Relocation & Settling In
Pet relocation to Germany, door to door.
The vaccination calendar, the crate, the flight and the Berlin registration, run as one file.
The real challenge
What Berlin asks of you in the week after the flight.
Origin agents are easy to find, and the flight is the part everyone sells. Berlin's own requirements start at the arrivals door.
Customs at the airport, the dog registered and its Hundesteuer filed with the district inside the deadline, Hundehaftpflicht liability cover in place, an English-speaking vet, and a landlord whose lease allows the animal. All in German, all in your first jet-lagged week.
The engagement
Calendar, travel document, arrival.
The pet is one workstream of a full relocation, and it runs earlier than the others because the vaccination dates can't be compressed.
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The calendar
We work back from your arrival date. Whether your origin country is EU-listed decides the route, and some origins add a rabies antibody titre test that carries a fixed waiting period of its own.
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The travel document
Microchip, rabies vaccination and any onward jabs sequenced in the order the rules require, coordinated with your vet, ending in an EU pet passport or an official EU health certificate.
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The arrival
An IATA-compliant crate in the correct size, a carrier chosen around snub-nosed restrictions and seasonal embargoes, and someone at the airport to clear Zoll and open the door.
What you get
The travel file, and the Berlin paperwork after it.
A pet-friendly flat is the harder half, and our apartment search raises the animal with the landlord in the application itself.
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The microchip and rabies timeline
ISO microchip, rabies vaccination and any titre test, sequenced so the dates hold. Getting the order wrong costs months.
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Vet coordination at origin
We brief your vet so each certificate is issued in sequence, signed, and still valid on the day of travel.
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Crate, carrier and routing
An IATA-compliant crate in the right size, & a route planned around snub-nosed restrictions and airline embargoes.
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Registration, Hundesteuer & insurance
Your dog registered with the district, the Hundesteuer filed inside the deadline, and Hundehaftpflicht cover arranged.
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What it costs
A fixed fee, agreed before we start. Flights, crate, vet fees and the dog tax are billed at cost.
Why us
What happens at the arrivals door.
Someone meets the flight. We clear Zoll, check the animal over, and get them out of the crate and into daylight without a scramble.
Then the quiet Berlin work: the district registration, the Hundesteuer, the liability cover & an English-speaking vet near your new address. With luck your dog is asleep on a Berlin sofa sooner than you feared.
Questions
The questions we're asked most.
What does it cost?
A fixed fee for managing the move, agreed before we start. The flight, the crate, your vet's charges, the titre test & the Hundesteuer are billed at what they cost. A cat from Vienna and a large dog from Singapore are different pieces of work, so tell us the animal and the origin and we'll quote.
Which countries can you move a pet from?
Most of them. The rules split mainly between EU-listed and non-listed countries, and a handful of origins add a rabies antibody titre test with a fixed waiting period. Tell us where the animal is now and you'll get the route, the paperwork and a realistic timeline before you commit to anything.
How far ahead should we start?
Months rather than weeks. The rabies vaccination has to settle for a set period before travel, and where a titre test is required it adds a further fixed wait on top of that. A rushed calendar is where pet moves fail. If your dates are already tight, talk to us anyway and we'll find the fastest compliant path.
Will my pet have to go into quarantine?
Generally not. Germany doesn't quarantine animals that arrive fully compliant: a valid ISO microchip, an up-to-date rabies vaccination and the correct travel document, in that order. Getting all three right in sequence is the work. It's why your animal walks out of the airport with you.
My dog is a snub-nosed breed. Is flying safe?
Brachycephalic breeds need more care, and many airlines restrict or seasonally embargo them for sound reasons. We plan around it: the carrier & cabin policy that suits the breed, routing and timing that avoid heat embargoes, and ground transport where flying is the unkind option. The route follows the animal rather than the calendar.
What happens with registration and dog tax once we arrive?
Every dog in Berlin has to be registered and taxed, the Hundesteuer, within a short window of arrival, and Hundehaftpflicht liability cover is expected alongside it. We register the dog with the district, file the tax on time and arrange the insurance, so none of it slips into the pile of letters nobody has opened yet.
Can you find a flat that allows my dog?
Yes, and it matters, because plenty of Berlin landlords quietly decline pets even where the lease doesn't forbid them. The animal is raised openly and early in the application rather than discovered at the viewing, which is the difference between a landlord who says yes and one who feels misled.
Keep exploring
You may also need
Begin
Tell us where your pet is flying from.
The country, the animal and roughly when you need to be in Berlin. We map the vaccination calendar backwards from that date and tell you whether it holds.