We are PCS'ing to Germany next month and I guess we are unable to take our dog. My husband says that the flight is booked all month for dog slots. He is only 5 pounds and I'm just heart broken about leaving him behind. We are going to have to leave him with a friend to ship to us when we leave but I don't know where to start or how much were looking at.

Can anyone please give me advice and the steps I need to take. We are moving to Kaiserslautern if that helps. I have only made contact with one person by e-mail. Is it true that animals needs to be micro chipped to enter Germany?

Thank you all in advance. 

Oh now it wants to work lol. It wasn't letting me type my message so I sent you a PM. I'm currently and germany and brought a dog but she was on our flight with us 

If your dog is only 5 pounds you can call the airline and see if our are able to take him/her as a carry on. 

Yes I got your message, thanks so much. If we can just cargo ship him alone, I'll probably try for that since hiring someone seems to be really expensive.

My husband is going to check with transportation tomorrow to see if anything has changed. Last time he checked getting our dog from Kansas City to Baltimore was fine but from there to Germany is where is was full is what transportation was saying. 

Ya that's why you have to make sure before they even book your tickets let them know you have a pet and will need a pet slot. We got to Baltimore and missed our flight because of delayed fights to Baltimore so we were stuck in Baltimore before they could get us 4 seats with a dog alot. Maybe see if transportation can move you up or move you back a day or 2. 

We had to list our dogs when we booked our travel; that is how they are tagged on to your flight(s). We flew two pooches to K-town from here; one was 11 lbs and traveled in the belly of the plane, the other munchkin flew under my seat at 3 lbs.

Be sure to have plenty of dough saved for paying the extra charges you'll likely incur during your hotel stay in Germany; plus, there are new fees they've come up with at the Vogelweh Veterinary Clinic for registering your furry friend(s). Definitely google their website so you can familiarize yourself with how things are run.

On a positive note, Germans are huge dog lovers. Enjoy your stay in Europe; I am happy to find you are committed to your family member and are not someone who discards them upon receiving orders. 

Great News! We went to transportation today to see if any spots had opened up and there was one slot on an earlier flight so she switched out flight times. I feel so much better now lol.

Now we have to call some number to see if we can bring him as an carry on under the seat instead of cargo I guess because that what he is listed as. 

Yay. Don't forget or maybe you don't know once you get to germany there is a importation fee now of like 50-60 euro I can't remember the exact price 

Wow! Really. I didn't know that. Seems like there is a lot of fees with animals. Do you know if it matters if we get him chipped here on post or do it in Germany. I'm assuming its cheaper here. We don't want to do it if its not required. 

Your dog is supposed to be chipped period if registered on post rather you live in or off. that way if they get out they can find out who's dog it is by scanning the chip. I think the dog is supposed to be chipped prior to flying. But they don't check to make sure your dog is chipped they just check to make sure they are up to date in shots and specifically had a rabies certificate. Little tip we were told that the the rabies certificate had to be on its own peice of paper and not written on their shot record. Also the health certificate that can not more than 10 days to the flight date. The closer you get it to flight date the better you don't want to get it exactly 10 days before flight because their could be that what if my flights delayed or canceled for some reason. Make sure you get the health certificate done on post because we did ours off post and the one we got was only good to fly within the US not internationally. Because of that when we got to Baltimore since we missed our flight and was stuck there 2 days we had to go to an Emergancy vet that the airport gave us to get the correct health certificate which was 150 dollars for an Emergancy visit for all them to do is listen to lungs and heart and type up a new health certificate oh and to get a rabies certificate because our rabies shot was written on the same shot record as rest. We had such a hard time in kansas flying out to Baltimore since we had a couple days in Baltimore due to missing our flight we took all our papers to international to make sure we had everything we needed which it was a good thing we did because some things were wrong. 

