Is your dog old enough — and otherwise eligible?

Last verified: 2026-08-25

The answer

There is no single “minimum age” for import. There is an age at which the clock can start, and conditions that must hold on the day of export.

The clock cannot start before 84 days. A rabies vaccine only counts if it was given when the dog was at least 84 days old (roughly 12 weeks). Everything downstream — the RNATT, the 180-day wait, the earliest travel date — hangs off a vaccination that qualifies.

At export, the animal must not be:

• under quarantine restrictions;
• more than 30 days pregnant;
• nursing puppies.

What this means for a puppy

Work it forward rather than backward:

Add those up and a puppy vaccinated at the earliest permitted age is roughly nine to ten months old before it can fly. That is the real constraint — not an age limit at the border, but arithmetic that cannot be compressed. The 180-day wait has no exceptions.

If you are moving with a young dog, this is the calculation to do first, because it often decides whether the animal travels with you or follows later.

Pregnancy and nursing

Both conditions are assessed at export, not at the start. A pregnancy that begins mid-way through preparation can push travel past your intended date — and the restriction is specific: more than 30 days pregnant.

If breeding is a possibility during a six-month preparation window, it is worth a conversation with your veterinarian at the outset rather than a discovery at the export examination.

Being under quarantine restriction

An animal under quarantine restrictions cannot be exported. This is a status in your own country — a disease investigation, a movement restriction — and it is the competent authority’s determination, not yours.

What this page does not tell you

• A maximum age. The department does not set one, but it does advise against importing sick or very old animals, which is a welfare question rather than an eligibility one. See limitations and safety.
• Cat-specific ages and conditions, which come from the department’s separate cat guide and are not yet recorded here.
• Whether your animal is fit to travel. Age is not fitness, and only your veterinarian can judge the second.
• Airline age minimums, which are set by carriers and can be stricter than the government’s.