Papers and documentation for a Caucasian Shepherd puppy – Info and details

Dear dog lovers and future owners, we come to your attention with a detailed article about the procedures and papers a puppy needs when leaving from the breeder and arriving to its new owner. We are receiving constant questions about these aspects so we summarized them here. You need not worry about much as an owner, most of the work is done by the breeder and you are communicated the essential things you need to do after your dog arrives home.

Disinfestation and vaccination schemes

These two actions are essential for the health and wellbeing of both dogs and owners so they are part of the documentation that the puppy leaves with when being sent to its new owner.

It is recommended that all puppies receive internal disinfestation treatments prior to the vaccination doses and not at the same time with the vaccine. The external disinfestation treatment is done only once by the breeder prior to the puppy’s departure if.

In the passport of the puppy you will find listed all the disinfestations and vaccinations of the puppy.

Ten weeks of age

Our puppies leave the kennel with at least two vaccinations, depending on the age they have when they are delivered to their new owners.

For example, the USA and Canada legislations mentions that a puppy can enter the country starting with the age of ten weeks so puppies are sent to the States with two or three vaccinations if they are ten weeks old.

Depending on the vaccination scheme and brand a breeder chooses, a puppy can have two or three vaccinations at the age of 10 weeks that contain the same substances and degree of immunization but in different dosage.

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It is not mandatory for a puppy to have the rabies vaccine when delivered to the US but the owner has to finish the full vaccination scheme of the puppy with his local veterinarian.

There are a few other countries in Europe that accept puppies being delivered at the age of ten weeks, but the majority require a full vaccination scheme (15 weeks of age) for a puppy to enter the EU.

Fifteen weeks of age

As we said, 80% of the EU countries consider a puppy sale legal only after having a full vaccination scheme finished. A puppy can get the rabies vaccination starting with 12 weeks of age and after the dose it has to stay in his environment for three more weeks before being delivered to a new home.

So in most of the European countries when you buy a puppy from an international breeder it will arrive after the age of 15 weeks with a full vaccination scheme. The owners do not need to vaccinate the dog again until the age of one year.

In the US and Canada there used to be a law that required for a puppy to wait 30 days after the rabies vaccine to be delivered to a new home, but this is no longer available in the present. Now a puppy can leave to the US and Canada at any point after the rabies vaccination. Romania is listed as a free-rabies country for the US government so puppies can be sent between 10 and 12 weeks of age from Romania without their rabies vaccine and if they are older than the age of 12 they need to have the rabies vaccine but without any waiting period.

The disinfestation treatments will be continued by the owner at the recommendation of the local veterinarian.

The papers of the puppy

When arriving to its new home, the puppy will have a passport where the owners will find the details of all the vaccines. You will find there the dates of the vaccines and the brands that were used. This document is the equivalent of a birth certificate for a puppy so it is important that the owners keep it in a safe place.

On the first page of the passport there are the details of the breeder and owner of the dog. On the next page you will find the name of dog, its breed and sex, birth date and color specification and on the immediate following page you will find the identification number of the dog’s microchip and its placement. After all these details you will find the pages with the vaccinations and next some pages for the disinfestation schemes.  The final section of the passport is about the clinical examination of the puppy. This is a mandatory requirement for any puppy to travel, an examination from the local vet of the breeder in the 24 hours prior to the dog’s departure.

There is one extra document that is required for the countries outside the EU: US, Canada and UK. This is a health certificate from the Romanian sanitary veterinarian regulating office that also states the health of the puppy and its readiness to travel.

The transportation to the US requires some extra documentation: an AWB (airway bill) which is the paper required for a puppy to fly by airplane and a bill of sale. There is also an extra veterinarian checkup at the airport to make sure that the puppy is all set to go. We take care of all these documents so you do not need to worry about anything.

The pedigree certificate

On top of all these there is also the pedigree certificate which comes in our case from the Romanian Kennel Club, as part of the FCI located in Belgium. The FCI includes most of the European countries and other countries around the world also. The pedigree certificate takes a while to be released by the kennel club so it usually comes at between one month and two months from the moment the puppy is sent to its new owner. It will be made directly on the name and address of the new owner, in English if the puppy is sent to any other country than Romania. If the owner lives in a country with a different kennel club (for example the AKC of America), he can use the pedigree from FCI to register the dog there also.

It is important to register your dog to the local kennel club if you want to take your dog to dog competitions or if you want to breed it further.

It often happens that people ask us about the certainty of the puppies’ health when leaving from us and travelling. This is why we are mentioning all the information in this article, so that you know that the puppies’ health is systematically monitored. The puppies cannot leave the country without the vaccinations, the disinfestation treatment and the clinical examination from the local vet.

Hope this information is useful and that it gives all owners and potential owners a clearer picture on the health procedures and papers of the puppies.