Strict rules about flying with dogs start Thursday, after months of confusion

Summer is a busy travel season for both people and their pups.

Heather Blas, a pet relocation specialist at Continental Pet Relocation, was already trying to navigate the hectic time for moving and seasonal airline restrictions when a slew of new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requirements for bringing dogs into the United States "turned things upside down." As the deadline for the new rules drew closer, she constantly scoured the CDC's website for the latest guidance and asked for advice from fellow pet shippers around the world who were hearing contradictory information.

"We started out as kind of a task force like, 'let's make sense of this, let's put all this together so we can have (the) correct information for people to get their dogs into the U.S.,' " Blas said. "And it's just become a circus, a literal circus, as clear as mud trying to relay the information to people."

The new requirements from the CDC are aimed at preventing the spread of rabies and go into effect Thursday. The change prompted multiple airlines to stop allowing dogs to travel to the U.S. with their families altogether, causing headaches for everyone from military families and diplomats to pet shippers and animal rescue organizations.

"The way the CDC has implemented these regulations for a dog coming into the U.S. was just, I don't even know the vocabulary for how poorly it was executed and communicated," Blas said.

What do the new rules say?

The CDC announced in May that beginning Aug. 1, dog owners must complete a new form and all dogs entering the U.S. must be over six months old, have a microchip and “appear healthy upon arrival.”

Additional restrictions and requirements apply depending on where the dog was vaccinated and if the dog has recently been in one of the more than 100 countries identified as high risk for rabies. A dog might have to pass a blood test or be forced to quarantine for 28 days in a CDC-registered facility, the costs of which fall back on owners, according to the CDC’s website. It can also be difficult to provide proof of a dog's whereabouts, especially one that was a stray.

The CDC said in a statement announcing the changes that the new regulations build on lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic when the importation of dogs from countries with a high risk of rabies was temporarily suspended.

The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the criticism of the new rules from travelers and industry experts.

"The regulation also more closely aligns with the World Organisation for Animal Health’s standards for the international movement of dogs from countries with a high risk of dog rabies," the statement said. "Furthermore, it addresses recent challenges seen with international dog importations, such as fraudulent documentation and dogs housed in unsafe conditions if they didn’t meet requirements for entry to the United States."

If a dog was vaccinated in another country and has traveled through a high-risk country, it must also now enter the U.S. through one of six ports where there is an animal care facility, like the ARK Import Export Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, according to Elizabeth Schuette, president and CEO of the ARK. Schuette is worried the new restrictions will dramatically increase the number of dogs that come through her facility, which handles transport for not only dogs and cats but also horses and zoo animals.

“The biggest concern that I have is being able to provide the quality service that we're known for and continue that with possibly this huge volume of animals coming,” she said.

According to the CDC, airlines will also be required to create an air waybill for each dog transported to the U.S., a document Schuette said was previously only required for dogs being transported as cargo. Airlines can request a waiver for this rule, but several, including Lufthansa , Finnair , Swiss International Air Lines , and Austrian Airlines, initially announced they would no longer allow dogs to fly to America in the cabin or in baggage hold as a result.

"Trying to implement that on a very short period of time is virtually impossible," Schuette said.

Jorg Waber, a spokesperson for Lufthansa, told USA TODAY existing bookings for dogs won't be affected, provided that all CDC requirements are met, but new bookings for dogs for flights on or after Aug. 1 will only be accepted at six airports in Washington, D.C., New York City, Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Marjo Hamalainen, a spokesperson for Finnair, said the airline has applied for permission to continue transporting dogs to the United States without an air waybill.

Lawmakers sent multiple letters to the CDC raising concerns and asking officials to delay implementation of the new rules, which are meant to prevent the reintroduction of the viral disease that's transmitted through biting.

Rabies was eliminated from dogs in the U.S. in 2007. About a million dogs enter the country each year, and since 2015, four rabid dogs have been found entering the U.S., The Associated Press reported . Jennifer Skiff, director of international at Animal Wellness Action, said the fact that the handful of cases were caught showed the system was working as intended.

“It’s an overreach,” she said of the new regulations. “It's the government getting involved in something that they shouldn't have been getting involved in because the process worked already.”

Major U.S. airlines including American, Delta, United and Southwest say the new CDC rules do not change their policies around carrying pets, but all said passengers must fill out the paperwork as required. Delta and American said they are pausing pet shipments in their cargo divisions.

Military families ‘blindsided’

The sudden changes in dog transportation were a “huge blow” to many military and diplomatic families, according to Liz Hensel, the 2024 AFI Marine Corps Spouse of the Year.

“When the CDC came out with their new policy, it completely blindsided not only military families but the diplomatic community as well,” said Hensel, also CEO of Leave No Paws Behind USA.

As a result, Hensel said many families are now scrambling to find pet shippers, a much more expensive alternative to flying with your dog. Hensel said when she brought her two dogs to Israel, where her family is based, it cost about $400 to take them on her flight. She estimated that using a pet shipper to return to the United States could cost as much as $3,000.

Service members can be reimbursed for up to $2,000 worth of expenses for moving a pet internationally and $550 for domestic relocation, a change Hensel spent years lobbying for. But as demand for pet shippers increases after the recent CDC changes, Hensel said she expects the cost to transport dogs internationally to rise well past that.

“It makes me feel a little defeated,” she said. “I fought so hard for the stipend and then for this to come back, and the cost is even to go higher, that $2,000 is not even going to do that much anymore.”

Animal rescue may have to halt operations

For Anna Umansky, co-founder of Friends of Sochi Dogs , the new rules could shut down her dog rescue operations in certain countries. Umansky said the nonprofit does most of its rescue work in Ukraine , which – like nearly all of the other countries it operates in – is considered high risk for rabies.

Umansky said her organization had flights scheduled for dogs and their accompanying volunteers throughout August, including some on Lufthansa, that will have to be moved or canceled as they make a “mad dash” to comply with the new rules. She said the nonprofit considered using a pet shipper or cargo service but “the prices are astronomical” on top of the fees they’ll incur to revaccinate and potentially quarantine the dogs.

“We're trying to figure things out, but I honestly don't know, given these expenses, if we'll continue to be able to rescue animals from there,” she said.

Umansky said the requirement that dogs vaccinated outside the U.S. be revaccinated upon arrival even after they pass a blood test proving they are immune to the disease is particularly onerous and seemingly medically unnecessary.

When asked about the requirement, spokesperson David Daigle said the CDC can't verify the protection provided by rabies vaccines administered to dogs outside the United States, and studies show it's safe to administer multiple doses of rabies vaccines to dogs even over a short time.

“It's disappointing, it's frustrating, and it's really, really upsetting,” Umansky said.

Contributing: Kathleen Wong and Zach Wichter , USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Strict rules about flying with dogs start Thursday, after months of confusion