Bringing a DOG to the Dominican Republic- ON A BOAT

We recently sailed from Florida over to the Bahamas and then down to the Dominican Republic. Our dog Jetty is one of those dogs that NEVER gets left behind. Prior to leaving the U.S. I did extensive research to find out what exactly was needed to sail with her in the Caribbean. What I read made me very nervous! There are so many different countries, each with their own rules and regulations. As we continue south I plan to outline the requirements for each country and our experience sailing with a dog to them. Our experience of bringing a dog to the Dominican was way easier than expected.

Requirements when bringing a dog to the Dominican Republic

According to Bring Fido, to travel with a dog into the Dominican Republic you will need a health certificate signed by a licensed veterinarian and endorced by the USDA. This health certificate should detail your dog’s vaccination history and state that he/she is free of any infectious diseases, and treated for external and internal parasites. It also needs to include the date given, immunity period, and the serial number of the rabies vaccine.

According to Pet Travel the rabies vaccine needs to be given between 30 days and 12 months prior to your arrival into the Dominican Republic. According to this site, your dog must also be vaccinated for parvovirus and have a Rabies Blood titer test if traveling from a high-rabies country. It also states that the USDA endorsed heath certificate must be issued within 10 days of arrival.

Our worries about bringing a dog to the Dominican Republic

The requirements seem pretty straight forward if you are coming from the U.S. or any country that is non classified as a high rabies country.

-Health Certificate endorsed by USDA (within 10 days of arrival)

-Valid Rabies Certificate between 30 days and 12 months prior to your arrival

– Parvovirus vaccine

My biggest worry was how in the world we were going to get an endorsed health certificate within 10 days of arrival. This shouldn’t be an issue if you are traveling by plane, but by sailboat, there is no way. Especially coming from the Bahamas where there are not vets on every street like in the U.S.

After talking to other friends and sailors who had traveled with a dog to the Dominican Republic. I was convinced it wouldn’t be too big of an issue if our health certificate was older then requested.

Before leaving Florida I got our International health certificate signed by our local vet and sent off to the USDA to be endorsed (the Florida USDA office is in Gainsville and the turnaround time was about 1 week). The Bahamas does NOT require the health certificate to be endorsed but I knew that the DR and many other Caribbean countries do. I figured it was better to have an older certificate officially endorsed than not endorsed at all.

We did our best to find a vet when sailing in the outer islands of the Bahamas. I found one on Eleuthera and one in Georgetown. However, neither were available when we were in the area.

We didn’t have time to keep searching for vets so we headed south and hoped for the best. We figured worse case if they did not let her in the country we would sail on.

Our experience bringing a dog to the Dominican Republic

With this being our first time in the Dominican Republic, not speaking too much Spanish, and worrying about Jetty’s paperwork we figured it would be best to clear customs at Ocean World Marina.

We read that Luperon is an awesome spot for cruisers but clearing customs can be a bit of a pain and expensive. The clearence proceduce in the Dominican Republic includes checking in with immigration, the Coast Guard, Drug Enforcement, intelligence, and customs. In many ports of entry these entities are not in the same building which we heard makes for a LONG day.

Ocean World had onsite customs and immigration which made clearing in SUPER easy. The dockmaster spoke great English and informed us what the clear in process was. A few minutes later we had all the appropriate officials on the boat filling out and signing paperwork.

No one even looked at the health certificate that I stressed so much about! In fact, no one asked anything about Jetty.

When cruising in the Dominican Republic you can only go to land in specific ports and you must check out from each port. When checking out you receive a “despacho” for the next port you plan to visit.

For more info about rules and reg while cruising in the Dominica Republick click here

While getting our despacho from Ocean World to head to Samana the Navy officer asked if we had paperwork for Jetty (he did not request to look at it). He said they may ask for it in Samana.

When checking into Samana they simply asked if we had paperwork for Jetty. We told them yes and we were good to go.

Our advice to you when bringing a dog to the Dominican Republic

This was our experience bringing our dog to the Dominican Republic on a boat. You may have a completely different experience and it could depend on a million different factors (where you check in, your officer, time of year, and so on).

My tip for you is to follow the requirements to the BEST of your ability. Always be polite and appreciative. If they do not accept your paperwork tell them your situation. Most people know that sailboats are slow and weather plays a huge part in the scheduling. If they still do not budge ask if you can pay for a new health certificate with a local vet. Hopefully, you will not have to but worse case have your dog stay on the boat and sail on when the weather permits.

I hope this gives you a little insight into what it is like bringing a dog to the Dominican Republic. Prior to our visit, all the information I found just explained requirements but nothing about personal experience. I hope this can help make your research a tad easier than mine was. If you are interested in what other steps we took to prepare to bring our dog to the Caribbean click here.

Thanks for reading!

Sierra