WE MADE IT BACK . . .
And after what Jarf and I went through in getting her back into the states with all the new requirements, as much as I'd like to go back to the DR it will only be when they: 1) Get their shit together about transporting a dog again, 2) I can take a dog friendly boat, or 3) Can drive lol
Leaving something out I'm sure but here were the high spots:
1) A) Three trips to the vet at $52 each since the vet in the DR had provided “good for 30 days exit paperwork and the airline wanted not more than 10 days in advance clearance, B) AA wanted a form, in addition to the vet's form where he listed her breed proving that my obvious lab was not a Pit Bull or something and finally, C) A second authorization that the dog could tolerate 85 degree F temperatures in CARGO. $157 for three visits at RD $3,000 each.
2) Giant crate of exactly the right dimensions (no longer can fly in the cabin nor even as CARGO for AA… $145
3) Cab fare all over hell and back in Santo Domingo to go see two other vets with three trips to cargo shipping clearing car and getting searched each time $70
4) Customs exit fee $70 + Customs entrance fee $50
5) Some paperwork fee in the US (had to pay somebody cash to use their CC since mine was maxed out for the day and they wouldn't take CASH) $60
6) Get to SD day ahead of time for flight so I could get dog to CARGO at 2AM for a 9AM departure, room for Jarf and I near airport $160 + fee for CARGO company @ $427
7) Forge paperwork to state that I'd fed and watered dog not less than 4 hours before departure which per 6) above was IMPOSSIBLE.
8) Forget sleeping, my portion of the flight was 2.5 hours, she stayed in the crate for 12.5 hours until I could do all of the navigating (and go find a new SIM card for my phone and get it reactivated in the US, etc..
My flight was $225, transport for dog was about $1,000 when I last did the mental math.
But we're back. And we had made a long road trip in the DR hoping to see the Humpback whales and just missed them but here we are in Florida and will get to see a Space X flight liftoff from Cape Kennedy in the late hours tonight
PLUS, we are pulling off the road about every hour to eat all sorts of stuff that I missed, burritos, stupid fast food, 24 hr coffee, tacos and keeping an eye out for BBQ and such as well. Chik Fil A is next! Made the mistake of stopping at McDonalds and taking recommendation for 'Spicy Chicken' which was neither spicy nor much in the way of chicken that I could tell 
On Shipping a Dog Back to the States
Glad you are home. Really this has zero to do with the DR and everything to do with the airlines and shipping requirements! Why blame the country for the airlines requirements!
Flying with animals has changed - and won't likely ever come back
US airlines especially
Too much abuse by the public.
Sad, but true......
Interesting...when we made our reservation to transport our dog in December, AA Cargo gave us all the requirements on the phone (international health certificate within 10 days, AA breed restriction form signed by vet, crate dimensions per dog size, feeding requirements before dropping off, fees to be paid at drop off, fees to be paid at pick up, etc.), then they referred us to their website to find the forms and all that same information. I received at least 2 emails from them that reiterated the requirements.
We'll never go through it again! We knew it would be stressful, and I think it proved more stressful (needlessly!) for me than for our dog! If we weren't sure we'd be here permanently, we wouldn't have brought him down.
Apologies for not initially providing more context.
The primary CF was from ***the Dominican*** shipping company. It went like this:
1) They sent a checklist with which I complied, providing all requested paperwork days ahead of time as specified.
2) Company acknowledged receipt and emailed saying that all was in order and to bring Jarf (my dog) a day ahead of time at 9 am to their facility to measure crate, etc. This I also did.
3) I was asked to wait and after about an hour was told that paperwork was insufficient that I now needed new sign offs - in spite of having been told days earlier that all was in order.
4) Get a taxi and off to find a vet. Incidentally, all of these 'new' requirements had been in place for more than six months. This took until about 3 pm, returned to shipper.
5) Was told all paperwork was now in perfect order. Waited two more hours to be told that additional paperwork was required. Previous vet was now closed.
6) Second unnecessary trip via taxi this time to the vet manning the quarantine station at the airport to pay for our third vet visit. Returned to shipper, waited another hour or so.
7) Now only thing was to snag some sleep and get dog to shipper at 2 am the next morning to go into crate for flight leaving at 9 am.
Dominican agent, Dominican company. A day burned and hundreds of dollar wasted with all of the stress wondering if we'd be able to get on our flight at all.
End of story.
Again that is not the fault of this country.
It may or may not have been the fault of that company.
It could have been any combination of things.
While I am sorry you had to deal with that, it's likely nothing will change any time soon. The reality is normal things can be confusing frustrating and time consuming.
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