The Flight to Germany

Checking in for the flight took an hour. This was because the NW/Delta agent was concerned that the date on Frannie's EU 998 health certificate was older than 10 days. The NW/Delta manual stated something to the effect that a dog need a "health certificate signed within the last 10 days or forms required for entry into the destination country". The requirement for German was a EU998 that showed following:

• a rabies vaccination at least one month and no longer that 1 year prior to travel
• a micro chip that meets the EU standard or a tatoo
• signed by the vet and authenicated by the US FDA.
  

There was no 10 day requirement on date on the vets signature.

The agent made about 10 calls looking for verification that the date was OK. I suppose the good news about this is that it took an hour off the time that Frannie would have to spend in the crate. We also met and talked to the TSA agents that would be inspected Frannie and her crate. Eventually, the agent got the OK to ship Frannie. TSA inspection went smoothly. The agent was kind enough to take Frannie directly to the plane. At our connection in Detroit, I was informed that Frannie was on the plane to Frankfurt. So far, so good.

Arriving in Frankfurt, it took a bit longer than normal for me to get through passport control. In typical EU fashion, there were 3 stations open, 2 for EU citizens and 1 for non-EU. And the non-EU station was shared with crew and handicapped both of which went immediately to the front of the line. So the 40 minutes seem longer not knowing how Frannie took the trip.

When I finally got through, I found Frannie's crate at the large baggage area. She was definitely happy to see to see a familiar face, wagging her tail and licking my fingers through the door of the crate. I was a little worried about taking her out of the crate at that moment, having visions of Frannie using the middle of the baggage hall as a WC. So I placed the crate with Frannie inside on a cart, got my bag and proceeded to customs.

Customs looked at the date of the rabies vaccination and the microchip. Did not care at all about the vet's signature, or the US FDA seal.

As we entered the arrival hall, I saw Magda waiting to the left, which was also the direction to the door to the crate was pointing. When the crate was even with Magda, the cart started to wave back and forth so that I needed both hands on the cart to control it. There was also a loud thump, thump, thump coming from the crate. Frannie had seen Magda through the door of the crate for the first time in 2 months, had stood up in the crated and was shaking her tail so hard that the cart was shaking. This continued as Magda greeted Frannie and through the airport as we looked for someplace to let her out of the crate.

Once out of the crate Frannie went back and forth between Magda and I, curling around as she rubbed against our legs wanting to be petted. Magda gave her a short walk, but as there was no grass at the airport, Frannie waited for the first rest stop before making her initial claim to German soil.

As a side note, while this happened I watched a kestrel hovering above a field dive down catch a mouse and carry it away.