US Customs sucks - Page 3

In Philly sometimes the dog comes in after 6 pm and customs in Cargo city closes at 4:30pm. then you have to hope somebody from main terminal will come over....it can take 4 hrs of waiting while the puppy is here. Crazy!!

My customs guy went to look at the dog but didn't attempt to match the dog to the paperwork.  Think he just checked to make sure it was alive.  Don't think he had any idea what he was really looking at.

Animules,
I never ever had customs walk over and inspect my dog. As a matter of fact, I always cleared my dogs through customs long before the dog actually arrived. I always have them sent on Lufthansa and Lufthansa  just prints out the paperwork from the computer, hands it to me and I drive down the road to the Customs office. It used to be right next door, but Lufthansa moved their cargo facility a few buildings down the road, because the area there is bigger. I always walk into the office with a smile and tell them that I am picking up my dog who is coming home from Germany and have my registration papers ready. Nobody ever asked me any questions. They just check their database and stamp it. I then drive back to Lufthansa and then have to wait for 30 to 45 minutes until the dog actually arrives. Once it is there, I have to show my driver license as I.D., pay a fee and take my dog and leave. That is it! The last dog to come home was my Chuckie girl beginning of December.

 Do you have to get a Broker to get your pup?  I'll be getting a tiekerhook in August, and I'm completely new to this whole importing thing.

Yeah, Tina! But only if you pick the pup up personally. I can throw in a sightseeing tour in Washington DC if you want!
Well, I am hoping that nothing changed. That is why I mentioned that my last one came in early December. My husband will fly to Germany personally when our homebred male is ready to be picked up. Hopefully soon, he only needs a SchH3 but has been laid up on our friend's couch since mid January with a muscle tear in his rear leg. But his sister Mona will be shipped home once she is bred and I will find out personally if anything here at Dulles Airport has changed.

Thanks Chris, I may take you up on that tour someday.  But only if we can take dogs with us.    LOL  At this point I'm considering an adult versus a pup but do not have anything lined up yet.  Would you please give an update on if you find any changes?   Geesh, I hate flying which is part of the reason I haven't gone to Germany.....

Will do, Tina. But it probably won't be until the summer. Mona was just in heat in January and was not bred then because she was missing a breed survey which she got recently. But now, we have to wait another 4 to 6 months for the next season, sigh. And we do not have many dogs anyway, which I prefer.

I picked up my pup on the 30th of March at Lufthansa Cargo, (O'Hare Airport.) I had to go to US Customs with the paperwork. They took the paperwork, my drivers license, and I was out of there in 10 minutes! NO PROBLEMS! Went back to Cargo, got the pup, and was on my way!

I will add... there were ALOT of people there sitting around and DOING NOTHING!!!

Dawn

I also want to add.. Gradlyn was used by the breeder in Germany to ship the pup.