Moving two (big) dogs to the Netherlands

Out of all the move logistics and immigration hurdles, bringing our dogs over to the Netherlands was the most intimidating prospect for me. In the States, our furry disasters had a lot of particular wants and needs. They ate fancy food and took several medications. One of our dogs hates all humans (except me) AND has no patience for most dogs (including the one who lives with him). How were we going to move these beasts overseas AND get them settled back into a manageable routine? Read on, dear dog owner.

The cast of characters

Otto is a 12ish-year-old mutt with a bad attitude. He’s been kicked out of a boarding place, growled/snapped at everyone we’ve ever liked, and requires three sedatives, a muzzle, and a full-body wrestling hold in order to get a single vaccine at the vet. My former running buddy, he also has raging arthritis we attempt to treat with supplements and shots. Two things on his side during this transition: He’s incredibly food-motivated, and he’s usually most normal when he’s farthest from me (the human he always thinks he’s protecting).

Ursula is a 5-year-old Great Dane who is afraid of the vent fan on the kitchen stove and loses us in open dog parks. She loves Otto with her whole dumb heart, which means she gets amped and barky any time HE gets amped and barky. Once calm, she is the sweetest, but is quite timid around new people and is terrified of all loud sounds. She also has the most sensitive stomach known to dogkind; after many trials and tribulations, we finally had landed on a formula that worked, but it involved a locally produced raw food we knew we wouldn’t have in A’dam. Plus, she takes a supplement to ward off alopecia flare-ups.

Together they are almost 180 pounds of dog, and a ton of trouble.

Planning the move

We were quite fortunate that my husband’s company paid for a pet-moving service as part of our relocation package. We found our pet movers to be the best vendors in our company-supplied overseas-move circus. (Shout out to Laurie at WorldCare Pet!) It’s absolutely possible to DIY this, of course, and if you don’t have a Laurie in your life, here are things to start thinking about.

Find a vet that is certified to do international pet paperwork. We were EXTRAORDINARILY lucky that our current vet was one of these. (In case you’re wondering: Sunset Hill in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood.)
Check on your pet’s microchip. There are international-compliant ones, and non-compliant ones. Obviously you’ll need the compliant one. Again, we were lucky that our dogs’ existing chips were the right kind.
Review your pet’s vaccination record and the latest requirements for vaccinations in the Netherlands. Does your pet have everything that’s required? Is there something that will expire right after you arrive? See if you can get new shots before you go, so that you’re not scrambling to get it done after you arrive. Your vet might let you get ahead on a couple things to give you more breathing room once you’re here.
Look at flights that are pet-friendly from your location. At the time we left Seattle, the only nonstop dog-friendly flights from the West Coast left from SF or Vancouver, B.C. So while we (the humans) had nice direct flights from Seattle to A’dam, our dogs had a slightly more complicated itinerary than I originally thought.

The paperwork dance

Before your pets can board their flight, though, paperwork must be completed in order, on a specific timeline. And, of course, not every part of this will be under your control, so there will be a lot of preparation and prayer involved.

Pet flight is booked
Pet passport paperwork is initiated and prepared for vet’s signature (our pet movers did this for us)
Vet appointment is held, during which the vet examines the pet and gives sign-off that they’re healthy to travel (and won’t be bringing any communicable diseases in their carry-on)
Vet-approved paperwork is sent to your local USDA office (ours is in Olympia), where they review and sign off
Final, approved certifications are returned to you (or your pet movers)
Time to catch that flight!

While complex, this seems doable until you know that steps 2 through 5 have to take place on specific dates based on the departure date. The sign-off from the vet and the USDA have to be within a certain number of days of takeoff (I think 10 days?), and the USDA gives something like a three-day window for how long they take to review documents. So you can’t do it way ahead of time, and you can’t do it last-minute. What makes it extra fun is that if the paperwork doesn’t get done, and you can’t reschedule the flight within the appropriate window (dog-friendly flights don’t go every day, silly), then you have to start the whole process over. New departure date, new vet visit, new USDA sign-off.

What to pack?

