Can you take a puppy from Colombia to the US, Canada or Europe?

Not at 8, 12 or 16 weeks. Under the CDC rule in force since August 1, 2024, every dog must be at least six months old when it enters the United States, wherever it comes from. Every dog also needs a microchip that a universal scanner can read, has to look healthy on arrival, and needs a receipt for the CDC Dog Import Form, which is filled in online and is good for one entry on the arrival date it shows. We found no published exception for pets.

For a dog that has only been in rabies-free or low-risk countries, that form is the only document. That is not the case here: Colombia is on the CDC list of high-risk countries for dog rabies (the page is dated April 15, 2026, and does not say what changed on that date). ICA (Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario, Colombia’s agricultural and animal-health authority) says the same on its own page. What counts is not where the dog lives but where it has been in the last six months.

This is the regime for foreign-vaccinated dogs from high-risk countries, checked against ICA’s summary of the United States requirements:

1. At least six months old on the day of entry.
2. A microchip implanted before the rabies vaccine. If the chip goes in afterwards, the CDC treats the vaccine as invalid.
3. A rabies vaccine given at 12 weeks (84 days) of age or older. An earlier first dose does not count, according to the CDC’s frequently asked questions.
4. The Certification of Foreign Rabies Vaccination and Microchip, filled in by the veterinarian and endorsed by an official government veterinarian — in Colombia, an ICA official veterinarian. It has to be completed no more than 30 days before the trip and is valid for 30 days from signature.
5. A rabies antibody titer from a CDC-approved laboratory, with the blood sample drawn at least 30 days after the first valid vaccination and at least 28 days before entry. Without a valid titer, the dog is admitted only after a 28-day quarantine at a CDC-registered animal care facility.
6. A reservation at a CDC-registered animal care facility, which includes a veterinary exam and revaccination with a vaccine licensed in the United States.
7. Arrival by air, at the airport where that facility is. These dogs cannot enter through a land border crossing.
8. The CDC Dog Import Form receipt, and all documents in English or with a certified translation, as ICA notes.

The CDC’s list of registered facilities covers Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York (JFK), Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington (Dulles). Avianca says that on the routes it flies, a dog from a high-risk country can only enter through Los Angeles, Miami, New York or Washington. Avianca also says Colombia has no approved laboratory for the titer and that the sample is sent abroad; that comes from the airline, and we did not read the CDC’s laboratory list, so confirm it with your veterinarian.

One more point for anyone getting a dog from someone else: the CDC’s frequently asked questions warn that dogs imported for rescue, adoption, to be sold on or to change owner do not qualify for shortened quarantine periods.

Rules change. Everything on this page was checked against the official pages on October 10, 2026. Before you book anything, confirm each requirement with the authority of the destination country, with ICA and with your airline. This is general information, not veterinary or legal advice.

A second agency, with its own requirements. USDA APHIS lists Colombia among the regions affected by screwworm (page last modified October 5, 2026). A dog coming from such a region may enter only with a certificate signed by a full-time salaried veterinary official of the country of origin, stating that the dog was inspected within the five days before shipment and is free of screwworm — or that it was infested, quarantined and treated until free. If a private veterinarian signs it, the official veterinarian has to countersign.

We could not verify whether ICA’s export certificate serves as that screwworm certificate or whether a separate document is needed. Ask ICA when your veterinarian opens the request.

Different rules apply to dogs imported to be sold or rehomed for a fee, under the Animal Welfare Act: at least six months (180 days) old at entry; a rabies vaccine given by a licensed veterinarian at least 30 days before entry, to a dog at least 84 days old; vaccination against distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parvovirus and parainfluenza within the previous 12 months; health and rabies certificates in English; and an import permit from APHIS Animal Care. APHIS says these rules do not apply to privately owned dogs that are not meant to be sold on. The page does not describe the case of a family that gets a puppy in Colombia and imports it itself, so we cannot tell you which side of the line that falls on: ask APHIS.

