For those PCS-ing to England, here is the process we used. It seems to change about every six months, but the below is a start. Also note that there are several dog travel brokers that can manage the process - but it is expensive and non-reimbursable. As long as you're meticulous, you can definitely handle the coordination yourself.
1 Year Before You Move - Research and Understand the Requirements: The USDA is the authoritative source for all pet exports from the United States. They maintain a detailed website with detailed requirements for every country in the world. Check it out here. I also found it helpful to send an e-mail to the office to triple check the requirements and have the latest forms. Here is their e-mail - vspva@aphis.usda.gov - they typically respond to e-mails within 48 hours (YAY good government!)
6 - 8 Months Before You Leave - Schedule International Pet Exam: For England, you must schedule an international health exam a MINIMUM of 6 months before you leave. If you're inside that window - you risk quarantine. Make sure to bring all of the USDA forms with you and know what the requirements are. For England, Alfie had to get an international standard microchip and after that was inserted, a rabies shot. Make sure to SAVE this receipt - it proves the date of these actions and will be submitted with your customs paperwork.
6 Weeks You Leave - Schedule USDA and Vet Appointments: 6 weeks before you leave, APHIS will allow you to schedule your appointment for their approval of your international health certificate. Note that it must be completed within 5 days of arrival (4 days of departure for overnight flights). The office for DC / Virginia / Maryland is in Richmond (for real!) so expect to take the day off and drive down there. Alternatively, you can overnight the form, but with our close timeline, that made me nervous
Once your APHIS Visit is scheduled, make sure you also set up your vet visit for the day before (also within the 4 day window). Make sure you tell the vet's office that it's for the final international check and that you'll need the paperwork completed. Our vet completed the mountains of paperwork before we arrived, but need significant notice to do this. Shout out to Dr. Rogers at the Falls Church Animal Hospital - he has done hundreds of these for State Department employees and other government employees traveling - so he knew the routine (down to the distinction of what to sign with a blue or red pen)
4 Weeks Before You Leave - Get Your Crate: We bought a crate about a month before we left - make sure you get one that is compliant with your airlines guidelines. Typically, this is something that is compliant with the Air Transport Association (ATA) and is large enough to let your dog stand up fully and turn around. It also includes air vents on all sides of the crate and has a metal door. Double check the ATA symbol when you buy it. Buying it a month out allowed us to help Alfie get used to it - we put treats inside and a blanket and encouraged him to use it. We also left him in there for short periods of time before we left the house. This lessened anxiety when we left him at the airport There are a lot of do's and don'ts - so make sure to check with your airline. United's guidelines are here.
4 Weeks Before You Go - Complete the British Customs Form and Arrange Customs Broker: Every British Airline / Airport has a designated pet customs broker. For us, flying into Manchester on United - the broker was PBS Pets. Once we had the plane ticket, we could complete the C5 Form and provide this to the broker. They confirmed receipt and this enabled them to collect Alfie through customs when he arrived.
4 Days Before You Leave - Take Dog To the Vet: Make sure you take your dog to the vet to get the signed International Health Certificate and 7001 Form as well as confirmation of the Tapeworm Treatment - which must be administered in this 4 day window.
4 Days Before You Leave - Go to USDA Appointment: Yes, all the way down in Richmond - it will take an hour or two for them to get to your form and then sign off in approval. TRIPLE CHECK that you bring all of your completed forms and that they are filled out correctly. One of the other forms was rejected when P was there,
0 Days Before You Leave - Getting the Dog Ready: If you have an evening flight, give your dog a big breakfast and lots of water early in the morning and make sure to take him for a long walk before you head to the airport. After breakfast, take away food and water so that he won't have any accidents on the plane. One final cautionary note - if you are flying out of Dulles - the Cargo delivery is about 1 miles from the terminal. Between lots of a luggage and the crate, we had a crazy amount of stuff and struggled to get Uber drivers to take a really cheap fare from Cargo to the Airport. In hindsight, I probably would have hired a van service (since it's reimbursible and would save the headache of finding someone in a time crunch)
When You Arrive - Picking Your Dog Up: Make sure to tell your Sponsor you're bringing a dog - this will make sure your van driver knows and can help you make your way to the cargo unloading. After we got our bags - our van driver took us to United Cargo. There, we presented copies of all of our forms and she had to wait for confirmation the dog had arrived and cleared customs. This ended up taking about an hour or so. We went to get coffee during the wait. Once the Alfie cleared customs, he arrived at the PBS pets door and we were able to pick him up quickly. He was very happy to see us, but it seemed to have been an uneventful journey.
Here is a funny and pathetic of Alfie in his crate for your amusement. It would be very sad if he was not the most spoiled dog in Harrogate and spends very minimal time in a crate.
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