Bringing a dog to Korea/ housing question

[Karen]

I got this comment under a post today, but since it's so important, I'm posting it here as well:
Hi Karen,

I think you are doing a great job taking care of lost animals in korea!

I don’t if you are still in korea but i am planning to come to korea with my dog for few years and am wondering if it’s hard to find a place to live with my dog (he’s a g.retreiver & poodle cross) in seoul or korea in general.

I am a certified dog trainer from canada and i would like to help in training dogs as well.

i would really appreciate if you could let me know of rules etc.

looking forward to hearing from you!

thanks
gemma

[Karen]

Hi Gemma,

I know several people who live with big dogs in their apartments. As long as your dog is quiet -and I imagine yours is well trained :) - there should be no problem AS LONG AS you have permission from the landlord to have a pet. Ask the person who is hiring you to check the housing contract before you arrive. If they tell you you can’t have a dog, then you will have to find your own housing, which isn’t impossible, but might be a pain in the butt. I can write more on that, but first I think you should talk with your employer or whoever is providing housing.

Dogs are technically not allowed in apartments, but like many of the "rules" here, not often enforced. I've never had a problem and there are tons of pets in my buiding, all of them small breeds (my 7.5kg mini-schnauzer is the biggest pet in the neighbourhood). Larger dogs may be treated differently, I'm not sure. It depends on the landlord and whether the neighbours complain. Generally though, well behaved dogs don't get complaints.

By the way, dog trainers are very much needed here!!! The only trainer I found wanted me to drop my dog off there for 3 months, and I saw outdoor cages where the dogs were living. Yeah... NEVER. I heard there are some in Seoul but very expensive and only in Korean. I think your service will be in high demand when you get here!

Take care, and if you have any other questions please write again.

[gemmay]

Thank you Karen for your quick response!

I am so happy that you are still in Korea. It's so great that a foreigner is doing such a great work in taking care of helpless four legged friends in Korea. I'll probably end up in Seoul but I'll make sure that I look you up once I'm there. I am planning to arrive in September.

Other than the Vet certificate, is there anything else that i should worry about at the airport for my dog, such as available dog food? sorry to be asking these questions but you know how it is; you never seem to get a straigt answer. I am sure you are very busy so i fully understand if you don't reply quickly.

Anyway, Happy Canada Day in Koea. Is there a Canadian expat club where you can celebrate? Hope to meet you someday.

gemma

[Wibidad]

Hi Gemma,

You asked about dogfood availability. You can find lots of good quality food here. I generally use Natural Balance, which I was able to find in a fairly remote city. Other good brands are also available, and if you are in Seoul, you'll have no problem finding a wide selection.

[gemmay]

Thank you!

[timvas]

Hi

I brought my golden retriever to Seoul from Sydney a few months ago. I didn't have any problems with my apartment, I was fortunate enough to have a local real estate agent help me find a place and one of the prerequisites was that pets had to be allowed (I told them I had a dog and a cat - in fact I have two cats but I didn't want them to think I had a private zoo....) - I saw plenty of apartments before settling on my place and they were all fine with the dog and cat.

Bear is quite an old retriever (she's 13) and is very quiet. I am fostering a couple of other dogs at the moment and everyone in my building has met them all, but I have had no complaints at all.

With regard to the airport, I used a customs agent here (who was recommended to me by Korean Air) to do all the necessary paperwork to get her through customs/quarantine once she arrived at the airport here. I wanted to minimise the amount of time she was in her cage as it is a long flight from Australia. It still took a couple of hours, but I hate to think how long it would have taken if it was just me doing it, there were lots of forms involved and many trips to various people in various departments within customs. It cost me about 75,000 won (roughly $80 US) but was well worth it I think. I can send you his details if you are interested, his English is quite good.

http://i17.tinypic.com/61l7a54.jpg

[Karen]

Thank you Karen for your quick response!

I am so happy that you are still in Korea. It's so great that a foreigner is doing such a great work in taking care of helpless four legged friends in Korea. I'll probably end up in Seoul but I'll make sure that I look you up once I'm there. I am planning to arrive in September.
Actually, I'm leaving Korea in two weeks to move back home and go back to school. It's a two year program, but I expect that I will be back in Korea during summer to work some summer camps. This project has taken over my life so I will be continuing to work on the website to make it better and better.

Other than the Vet certificate, is there anything else that i should worry about at the airport for my dog, such as available dog food? sorry to be asking these questions but you know how it is; you never seem to get a straigt answer. I am sure you are very busy so i fully understand if you don't reply quickly.
Check with your airline to know exactly what papers you need and when they should be dated. You'll need proof of rabies vaccination AND a general health check-up paper. Air Canada (which will not take pets on passenger flights -either in cabin or in cargo- after July 15th, 2007) says to put a bag of food taped to the outside of the crate during the flight, but those always get confiscated before entering the country. Like Wibidad said, finding food is not a problem. There are tons of little vet clinics all over the place.

Anyway, Happy Canada Day in Koea. Is there a Canadian expat club where you can celebrate? Hope to meet you someday.

gemma
Thank you! Happy Canada Day to you, too. In fact, I forgot about it. The embassy in Seoul does a celebration thing, but I've never been to it. My husband is American and we plan to go rock-climbing at one of our favourite spots on the 4th since weekdays are the quietest to take little trips!

It's too bad it looks like our paths won't cross, this year at least! I expect I will be back to Korea very soon though, so maybe next summer!

Thanks for all the questions. It's so nice to read about someone who is so careful about travelling with their companion :)

[Karen]

Tim,

I'd never seen a picture of your own dog before. She's just lovely!!! I love her smile, it looks like she's playing hide & seek in that picture and she's delighted that you found her. So sweet!!!

Thanks for the travel info. Did you ship her on a cargo flight, or did you travel on the same flight as her?

[timvas]

Bear came to Seoul a couple of months after I got here (so I had time to arrange an apartment).

I arranged her flight with a company named Jet Pets, who looked after all the paperwork etc at the Sydney end. She came on Korean Air, had no problems at all. My two cats arrive here on 13 July, have arranged their flights through the same company.

Here is another recent pic of Bear in my backyard. She has settled in well to Seoul, although she tires easily on hot days so I try to take her on short walks.

http://i55.tinypic.com/ngt120.jpg

[gemmay]

Hi Tim,

Love Bear's pics. He looks so happy in his garden! Maybe one day Mambo (our dog) and Bear can have a play session. Thank you very much for your info regarding the housing and customs. I would love to have contact info for our travel.

Thank you again and looking forward to hearing from you.

gemma

[gemmay]

Hi Karen,

Yes, I will post my contact info on this post and hopefully you will look us up when you are in korea.

Thank you again for setting up this site for people like me and all the best in your school and life back home.

gemma

[timvas]

Hi Gemma

The customs agent I used was Mr Choi from Shinhan Customs Clearance Office, his contact details are:

Tel +8232 742 8331
Mobile +8211 9904 5489
Fax + 8232 742 8336

If you have any photos of Mambo please post!

Cheers
Tim

[Karen]

Hi Karen,

Yes, I will post my contact info on this post and hopefully you will look us up when you are in korea.

Thank you again for setting up this site for people like me and all the best in your school and life back home.

gemma
You're very welcome, Gemma. I hope you find this site useful for your time in Korea. Have a happy trip! :D

Take care,
Karen

[gemmay]

Hi Tim,

I can't believe my luck of meeting you guys on line!!!!! thank you very much for the info and i will post pics of mambo once i figure out how. we are currently in victoria, bc travelling around before flying out to korea.

thanks again, :)

gemma