Getting around with your pet in Panama

I would be interested in hearing from people on this subject as well. We're planning on making the move next summer. We have a border collie lab mix and we plan on brining him on our next exploration trip in a few months to see how he handles flying. I've heard dogs can fly with you if you pay for the seat rather than putting them in a crate. He's 10 years old and a rescue and has pretty significant separation issues so we don't want to crate him. Probably wouldn't be able to anyways if we wanted to. Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated

Here is some advice. Leave your pets at home or in your car. I am American and my wife is Panamanian. Neither of us like dogs. Frankly we are both sick of people in the US that think they need to take their pets everywhere they go, especially in the restaurants and grocery stores. In Panama, most people will think something is wrong with you if you can’t part with your pet long enough to eat supper or go into the store. It’s also illegal in Panama to bring pets into any place that sells any kind of food. ( Like it used to be in the US). Some places may not enforce it because they want your gringo money but rest assured, it will be a problem eventually. For me and my wife, we are especially sick of people with their pets who do not have respect for others who may not like them. If you bring your dog on the passenger part of an airplane, you best not be sitting next to me.

@jimgh

You sound like someone I could hang out with. I 100@ agree with you on that stuff, especially the restaurants. I'm ok with it on outside dinning, I asked my wife a few years ago, when did they start allowing dogs in restaurants that weren't service animals? But now everyone has a "service animal" anyways. If we fly on a plane with him, I'll make sure we book a row together, which was the point of my question. I don't want to impose on any other travelers. The last row would be perfect in my opinion.  I'd never dream of forcing him next to someone else. We're those people that always seem to get seated around the people with the bratty kids everywhere we go. Nothing worse

I appreciate your thoughtfulness. It seems today that not many people have much consideration for those of us who dislike dogs. Including my own family

@Darin&Sally

Please familiarize yourself with the process of bringing an animal into Panama and then back to the US! To bring an animal into Panama, your dog will need vaccines not standard in the US, an international health certificate completed by a USDA-certified vet, and validation by the USDA. That certificate then has to be apostilled by the Secretary of State's office or authenticated at the Panamanian consulate. All of that has to be accomplished within 10 days of any commercial flight into Panama. Once in Panama, your dog will be required to complete a 40-day at-home quarantine, subject to inspection by MINSA. If the dog is not quarantined, it can be taken to a government quarantine facility.

When you return to the US, you will have to jump through similar hoops on this side to take your dog back. I don't know those exact steps because I've not imported a dog to the US.

There are currently no US airlines that allow you to buy a seat for a dog, unless that dog is small enough to fit under the seat in front of you, which is where the dog would have to be stowed for takeoff and landing.

@ddmcghee

Thanks for the reply. I'm sorry I'm just now seeing this but I did find all of this out last week when I started checking into what we'd need to do and honestly, we've been a depressed since. I wish I'd never been told, that we could get a seat on an airplane for him. He's too bog to fit in a crate under the seat. When we 1st started exploring our options with Panama, he was going to be staying with my step daughter (we got him for her originally) but now that's not looking like a good situation for him and I'm afraid leaving him with another family member may not be either. So for now, Panama is on hold and we're planning on taking a trip to the Gulf to explore some possible beach locations. Truly heart broken