The pet movers provided the crates for the dogs, which was pretty great because I hear the travel-safe ones are spendy. We also kept the crates, which I think is standard procedure. (And in Ursula’s case, it made sense because they had to custom-make a crate for her, given her size. It looked like it could have held several small farm animals.)

We were allowed to send the dogs with a leash and collar, though they’re not allowed to wear anything inside their crates, for safety reasons. Our pet mover recommended that we send leashes and collars that we don’t care much about, as there is nowhere to store them in-flight, so they are just set atop the crates and get lost more than half the time. (This math worked for us, as one dog arrived with a leash and the other didn’t.)

The crates have water and food dishes attached to the sides and facing in. We sent each dog with a baggie of kibble, and we have no idea if the dogs got to eat any of it. All we know is the baggies didn’t reach the final destination, so maybe they’re with that missing leash in the belly of a plane somewhere.

They don’t get dog beds inside the crates, but the handlers do spread some of those absorbent puppy pads in there. They also let us send each dog with a piece of our clothing, as they said the scent might be reassuring and calming. I’m sure that Otto still was thinking “WTF WTF WTF why I am I being kidnapped” the whole time.

I believe that bringing dog food over in your own luggage is a no-no, because of import laws. I didn’t do this (honestly, I had no room), but I imagine if you put a baggie of kibble in your suitcase you won’t go to jail. Maybe just fined if they catch you in customs? Anyway, this is where it was clutch that Tom and I traveled separately. He was about two weeks ahead of me, so he bought dog food and other supplies when he landed, so by the time the dogs got to him, he had something to feed them. I put their medicines in my luggage, most of their supplies in our air shipment (which took five weeks to get to us), and the rest of their stuff (like Ursula’s very important Hawaiian shirt) in the sea shipment (which took 15 weeks). Here’s my thoughts on packing, FWIW.

What’s the flight like?

The short answer is I have no idea. From what I can piece together, after I loaded Otto and Ursula into their crates in the back of a stranger’s van outside our house in Seattle, they had a potty break at SeaTac (they sent us a pic of the dogs outside the crates), and from then on, they might have been crate-only. Because of my dogs’ attitude problems, I actually feel great about that. I’d rather have them peeing in their crates than barking at or biting strangers. We know that they were flown to Frankfurt, went through customs there, and then were driven to Amsterdam. It added up to about 24 hours of travel, and they seemed no worse for the wear. They weren’t, like, covered in poop or cowering in their crates or anything. And as soon as Tom freed them from their mini-prisons, they both promptly relieved themselves on the hotel room floor.

And no, you can’t drug them for the flight. It’s unsafe for several reasons that you can Google!

Settling in

Again, we were lucky that Tom went ahead. He got food and treats. He also had to get leashes and bowls, because those were with me. If you have extras of the basic stuff and you’re in a situation where you can send supplies ahead with someone, great. Once you’re here, Pets Place is the Petco/Petsmart equivalent. There are of course little pet-supply shops in every neighborhood, but for the best selection, Pets Place is the go-to. And they have even more online. You can check their website before you go to see if they stock your pet’s food. My experience is that the brands are different, but there is no shortage of specialty food, if that’s what you need. Our neighborhood Pets Place has kibble in a wide variety of proteins, and a huge freezer section if raw food is your thing.

If there is something really particular to your dog, like a certain type of bed they can’t live without, or a harness that works really well for them, buy a couple extras in the States and bring them with you. There’s no guarantee you’ll be able to find that thing here. Of course money solves all problems, so if you’re willing to pay exorbitant shipping fees, you can get anything here.

You are supposed to register your pet, which was a bit of a confusing situation. I hope I did it right! I started on this page and ended up with a seven-digit UBN. I followed the rules under the heading “you come to the Netherlands for work and bring your dog with you.” Note that you have to have your DigiD in order to go through with this process.

