Silk Road travel with dogs Q&A

[murg]

Entering the countries you mentioned should be no Problem as a foreign licensed Car is Always Just a foreign licensed Car & No one cared If it is Australian, Danish,..... Or Chinese.

Every Country is easier (exept maybe Myanmar and North Korea) than China.....

Of course you could check the embassies of the countries you intend to drive through.

...or take the train

[StacyAndLight]

Hello everyone,
We are two russian girls with a dog. We plan go to Nepal.
Do you have some information about crossing the board between Kazakhstan to China by hitchh with a dog? I realy care about quarantine, because i rea that in China dogs will stay on quarantine about 10-14 days. Is it true?
Also. if you have some information or experience about travel in Asia with a big dog (i have husky) - tell us.

[sammikaro]

Hey guys,

We're a couple travelling with our car from Belgium along the silk road with our two dogs. Before we started this trip we almost found no information on crossing the border with dogs/pets in general. So I'll update this topic for people who are interested.

Some basic information about the dogs. They're both born in the EU and have EU passports and are microchipped. Their vaccinations are up to date (rabies being the biggest one). They are also too big and our car too small for the border officers not to notice

Onto the countries:

Russia
What did we find out before: Rabies vaccination no closer than 30 days before travel. Health certificate by a veterinary no older than 5 days before entering. EU passport needed.

What happened in reality: the officer asked if they were going to stay with us for the whole trip. And took a look at the EU passport. He just checked the name of the owner, which is us. We were free to go after that. He didn't ask for the health certificate or check the Rabies vaccination.


Kazakhstan:
What did we find out before: Rabies no closer than 30 days before travel. Health certificate no older than 10 days.

What happened in reality: the officer didn't check anything. Not even passport.


Kyrgystan:
We passed the border from KZ to KY in the far east. The small border
What did we find out before: Health certificate, not specified. Heard some rumors that a veterinary will check them out. Need a rabiës vaccination.

What happened in reality: The border guard was the first one to really check out the EU passport. Not only did he check the name, owners name, details. But also expiration from the vaccinations. All of them. He was really nice though, no bribe asked and let us through after 5 minutes.

Tadzykystan: tbd
Uzbekistan: tbd
Azerbaijan: tbd
Georgia: tbd
Turkey: tbd

Hi,

Do you have some information for the other countries?

[Christian77]

While this thread seems to be all about vaccinations and border crossings, I think it needs some info on the cultural side. I can't speak for Kazakhstan or Turkmenistan, but I have asked guesthouse managers about what they think of guests with dogs in the rest of Central Asia. Some find it extremely annoying, and some are not even informed by the guests (who seem to have adopted the tactic of hiding their dog while checking in and then springing the surprise - a fait accompli). Some managers they would absolutely refuse a local person who tried to seek accommodation along with their dog (doesn't matter where the dog sleeps). Some find it extremely offensive that you would bring a dog into their havli. It's obvious that there are some very disrespectful Europeans using their privilege as a westerner to march their dogs onto the property of people who may take an Islamic view on the ritual filthiness of a dog (not everyone is a dog-friendly shepherd in Central Asia).

Example: in Dushanbe a Dutch couple checked in and then tied up their large dog in the courtyard/havli of the guesthouse, to the horror of the family members. The dog barked nonstop and the police were called by neighbours. The matter was referred to the neighborhood committee (a government structure that can make life miserable for you). I talked to the manager, and he said he couldn't confront them over their dog, as he and his family live in fear of bad online reviews.

Another example: A German backpacker brought his dog to Cholpon Ata on a marshrutka (I guarantee the Kyrgyz passengers were very unhappy). He then bullied his way past the teenage girl managing the hostel with his dog. The Kyrgyz and Russian guests were very unhappy and confronted the manager and berated her for allowing a dog.

Accept that dogs are unacceptable for the vast majority of people in Central Asia. The people with lapdogs in Almaty are a tiny majority. This isn't Istanbul either, with its love of all cats and dogs. In Central Asia dogs are for guarding sheep and sleeping in the barn. What you are doing is disrespecting their culture and religion, and doing so as rich western visitor who thinks they can do whatever they want. Leave your dog at home.

The least worst you can do is to keep your dog in your camper van out in the wilderness.

Now, a final warning. My friend had a dog in Tajikistan. It ran out an open gate at the guesthouse and wandered around the neighborhood. Ten minutes later there was a gunshot. That's what most people here consider a suitable response to a strange dog on the streets in the mahalla where their children play.

[Robcap]

Hi all,

I tried the search function, to see if anyone had experience with taken your dog overland to the Stans, but initialy found nothing.
We plan to travel in 2023, overland from the Netherlands to Tadjikistan and Kirgistan, with a lot of countries in between.
So, does anyone know how to deal with taking your pet dog along on the adventure?
Looking forward to your stories.

Cheers, Rob

[Christian77]

I've seen many tourists with dogs, with most people grossly violating social norms. Do you plan to stay at guesthouses? If so, they only accept dogs because they are desperate for money and fearful of bad online reviews. They smile and say "OK" when you show up with a dog, but I can understand what they say to each other in Tajik and Uzbek. They don't like your dog, they don't want it at their house/hotel/guesthouse, but they aren't in a position to refuse money. In one case I asked a guesthouse manager directly why he allowed a European family to bring a very large scary breed of dog onto their property. He said it was because they had booked online and he was fearful of them leaving a bad review, as he gets so few reviews that one bad one with drag his score way down.

I saw a dog belonging to a Dutch couple shit in a Tajik family's courtyard, which was beyond shocking for the family. The dog then proceeded to bark all night until neighbors called the police (causing the family serious distress as this was the first conflict their guesthouse had encountered with their neighbors). I saw Russian tourists berate a hostel manager for the presence of German shepherd belong to a young German traveler. They asked if it was a hostel or a dog kennel. I saw an American woman feed a dog with a soup bowl that belonged to the host family. They threw the bowl away. An Argentinian brought a stray puppy into a hostel in Bishkek. It was immediately tossed back onto the street by the manager. I saw an Englishman's dog going for a free run on the street in Tajikistan. 30 minutes later, a gunshot. No more dog. In all of these cases the dog owners couldn't believe how unreasonable the locals were, as if they should conform to American or Western European norms of dog-human relations.

In some rural areas it varies, as certain towns already have random dogs walking through people's property. In that case, I would be careful with your dog encountering a territorial local dog.

Anyways, this is not Turkey. Shepherds here love their guardian dogs, a small new urban class of people love their fancy purebred pets. But the overwhelming vast majority in between consider dogs dangerous, scary and ritually dirty according to the norms of Islam. As for Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, I can't say... Almaty is a different world. Ask someone who spends time there.

Leave your dog at home. If you insist on bringing it, check booking.com's accommodation descriptions. Some have started to accept pets, but they expect small pets that stay in your car. And some are terrible at managing their booking.com account and have no idea that they check the box for accepting pets.

Anecdotes from people saying everything was wonderful and people loved their dog? Of course, locals smile and say "OK, no problem." But that's because you are a white traveler from a rich country. If you were Indian or Chinese and you show up with a dog, they will likely slam the door in your face.

[Robcap]

Thanks for your honest reply.
I will certainly consider it.

Meanwhile, browsing the main site, I found this link https://caravanistan.com/planning/pets/ which I will read as well.

Cheers, Rob