A number of months ago, my husband and I received a frantic call from our daughter at the Baltimore airport. She, along with her husband who is in the military, and their children were ready to board their plane for Germany, the location of our son-in-law's new assignment. Their dog, Leo, was to go with them, but due to some technical mix-up, the authorities refused to allow the dog to go. The family was devastated as they left Leo at the airport.
So we inherited Leo, a 100 pound yellow Lab, while they spent months trying to cut through the red tape to get the dog there. The entire family missed him, and we could tell that Leo missed them as well.
The task became even more urgent when our son-in-law received orders that he would be deployed to Afghanistan. He desperately wanted to see Leo before he left and have him in Germany with the rest of the family.
Now getting a dog to Germany is not easy. First, we had to find a USDA certified veterinarian, and that is when we contacted the County Animal Clinic. Dr. Anders and his staff were super!
They went out of there way to accommodate us and do whatever was needed to help get Leo to Germany. Besides checking over a terrified dog to be sure that he was in good health, there were numerous confusing forms to be filled out, many of them in English AND German. A slight mistake on these would mean that the German authorities could refuse Leo's entry in their country.
It was easy to see that Dr. Anders and his wonderful staff truly cared. We are so grateful to them! They spent hours researching and talking to the authorities before filling out the paperwork. Some of this was done outside of regular business hours. They went above and beyond what is required to make sure they could get approval from the USDA, the travel service, the airlines, and the German authorities. We all held our breaths as Leo made the trip to Germany. We were so relieved when we got a call from our son-in-law saying that Leo was there and he was taking him home.
You never saw a happier family and dog when Leo arrived at his new home. The family was able to spend 3 weeks together before our son-in-law left for Afghanistan. His absence is hard for all of them, but at least having Leo there with them is a comfort and will brighten their days!
Photos used by permission.