Adventurous Cinnamon!

I am proud to say that my little princess is very adventurous.

• Even when she was small we took her to short hikes and she seemed to like it. When she was eight weeks old we went to Half moon bay with Burger and Derby. We walked about three miles in about two hours!!! Derby got tired quickly and Marco carried him in a bag. At the end Cinny got so tired that fell sleep in my backpack here are some pics:

                         

• Then when she was three months old we took her to Yosemite with us. Marco and I love backpacking camping and decided to share that hobby with our baby. Hummmm……., but that was a bad idea. It was the middle of the summer, so it was hot as hell. Cinnamon got sick, was dehydrated, tired, suffocated, and threw up. Not only that, but we had an encounter with a black bear who ate all our food including Cinny's cookies. She also got an ear and liver infection. Poor Cinny!!! At night she was happy though. She loved playing in the wild while we were eating around the  bonfire. (I do not recommend camping with your baby!).

                         
Annu, Marco and Cinnamon!

A clip that Marco's sister captured! Cinny was in the back!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=42524802                       

• The latest adventure we had was traveling to Bolivia. The flight to Bolivia is about 12 hours and you can imagine how that was for Cinny. I was impressed that in Bolivia Cinny did not get sick, but the altitude did affected her. She could not keep up with my brother's dog as she got tired very easily. My brother's dog, Jack is a mutt and he fell in love with Cinny. She misses him a lot!

      

• Then for Christmas we drove 8 hours to Arica, Chile, and yes Cinnamon came with us. This was the first time I saw her enjoying the beach.

                         
                          

    

Cinnamon being a happy dog!

• I do not know were are we going or what are we doing next with Cinnamon, but whatever we do we are sure will be an exciting adventure.

 Love,

Traveling to Bolivia with Cinnamon!

This is year I went to Bolivia for the Holidays and of course I took Cinnamon with me to meet the rest of the family. I was very scared to take Cinny with me because so many people told me that she may be in quarantine once we return. I decided to take the risk anyway. I looked online for tips and the requirements to export and import dogs and found nothing. I hope this post is helpful for those who are thinking to travel abroad with their doggies.

• The first step is to ask your airline for the requirements and then go to the Center for Control and Disease, and the Department of Agriculture to find more information about exporting and importing pets http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dq/animal/index.htm and http://www.aphis.usda.gov.
• Then go to the website of the country your are visiting for more info on requirements.
• For Bolivia a dog needs to have a Health Certificate (form APHIS 7001 ) to be filled by a certified veterinarian. Take the form to a USDA agency to have it validated.
  
• Then have it legalized in a Bolivian consulate in your area.
  Make sure the vet annotates in the certificate that your dog is acclimated to air temperatures lower than 45 F. Cinnamon’s vet forgot to put that information and we missed our flight as a result.

Returning:

• AA asks for a health certificate 10 days prior the flight and vaccine certificates. Our health certificate from the US was not valid and we needed to get another one again.
• The health certificate needs to be validated in “Senasag” in Bolivia and then in the “Cancilleria.”
• Once in the US, they might ask you for a rabies certificate. Luckily when I arrived to Miami, I was not asked for anything and we passed Costumes without any problems.

* If you have all the papers and if your dog is healthy, there is no reason to panic, just plan ahead and have all papers on time so you are not running at the last minute.

Shih Tzu ready for her first flight! 

Happy traveling!