Two smaller points from the same APHIS page. Dogs that will be used to handle livestock should show no evidence of tapeworm infection — that concerns a Border Collie or an Australian Cattle Dog going to work with animals, not one traveling as a pet. And each state can set requirements of its own; APHIS refers you to the state’s department of agriculture.

Not if it is a commercial dog. According to the CFIA’s notice, the entry of commercial dogs from countries at high risk for dog rabies has been prohibited since September 28, 2022, until further notice, and Colombia is on the CFIA’s list.

The definition matters more than the word suggests. For the CFIA, commercial dogs include those intended to be given or transferred to another person, sold on, adopted, fostered, bred, shown or used in research. A puppy that a breeder in Colombia sends to a family in Canada changes hands, so it falls under the prohibition.

A personal pet — a dog that travels with its owner or goes to join them — is treated differently, and the CFIA’s rules vary by age. According to its Import Reference Document, dated October 8, 2025, a dog under three months needs no rabies vaccination or certification, and a dog of three months or older coming from a country not recognized as rabies-free needs a valid rabies vaccination certificate, in English or French, issued by a licensed veterinarian in the country of origin. Start from the CFIA’s own page on bringing dogs to Canada.

What we could not establish is how the CFIA classifies a dog whose family travels to Colombia, receives it there and flies home with it: a personal pet, or a dog transferred to another person. The pages we read do not define that case. Ask the CFIA in writing before you plan anything, and keep the answer.

About seven months, in practice. Colombia is not on the European Commission’s list of territories and non-EU countries — from Latin America, the list has Argentina, Chile and Mexico — so a dog from Colombia needs the rabies antibody test. The requirements for non-commercial movement are:

1. Microchip (ISO 11784/11785), implanted before the rabies vaccine.
2. Rabies vaccine given when the dog is at least 12 weeks old.
3. Rabies antibody test with a result of at least 0.5 IU/ml, from an EU-approved laboratory, on a sample taken at least 30 days after the primary vaccination and at least 90 days before the health certificate is issued.
4. An animal health certificate on the EU model, valid for 10 days from the date the official veterinarian issues it for entry into the EU, with the owner’s declaration that the trip is not commercial.
5. No more than five animals, entering through a travelers’ point of entry.
6. Treatment against the Echinococcus tapeworm 24 to 120 hours before arrival, for the countries that require it. Judging by the names of the certificate models, those are Finland, Ireland, Malta, Norway and Northern Ireland; confirm with the destination country.

Add it up — 12 weeks, plus 30 days, plus 90 days — and you get roughly 29 weeks. ICA puts it the same way: the minimum age for a pet to enter the countries of the European Union is seven months.

A note on the legal basis, because many pages still cite the old one. The Commission’s page now refers to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/131 for the requirements, to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/636 for the country lists and to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/705 for the certificate models. According to the Commission’s page and to EUR-Lex as we saw it in a search-engine summary, the delegated regulation applies from April 22, 2026, and Regulation (EU) No 576/2013 applied until April 21. As far as we could tell from the Commission’s pages, the substance of the requirements is the same; what changed is the legal basis. We could not read the text of the regulations themselves, so treat the dates as reported, not as checked against the legal text.

All of this is for a pet that travels with its owner. If the dog is going to be sold or handed to someone else at the destination, or travels more than five days apart from its owner, it is no longer a non-commercial movement. The commercial import rules are different and we did not review them.

The result is the same: about seven months. Colombia is not in the GOV.UK table of listed countries, so on top of the usual pet travel rules a dog needs a rabies blood test and a Great Britain pet health certificate. Northern Ireland has rules of its own, which we did not review.

• Microchip before the rabies vaccine, or at the same time.
• Rabies vaccine: the veterinarian needs proof that the dog is at least 12 weeks old before vaccinating.
• Blood test: sample taken at least 30 days after the vaccination, at an EU-approved laboratory, with a result of at least 0.5 IU/ml. You then wait three months from the date of the sample before traveling.
• Great Britain pet health certificate, signed by an official veterinarian. The dog has to enter within 10 days of its issue.
• Tapeworm treatment given by a veterinarian between 24 hours and 5 days (120 hours) before arrival.
• An approved route. By plane, pets have to travel as cargo, except on a private flight or in the case of an assistance dog.

