¡Bienvenida a Chile Natasha!

We left Argentina the evening of October 24, 2011 with Natasha and Procyon on board the LAN and touched down rin Santiago, Chile at 11:30 PM.

Prior to leaving Jorge had packed a bag of puppy kibble that the breeder had given us. I explained to both that the dog food would not be allowed through customs. There was some debate on that detail so I decided to just keep mum and let Jorge have an experiential learning opportunity later.

We left Argentina knowing we had followed the flying requirements to the letter:

LAN CARGO REQUIREMENTS FOR THE SAFE TRANSPORTATION OF YOUR PET : 

1. In order to be accepted for air transportation, Pets must be at least two months old.
2. Provide an original health certificate signed by a licensed veterinarian stating that the animal is healthy enough to travel by air, is free of injury, and current on all vaccinations*. The certificate must be issued ten days or less from the date your pet will be transported.
3. All pets must meet applicable government regulations, including those for Agricultural Institutions at the countries of origin, transit and destination. Permits might be necessary for entry at destination, or if your pet is an endangered specie. Contact the local authorities and corresponding embassies for their regulations governing animals.
4. You must have an appropriate cage or kennel to transport your pet. In some locations, LAN CARGO offers a cage and kennel rental service. Specific guidelines for the acceptance, care, handling and container requirements are published in the IATA's Live Animal Regulation Manual.
5. Please contact LAN CARGO at least a week before the day you wish to transport your pet, to make a reservation.
6. If you are traveling with one of the LAN Alliance carriers, LAN CARGO can make arrangements so that your pet travels on your same flight. These reservations must be coordinated at least two weeks in advance in our Counters.

Our luggage made it ok through customs. Now all we had to do was to pick up our two month old puppies and make our way over to the SAG counter (Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero- animal and agricultural arm of customs), get them checked out and be on our way!

Thats when we discovered that we needed to have looked at ALL the requirements, especially those related to arriving in Chile. 

Yes, there was that pesky item 7 we just didn't pay any attention to:

7. In case of pet transportation within Chile, other requirements apply.

Little did we realize that in order for the puppies to ENTER CHILE they needed to be THREE MONTHS old:

CHILE

1.- What are the requirements for pet transportation within Chile?

• The pet must be at least 3 months old.

Jorge and I shot each other a look of panic as we stood in front of the SAG agent imagining the possibility of having to leave the puppies behind at the airport's  SAG office for a month. The issue was the puppies needed to have had ALL their vaccinations.  Of course this meant they were missing their 3 month series that included the rabies vaccination.

The SAG agent would not let us pass without our first calling in a vet to come into the airport and give the 2 month old pups an early third dose of rabies vaccination, a requirement for entry into the country. Lucky for us the SAG agent had a directory of vets within a close radias of the airport and who, for an added fee, would be very happy to help out.

Nearly an hour and half later the puppies were given an early rabies shot and we were on our way home... oh and without puppy food.  I won  the bet that SAG would not allow dog food into the country either.   Jorge had to throw away all the food that the breeder gave him for the trip home admitting he was smarter now!

We informed Juan Carlos about the vaccination troubles and that we'd be arriving later than expected with his puppy, Procyon. He was there at our apartment eagerly awaiting our arrival.

We all made it home finally, but not until nearly 1:30 AM.  And despite the early morning hour Natasha still wanted to play making herself quite comfortable in her new country and home.

Read my first experiences of traveling into Chile with our Maltese, Samson: 
Chile Dog- Gringo Style
Flying the Friendly Skies with Samson to Santiago

Photos of the ride home:

Almost there!

Vaccinated and ready to go home

Into the car

Leaving the airport finally

Natasha and Jorge 

Natasha Rose with Donna

Natasha Rose

Egads! Where's the dog?

JC picking up Procyon

Two new puppy papas

Home at last

Natasha Rose's international saga begins

Jorge, my husband, first learned about Vizslas when he started to hunt with his good friend, Juan Carlos Castro. Together with Juan Carlos' Vizsla they would hunt for turtledoves, grouse and rabbits in the fields outside of Santiago (see related story in my personal blog, And she took her journey).  It was love at first sight for Jorge.  Then and there Jorge decided to have one too.

Sadly, Juan Carlos' dog tragically lost his life.  Now both friends were desperate to have Vizsla puppies.  They contacted the breeder of Juan Carlos' first dog, German Ezequel Rodriquez-Can D'Ijuma, in Dolores, Buenos Aires, Argentina.  As luck would have it German's  Ceila Can d Ijuma was expecting puppies in August of 2011.



Jorge reserved a female and Juan Carlos a male.


After an impatient wait of two months Jorge and I left for Buenos Aires in October to pick up our new puppy, Natasha Rose Can D'Ijuma and her brother selected for Juan Carlos, Procyon Can D'Ijuma.

We met German and his lovely family as they carefully carried their wiggly packages to our hotel. They gently handed Natasha Rose to Jorge and we went on inside to sign the necessary papers needed to take ownership of our Natasha and to carry Procyon, or Procy, back to Santiago, Chile.

Jorge is a daddy once again

Now it's official

Then it was off to  to the airport with our precious cargo.  But first we had to figure out how to squeeze two dog kennels along with our luggage into the back of a tiny taxi.

Piece of cake!

Ok this may take some doing.

We made it to the airport with no trouble. The real adventure started when we tried to figure out where to to go to check the dogs in to their flight.

Now where do go?

Hands full with papers and puppies

We had to first go to customs...of course on the OTHER side of the airport

The paper chase begins

Big wheels rollin' down the airport hallway

There was little problem in checking the dogs out of Argentina's customs. The hardest part was locating the agent who at first was no where to be found.

Now it was back to the LAN office to "check-in" the puppies.

With a farewell hug we were off with the agent to the cargo load with Natasha Rose and Procy

We threw them our kisses as they were loaded up into our plane

Leavin' on a jet plane

We boarded ourselves and soon we were off -- leaving behind Argentina and heading home to Santiago, Chile.

Don't cry for us Argentina!

View the slideshow of this saga here