“Froschkönig” travels to South Africa

In everyday life, ‘Froschkönig’ is called “Luvos” and was eagerly awaited by Hesti and her husband in South Africa. They already have two dogs from our kennel. ‘Luvos’ is to expand the pack.

So far, so good. We have a lot of experience with exports and knew what to do in South Africa. However, the import regulations have changed significantly and everything has become much more difficult.

The transport agent in South Africa was a complete nightmare. They forgot to apply for the import licence in time, so that ‘Luvos’ could actually fly at 15 weeks.

In addition, it had to be clarified that he is a beloved family dog and does not need to be neutered in South Africa. Then I would never have sold him!

It took a full four weeks longer to obtain this import licence, during which time ‘Luvos’ had to stay with us.

Once it was clear when he could fly, namely on 2 October 2025, we were able to have the five different blood tests done. It could have been so easy. The laboratory in Wageningen/NL or in South Africa could have done all five tests. BUT the Belgian government stipulates that one test must be done in Antwerp, another in South Africa and two more in southern Italy in two different laboratories. HELP!!!!

This was an enormous amount of work for our vet, who kept his head cool and was patience and sorted everything out perfectly. Only one Italian laboratory caused problems, as one test came back and had to be redone. Poor Luvos had to give quite a lot of blood to fill all the blood test tubes.

The postage alone to send this test was €820.

Once everything was on its way, the wait began to see if everything would arrive. South Africa was still very uncertain as to whether customs would let the blood through without any problems or whether there would be an import bill that would then have to be paid by the laboratory. It wasn’t easy to keep an eye on things.

Everything went well and, apart from one result from Italy, all the tests were negative. The result from Sicily took very long. Thankfully, it was finally known on Friday afternoon, 26 September.

The flight was booked for 2 October and the official veterinarian was scheduled for 30 September 2025 at 1 p.m.

In the meantime, ‘Luvos’ had ‘moved in’ with Piet and Doke van Laere in Ter Aar. For over 30 years, they have always been willing to pamper the dogs that fly from Amsterdam for a few days. In this case, it turned out to be 14 days, and ‘Luvos’ experienced many wonderful things.

Unfortunately, Piet had to drive 360 km with ‘Luvos’ to visit the official veterinarian, i.e. from Ter Aar to Maaseik. The vet had to read the chip.

BUT… Piet had to be here by 12.30 at the latest, as the official veterinarian was due to arrive at 1 p.m. At 11 a.m., the lady called to say that her schedule was full and she could only come at around 5 p.m. or the next day. That was not an option, as Piet could not wait for hours or even stay overnight!

There was a heated discussion with her on the phone, with the agreement that she would come immediately, i.e. at 11.30, and start processing all the documents. That worked out well, Piet arrived at 12.30, the chip was read and by 1 p.m. all the documents were ready and Piet was able to drive back to Ter Aar with a delicious lunch.

On 2 October 2025, Luvos had to be dropped off at Animals to Fly in Amsterdam at 4 a.m. Piet and Doke were once again in tears. Then the van drove off to take Luvos to the KLM animal hotel. There he had to wait until around 9 a.m. to be taken to the aeroplane.

The KLM aircraft took off on time at around 10:30 a.m. and was tracked via Flightradar by Piet, Doke, Hesti and her husband.

The aircraft landed in Johannesburg one minute late. Just 45 minutes later, there were tears of joy and happy owners holding their ‘Luvos’ in their arms.

“Luvos” hat seine erste Nacht im neuen zu Hause im Bett von Herrchen und Frauchen verbracht