Traveling to Mexico with Dogs

Yes, special documentation is required when crossing the border from the United States to Mexico, with your dog

• An International Certificate of Good Health (Form 77-043) issued by a licensed veterinarian (signature must be approved by the State Veterinarian) who has examined your pet and…
• Proof of vaccination against rabies and distemper, administered at least 15 days before your pet enters Mexico.First, be sure that the actual dates of vaccination appear on the health certificate. According to the USDA, your certificate for each pet must…
  • be presented in duplicate (you should always keep an extra copy!)
  • clearly state your name and address
  • include a complete description of your pet (species/age/sex)
  • state that your pet has been examined and found to be free of all contagious diseases

Research the vet 3 weeks prior

We found out that our regular vet didn’t issue the health certificate we needed.  Luckily we had enough time to find one in our area who was able to do the health check up for the certificate.  It cost us $75 for each pup.

A lot of friends who go to Mexico often will say “I never get a certificate” and we’re never asked for them when we’re crossing the border.  This may be true … but I would not risk it and highly recommend you get a certificate anyway.  In our case, we weren’t asked for them going into or returning back from Mexico.  Nevertheless the law requires you to have them so we had peace of mind knowing we had them in our possession.

[/fusion_text][title size=”1″ content_align=”left” style_type=”default” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]Travel tips for traveling with dogs into Mexico[/title][fusion_text]Baja bound – camping on a remote beach

We decided to go camping on the beaches of Baja.  Actually where we ended up was a small little fishing town called Puertocito, just south of San Felipe.

Here’s a summary of travel tips for bringing the dogs with us:

• First aid kit for the dogs
• Kennel – for those times when you are putting up your tent setting up, cooking etc.
• Long lead lines (I bought climbing rope from the sports goods store and had about 20 feet for each dog).  Under no circumstances were they ever off leash
• Light up collars that we got from REI for the dogs
• Coconut water – on hot beach days when I want to hydrate the dogs fast
• Bandanas I could soak in water and wrap around their necks to keep them cool

The girls did great.  They loved being out with us. The one safety precaution I took was I didn’t let them swim … which was a bit of a bummer …. but the bay was infested with stingrays and I didn’t want to have an accident with the dogs.  As it was one of us in the group got stung by one and had to get first aid.