[NAGDU] Health certificate

[Melissa Allman]

Hi all. I agree with Lauren that it's really important to know your rights and responsibilities  when it comes to air travel. It is true that you do not need a health certificate from a USDA accredited veterinarian for domestic travel.

Right now, Delta is the only U.S. airline I am aware of that has made it their policy to require service animal handlers to carry rabies certificates. However, I think it is unlikely that Delta will ask a guide dog user to actually produce the rabies certificate unless there is some type of incident. They are more likely to ask people with emotional support animals to show their rabies certificate. It will be interesting to see what happens to this policy once the Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations are issued on air travel with service animals.

You do need a rabies certificate to travel from the U.S. to Canada and back. The rabies tag is not sufficient because anyone can put a rabies tag on a dog and leave it there for any length of time, whereas the rabies certificate clearly shows if a dog's rabies vaccine is up to date.

Obviously requirements for international travel are more complicated. For general information about international travel with your guide dog, check out this link on the Seeing Eye's web site at:
http://www.seeingeye.org/knowledge-center/rights--legal-information/international-travel.html

I wish everyone smooth holiday travels.

Melissa R. Allman
Senior Specialist, Advocacy and Government Relations
The Seeing Eye, Inc.
P.O. Box 375, Morristown, NJ 07963-0375 (mail)
10 Washington Valley Road, Morristown, NJ 07960-3412 (deliveries)
973-539-4425 ext. 1724,     Fax:  973-525-1081 mallman at SeeingEye.org  


-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lauren Bishop via NAGDU
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2018 12:20 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Cc: Lauren Bishop
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Health certificate

Good Morning All,
If one is traveling domestically, you do not need a health certificate.  In fact, an airline should not be asking you to provide this information as a condition of traveling with your trained service animal.  I know that Delta has wanted rabies and health certificates in the past; however, it was determined that going to the vet and procuring a health certificate was a financial burden.  It is always a good idea to have proof that your dog has been vaccinated, and your dog’s rabies tag is more than sufficient because their is a number for the vet that issued it.  You can bring your hard copy vaccination certificate; however, don’t volunteer this information to airline personnel, because proof of vaccination is only supposed to be asked for if their is an incident involving the dog; however, your dog is well trained, and shouldn’t cause any problems.  The best method for having a successful airline travel experience is to know your rights.  As soon as the airlines know that you understand your rights, they are not as willing to give you any problems.
If you are traveling internationally or to Hawaii, you need to know the requirements for taking a dog into that country.  Contacting your school, or doing a search for the requirements to bring a dog into a specific country should adequately prepare you for this.
I hope this is helpful to you, and good luck with your travels.
Sincerely,
Lauren 
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