese will fly in Cargo or not. Strange that I cannot find a non 1-800 number to call SAS in the US to ensure that she will not fly Cargo (I guess it's a European based company, so they would have a European # - but they won't know what SAS in US does necessarily - at least, after this run around I would assume that they don't know)...so, I have to bother Thom, once again as he's swamped at work and stressed out as it is...to call SAS.

As I've learned to say here --- "Fi Fon!" as an expression of exaspiration and frustration.

All I want for Christmas is Thom and Reese....is that too much to ask?? I now retract my answer to anyone who has asked "Is it easy to bring your dog to Sweden?" I was saying "Yeah - the removed the quarantine period in 2004, so it's a snap!" Now I respond "We'll see...."

Game time on Sunday against West Strand - BIG game....stay tuned...I'll have the latest on Reese and the game at that point.

As for now.....

How much longer til I see that doggie in the picture(arf, arf)

The one with the waggley tail

How much longer til I see that doggie in the picture(arf, arf)

I do hope that doggie's cleared to fly like mail

I must take a trip to Sweden

And leave my poor sweetheart alone

If he has a dog he won't be lonesome

And the doggie will have a good home

How much longer til I see that doggie in the picture(arf, arf)

The one with the waggley tail

How much longer til I see that doggie in the picture(arf, arf)

I do hope that doggie's cleared to fly like mail

I read in the papers there are robbers (roof, roof)

With flashlights that shine in the dark

My love needs a doggie to protect him
And scare them away with one bark

I don't want a bunny or a kitty

I don't want a parrot that talks

I don't want a bowl of little fishies

He can't take a goldfish for a walk

How much longer til I see that doggie in the picture(arf, arf)

The one with the waggley tail

How much longer til I see that doggie in the picture(arf, arf)

I do hope that doggie's cleared to fly like the mail

Rooooooooo!

KP