ADOPT TO THE EU

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Adoption process

When you have chosen your new family member we do microchipping, vaccinations and snap-test (blood test to check for heart worm, Lyme disease, Anaplasma and Ehrlichia). We also test renal and liver functions.

The next step is that we, one month after microchipping, will make a rabies titer test (measuring the existence and level of antibodies to rabies in blood) that will be sent to Biobest in Scotland. If approved the dog can leave Thailand three months after that the blood test was made.

One month before travel we will make another snap-test and if there is any need the dog will get medicated. All dogs are sterilized, dewormed and treated against ticks and fleas before travel.

Two days before travel the dog is taken to Animal Livestock Department at Suvarnabhumi Airport in BKK for flight clearance. If there is a flight volunteer helping out with the transportation we will meet up at the airport and the flight volunteer will get the dog checked in. One arrival the flight volunteer takes the dog through customs and deliver it to you in the arrival hall. Because of the process in Thailand the dog does not have to do quarantine time once in the new country.

 Remember to contact livestock authorities and insurance company in your country for info on what they require for your dog to get the right conditions on arrival.

Dog Rescue Thailand is a small organization and we do not have the financial possibilities to make all our dogs LAW- approved (LAW – Law of adoption). Because of this, when you find a dog that you want to adopt it might cost a little bit more to adopt from us than from other, bigger organizations.

We want to emphasize that we do not make any money on adoptions! The payments you make are just for covering our cost.

The cost below does not include the flight cost for the dog, as this varies a lot depending on destination, date and whether the animal is flying with a flight volunteer or by cargo. To go with a flight volunteer in the cabin the dog can’t weigh more than 8 kg including transportation box.
All costs are in THB (Thai Baht). Please check currency conversion at www.xe.com

Costs:

  • 5750 THB –  5 disease combine vaccine, rabies vaccine, microchip, deworming, SNAP-test. (not refundable)
  • 7 000 THB – Blood sample (rabies and heart worm) plus special delivery with Fedex of blood to Biobest in the UK. Mandatory if the dog will travel to the EU. (not refundable)
  • 6400 THB – Transportation Laem Mae Phim – Bangkok. Including visit and check up by veterinarian at Animal Quarantine to get the flight clearance and one night of boarding in Bangkok.
  • 800 THB – SNAP-test nr 2 and deworming nr 2 (mandatory).
  • 1 000 THB – Veterinarian paper work and flight permission documents.
  • 3000 – 4 000 THB – IATA approved international flight cage for medium/large dog.

First payment is done when the adoption process starts: 12000 THB

Second payment is done when the dog is LAW approved to leave Thailand : Between 11950 to 12950 THB

For your information, flight costs differ depending on airline and destination (350 – 600 EUR) and if the dog goes with a flightvolunteer or as cargo.

Moving in to a new home

The first thing to understand when it comes to a rescue dog, is that in the beginning the dog only knows you as the person that has kidnapped it from the place that it is familiar to. So don’t expect unconditional love from start. The dog might be very tired from the trip and stress. It might also take some time before it start to eat and go to the toilet properly.
Give the dog a ”safe place” by leaving the transportation box open (never close the door!) so that it can go inside to sleep. Or make like a small hut out of something. At the ”safe place” the dog should always be left alone, especially if there is children in the family.
Not all dogs can be left home alone! We that run Dog Rescue Thailand are Swedes and German. In Sweden it’s illegal to leave a dog alone for more than 5 hours per day and that is rule we apply for the dogs adopted from us as well. It is also illegal to put a dog in a crate while leaving the home. Dogs are herd animals and they don’t like to be left alone, and for some dogs it can even be traumatizing. Start with leaving the dog for just a couple of minutes, go out the door and then come back not making a big deal out of it. Then increase the time that you leave the dog. This procedure will take a couple of days and that is why we want you to take some time of when you welcome the dog into your home. We recommend that you use your cell phone or other divice to record the dog to see how it behaves when being left alone.
If your dog show signs of being scared and get anxiety while being left alone you need to come up with a solution using doggy daycare or similar.

Fears

The second thing is that the dog is probably not aware that there is something called training, that is beneficial for the both of you. So, that the dog is scared of the new environment is neither strange or unexpected.We recommend that after a couple of days in the new home get the dog to understand the concept of training. Start by training the really basic commands, starting with the command “sit”.
“Sit” is of course the easiest command since its a begging position for the dog, and is the behavior that comes naturally when it tries to convince you that its the cutest being in the world and really deserves the treat.
The more training you do (how ever basic the commands are) the more prone the dog will be to listen to you and to see you as a resource and family/friend.

NEVER rush the dog to overcome its fears. Show that there is nothing to be scared of and don’t make a fuzz about it. Example: If you show that you feel sorry for the dog being scared of people on bikes, pick the dog ut or start to cuddle it. Then you confirm the dogs reaction and it might make it think that bikes is something dangerous. Instead, just keep calm and show that there is nothing to be scared of. And practice! If the bikes are a problem for your dog, take 5-10 minutes a day and walk by a place where there is a lot of people on bikes.

Other dogs

You might already have a dog or other animals in you household. Taking in a former street or shelter dog can be a bit different from getting a puppy from a breeder. Living in the street or at the shelter is a constant battle over food and resources. We make sure that every dog at the shelter get their own meal twice a day but still there is competition. Coming to a new home with does not mean that your dog understand that this is forever. Dogs live in the moment.

Here are some tips on how to get your new family members to become best friends:

  • The first time they shall meet it is best for you to be outside and on ”neutral” grounds. Take them for a walk and don’t let them say hello right away, this takes two people. Let the dogs take turns on being the one walking first so that the dog behind can smell the one in front. Also let them smell each other urine This way the dogs can get information about each other without having any direct contact.
  • Keep your animals in different rooms located next to each other so that they can feel the scent from the other one. Cuddle one of them and then the other so that they also feel the scent on your hands, then go back to the first one. Spend the same amount of time with each dog.
    Have a grid the door between the rooms so that the dogs can look at and smell each other. On the second day take the new dog in a leash and walk into the other room for a couple of minutes. Increase the period you stay with the dogs in the same room each time you do it. After about a week open the door between the two rooms and give the dogs the opportunity to walk around as they please. But don’t force them to stay together.
  • If there is any sign of aggression just gently push the one showing it away. Cuddle the other dog for a minute to show that you can be all friends. Then cuddle the first one. It is your job to get them to understand that you are part of the same family.
  • To start with serve the meals separate to make sure that there will be no fights over food. Same thing with toys, try to avoid conflicts over what the dogs see at resources. Most fights in the shelter or amongst dogs in the streets is about food. It will take time for you new family member to understand that you will give it what it needs for the rest of its life.

Join our Q&A group on Facebook to share experiences, ask questions and for advise from us in the DRT team.

If you want to know more about dog behavior we recommend to read book by dog psychologist Anders Hallgren. Here are some of his books both in Swedish, English and German.