The limit is five animals. Extra rules apply if the dog is going to be sold, rehomed or change owner, or if it arrives more than five days before or after its owner. GOV.UK warns that a dog that does not meet the rules can be put into quarantine for up to four months at the owner’s expense. Great Britain also bans certain breeds unless they hold a certificate of exemption; we did not review that list.

One certificate, and it comes at the very end. We did not find an ICA minimum age for leaving the country: the destination sets it. ICA’s part, according to its pages on leaving Colombia with a dog and on how the certificate is issued, goes like this:

1. At the clinic, a veterinarian registered with ICA issues a health certificate dated no more than five calendar days before departure. It describes the dog — species, breed, sex, weight, color, age — and records a clinical exam with no signs of infectious disease or recent wounds.
2. Microchip: every dog under 12 months old leaving the country needs a 15-digit microchip. Its number goes on the certificate.
3. Parasite treatment, internal and external, as the destination country requires, and current vaccinations according to the destination’s schedule.
4. The request: the veterinarian creates the request for the Certificado de Inspección Sanitaria (CIS, the health inspection certificate) in SISPAP, ICA’s online system, and attaches the supporting documents, including the antibody test result where one applies. The request and its documents can be used within five calendar days of being created.
5. Payment: you receive a payment link by email. The current fee is on ICA’s fee page; we did not read the figure, so we do not give one.
6. At the ICA office of the airport, port or border crossing chosen in the request, you present yourself with the dog and the destination country’s own documents — the EU certificate, the Great Britain form, the CDC form. If the documents and the physical inspection are satisfactory, ICA issues the certificate.

ICA is explicit that it only lets an animal leave if it meets the destination’s requirements. Its page on requirements by country adds, among others, that Panama asks for the certificate to be apostilled, a minimum age of four months and 30 days since the rabies vaccine.

We only read Avianca’s pages in full, so that is the only airline we describe. According to its pet policy, edited July 1, 2026:

• Minimum age: four months on international flights, and six months to the United States. (On domestic flights in Colombia it accepts pets older than two months with the vaccinations for their age.)
• Cabin: up to 10 kg (22 lb) including a soft carrier of 56 × 36 × 25 cm (22 × 14 × 10 in), one pet per passenger.
• Hold: up to 70 kg (154 lb) including the rigid crate. Reservations up to 48 hours before the flight, subject to space.
• Short-nosed breeds do not travel in the hold. Avianca’s list includes the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, which it carries only in the cabin and with a signed form.

Avianca also closes the hold to pets on some routes in the northern winter: from December 15, 2026 to March 31, 2027, to and from Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Houston, New York, Washington, Toronto and Montreal. A large-breed dog of six or seven months is well past a 10 kg cabin limit, so for those dogs the hold is the only option and the season matters.

Other airlines publish their own minimum ages, and some restrict or do not carry pets on routes from Colombia. We could not read their pages in full, so we are not going to summarize them: check the airline’s own page for your exact route, and ask for the conditions in writing.

Whether we can place a puppy with a family outside Colombia depends on these rules and on the puppy’s age; ask us on WhatsApp before you plan anything.

What we can say without knowing your case is what the rules above already say. A puppy at the age it normally goes home — 8 to 12 weeks — cannot enter the United States, the European Union or Great Britain, and a dog handed over to a family in Canada falls under the CFIA’s definition of a commercial dog. No breeder can change that, and we will not tell you otherwise.

It also gives you a way to check what others tell you. An ad that offers to ship a two- or three-month-old puppy from Colombia to the United States is offering something the CDC rules do not allow. Treat it as a warning sign; the guide to puppy scams in Colombia covers the rest.

If you live in Colombia, none of this applies: travel inside the country follows other, simpler rules, explained in flying with a puppy within Colombia and in Delivery. And if you are moving here with a dog you already have, see bringing a dog to Colombia.