Hello
My husband and I will be moving into Zurich within the next few months with our 10 month old boxer.
I have been doing research on how to bring a pet into the country from the US; to ensure that we are abiding by all necessary regulations. However, the more research I do, the more uneasy and anxious I have been becoming.
I have found that dogs need rabies shots, blood tests, and a micro chip. Are the blood tests general, or should they be specific? And if specific- for what?
I also read that its forbiden for an animal that has a cropped tail or ears to enter Switzerland. However, for a dog, it may be possible, but the determination is made at Customs in Switzerland. Has anyone encountered this? And have been able to enter without a problem?
Also- it seems that a large breed dog can not fly into Zurich; does anyone know where we would fly into?
If anyone has any insight into how I go about bring our dog into Zurich with the least trouble, we would really appreciate it. Please help!!!!

Hi there -
We brought in our dog (small) with a cropped tail and had no problem. You need to get a Health Certificate from your State's veterinary department ( I think it's called the department of Agriculture). Also make an appointment with your vet, and tell him/her that you're coming in to talk about moving your animal to Switzerland. He/She should have a contact with someone in the dept of agriculture and can call to verify what you need. Then you go in, get your dog's medical records, have them record on your Health Certificate the rabies vaccination info, and the microchip issue.

As far as the docked tail, you can import a dog with a docked tail as long as you declare him/her as personal property on a customs form 03/16e. In addition to this you need to have a resident's permit - if you don't have this yet, they will allow you to show them a copy of your lease of the place you are renting in switzerland, as well as a job contract. I think it also costs 88 CHF. I contacted the Swiss Veterinary Dept when trying to figure this out, and they sent me the following:Because your dog is docked you have to contact the customs (see information under the following link http://www.ezv.admin.ch/zollinfo_pri...x.html?lang=en). The dog has to be declared as personal property (see also the pdf document “Docked dogs – questions and answers” under the following link http://www.bvet.admin.ch/themen/0161...x.html?lang=en)

I would email the Swiss Veterinary department and Customs to get exact info, that's what I did. Good luck!

While you do need the up-to-date rabies vacs (by the manufacturer's expiry date) and (ISO standard 11784 - NOT the US standard*) microchip, coming from the US you do not need the blood test .

See the BVet site here:

http://bvet.bytix.com/plus/dbr/default.aspx?lang=en

Plug in your info, it tells you exactly what to do.


* If you have implanted a US norm chip you will need to bring a compatible scanner with you. The CH/EU scanners do not read US chips.

However, I would urge you to get your dog implanted with the EU chip - should (doG forbid) he ever get lost you want to ensure that his chip is readable here by whoever finds him.

There are many threads on importing dogs from the US, and also a few threads on the ban on importing docked/cropped dogs - do a quick search; you will find more info and other poster's experiences.

Thank you.... knowing that other dogs with cropped tails have come in with out a problem definetly put my mind at ease. I will also be using that website- thank you very much!!!!!!!!!