The vet

I did Google Maps searches to find the closest vets taking new patients. Because we’re carless here, I knew we needed a vet’s office that was an easy walk from our apartment. And in Otto’s case, he can’t do more than a few blocks at a time, so I have to rent a bakfiets (cargo bike) to haul him. So just be thinking about your transportation options when you sign up for a vet. It was as easy as filling out a form on their website. I emailed all the dogs’ records over, and then we were ready when one of them needed a vet visit.

I’ve been really happy with our vet so far — of course everyone in the office speaks fluent English (it’s Amsterdam, after all), and they have been really understanding about Otto’s psychotic tendencies. As with human doctors in the Netherlands, they are reticent to prescribe anything and want to try non-Rx solutions before bringing out the big guns. But in the end, we’ve always gotten what we’ve needed.

We’ve done one emergency vet visit so far (problem discovered Friday night/Saturday morning, and our vet is closed weekends), and we had a great experience. (Shout-out to Evidensia Dierenziekenhuis Amsterdam!) We did have to pick up a car-share in order to get there, but it was worth it.

Cost-wise, we’ve found the vet to be about the same as the U.S., which is to say expensive.

Dog boarding/walking

I feel like I’m jinxing myself here, but again we got really lucky. We reached out to a local boarding service that finds individuals to come and stay at your place while you’re gone. The person assigned to us turned out to be the best, most wonderful and patient dog caregiver ever, and we’ve been working directly with her ever since. She is great at managing Otto, and she takes Ursula on adventures all over the city. So far she’s been available every time we’ve needed her, but we are looking for a backup person just in case.

There are also a couple of apps (Pawshake and Petbnb) where you can reach out to available dog-sitters and dog-walkers in your area.

Fun stuff

Amsterdam is so dog-friendly. More than Seattle, even. As with many things in Amsterdam, the rules are: take care of your business and don’t be a jerk. This means friendly, well-behaved dogs are allowed almost anywhere (including inside restaurants, at the owner’s discretion), and it’s quite common to see dogs out for their morning walk without a leash.

Our favorite spots so far:

Ursula on her way to the Hondenspeelplaats

Vondelpark: According to legend, this huge park on the southwest corner of the city center is designated off-leash in perpetuity, as dictated by the family that donated the land. Once we enter the gates, we unclip Ursula and she trots happily along, guiding us to the well-known dog gathering spot near the middle of the park.
Bar Centraal and Fika Amsterdam: Our favorite spots in our neighborhood have adopted Ursula as a mascot, and she’s allowed to sit under our table inside or out. We love working from Fika (a cafe) during the day, and grabbing drinks at Bar Centraal (a natural wine bar) in the evening.
Hondenspeelplaats de Geuz: Tom discovered this little spot when walking Ursula along the canals by our place. Like most dog parks here, there are no fences and not a lot of fuss. Just a nice pathway and a small open space where pups can play. Great for a quick stop before or after work.
Waterkant: This place is a scene no matter what, but with plenty of outdoor seating, it’s a great place to have a drink with your doggo.

Etiquette and norms

As previously mentioned, many people walk their dogs off-leash, which means dogs are mostly unmonitored as they do their business in the tree wells along the street, or just on the sidewalk. So watch your step! You are expected to pick up poop, though, and so far no one has yelled at us for Otto using the planters along the sidewalk as his bathroom area. Nearby there’s also a small plaza with a playground and some planters that Otto frequents, and I’ve seen many other dogs do the same.

Living in the city, you’re in close quarters with a lot of people, so you can expect that others (especially children) will want to come up and “say hi” to your dog. For walking Otto, I learned early on how to say “sorry, onvriendelijk, agressief” (“unfriendly, aggressive”) to keep them at bay.

This is neither here nor there, but waaaaay fewer dogs are fixed here. Not sure why! But get used to seeing some more forceful, ahem, greetings by male dogs in the dog park. And if your dog is reactive to unfixed dogs, that’s something to be aware of.

We’re used to saying “good girl” to Ursula in English, and we thought we were super smart to figure out “goed meisje” in Dutch. But apparently the preferred phrase is an Italian-Dutch mix: “brava, hondje” (“brava, doggie”). Lucky for us language learners, “kom hier” sounds basically the same as “come here.”