This is what our vet clinic in Ansbach Germany has posed on their FB page as far as requirements

Bringing a dog or cat into Germany
(any dog or cat over 12 weeks old)
To bring your dog back with you to Germany below is what is required. The process is the easiest if you can access a military veterinarian.
1 - Microchip: need to have an ISO (international compatible) microchip. This microchip must be at least 15 digits long. The microchip must be implanted into the pet at the same time or before the most recent rabies vaccination.
2- Rabies: the rabies vaccination needs to be at least 30 days old and less than a year and not expired. For example: So if your dog had rabies vaccination on the 1 July 2012 the soonest your dog could fly into Germany would be 1 August 2012 and must be before 1 July 2013.
Then the dog needs to have the health certificates. There are 3 health certificates your pet needs. A military vet can do all 3 at the same visit. That is why they have the easiest choice, if possible.
Health Certificate # 1: European bilingual certificate
Health Certificate # 2: USDA 7001 certificate
Health certificate # 3: 10 day health certificate for flight
For health certificates # 1 & 2, these need to be endorsed by a USDA certified veterinarian. Meaning any vet can complete them but they must have the USDA endorsement on them. All military vets are now USDA certified. So it makes life easy. If you do not have access to a military vet then you have two options:
Option 1: Call around and find any veterinarian that is USDA certified for small animals. Then they can complete all the paperwork.
Option 2: Go to any veterinarian and have them fill out health certificate # 1 & 2. Then send/drive those to the nearest USDA office in your state for endorsement. This usually can take about a week and will cost between $75 to $150 depending on your state.
Once you have the USDA endorsed health certificates, then any vet can sign the 10 health certificate for flight.
It seems like a lot and I know individuals have stated that they have flown without the health certificates or the people never check. It is better to be safe than sorry because the consequences of not having your paperwork can be severe. Generally 3 consequences will occur: #1 - German customs causing your pet to be shipped back to the states at your expense, #2 - your pet held only for 48 hours while you try to produce the paperwork and if not shipped back to the states or # 3- euthanized at the airport. 

Thanks so much for the information. We are going back home for 10 days before we fly to Germany so I guess I can get those 2 health Certificates here at our regular vet and then the one for flying back home before we leave. I'll have to make sure his rabies shot has not expired. 

That was our problem we next home for 18 days before we left so we had to get a health certificate in home town I didn't know it had to be USDA approved. According to this if you have the USDA health certificate paper any vet can sign off on it when your ready to leave. So maybe talk to the vet a ft Riley and see about getting that USDA paperwork since you won't be there to get the health certificate 10 days proior. And don't wait to make your appointment with the vet clinic there on wont I know with pcs they can be backed up. 

Does anyone know if when you get the germany they check for the 21 day waiting period with the microchip and rabbies vacination? And if you can get past this. We got him chipped as soon we found out but its still not with in the 21 days waiting period. Were on vacation now and trying to get everything finish and we have to travel to get the paperwork usda stamped but the local vet said they might not even stamp it since its not within 21 days. 

They didnt even check our microchip period that im aware of. And your supposed to have the European or international microchip or whatever that's has 16 didgets but mines the regular US chip that you get done on riley. I do believe that its important that they have their rabies shot I think they say cc amount of days prior to fly date. Rather they are stricked on that idk because ours was done before the X Amount of days. They were picky that the rabies shot be on its own paper in not on the rest of the shot record papers. 

Also it wouldn't be when you get to Germany that they would check that stuff if they are checking. It would be we you go to fly them or ship them however you are bringing them here they would check that. If you are flying its best not to wait till the day you fly. We ran into issues as i stated above but that was because of kennel size. But since we missed our flight in Baltimore and had 2 days there we took all our paperwork in and had them look over it before we left and they told us what we needed to do. If you are flying the dog you should be able to call the airport you are leaving out of to get those questions answered. Of i you are flying to Baltimore to get on your patriot express flight to come to Germany. Call Baltimore airport and ask for the international desk and ask them your questions. Good Luck