Selling Puppies to Canadian Families
Canadian families are a real market, and most US breeders turn them down because the border sounds like a project. It is not. The puppy does not cross as your export. It crosses as the buyer's own pet, in the buyer's name, and you never import anything. Here is who does what, what it costs, and the one paperwork detail that decides whether the puppy gets in.
Eight things to know
- Your buyer is the importer, not you. You sell the puppy in the USA. The family owns it before it moves, so it crosses as their personal pet.
- Because the puppy travels unaccompanied, a customs broker files the entry. $150 CAD plus provincial tax, billed by the broker directly.
- Under 8 months, health certificate within 72 hours of the crossing. Not 10 days. This is the one that gets puppies turned back.
- From 8 months, no health certificate at all. Rabies only. An adult dog is much simpler to move than a puppy.
- Rabies from 12 weeks, at every age above that. Under 12 weeks a puppy is too young to vaccinate and is exempt.
- The CDC six-month rule does not apply to you. That governs dogs entering the United States. Canada has no minimum import age.
- Crossings from $465 CAD. Detroit $465, Buffalo from $465, Bangor $825, Boston $1,385. Full table below.
- Or your buyer flies down and carries the puppy home in the cabin. No transporter, no broker, just an airline pet fee. Sometimes the right answer, and we will tell you so.
Two different agencies, two different questions
Almost every argument you will read online about shipping puppies to Canada is two separate rules mashed into one. There are two agencies and they care about two different things.
CFIA asks what the puppy is for. A puppy going to a family to live as their pet is a personal pet import. A puppy going to be resold, re-homed, bred, or shown is a commercial import, with a permit and a border veterinary inspection. This is about end use, and it has nothing to do with who drives.
CBSA asks who is carrying it. If the buyer is in the vehicle, the puppy is accompanied and they simply declare it. If a transporter carries the puppy and the buyer is not there, the puppy is unaccompanied, moving as goods on a for-hire carrier, and a formal customs entry has to be filed.
Put those together and you get the case this page is about: a personal pet import that still needs a customs broker, because the puppy travels unaccompanied. Both things are true at once. If your buyer would rather drive down to your kennel and carry the puppy home themselves, they can, and they will not need a broker at all. Send them to our guide for buyers bringing a puppy home.
What you provide as the breeder
You are not filing anything with a government. You are handing over a folder. Three items:
- The vet paperwork the puppy's age calls for. This is not one rule, it is three, and they are set out in the table below. Carry proof of age either way, because age is what decides which row you are on.
- Sale receipt showing the date, a description of the puppy, the words "non breeding", and the price paid. Write the real price.
- Your details and the buyer's details, both in full: name, address, phone, email. The broker needs both sides to file the entry.
What the dog needs, by age at the crossing
| Age at the crossing | Health certificate | Rabies |
|---|---|---|
| Under 12 weeks | Required, dated within 72 hours of the crossing | Not required. Too young to vaccinate effectively. |
| 12 weeks to 8 months | Required, dated within 72 hours of the crossing | Required |
| 8 months and older | Not required | Required |
The bottom row is worth reading twice, because it runs against everything you have been told about moving dogs. From 8 months there is no health certificate at all. Rabies and nothing else. The 72-hour trap simply does not exist for an adult dog, which makes placing a retired adult or a returned adolescent with a Canadian family the easiest crossing you will ever do.
Under 8 months, the 72-hour window is the whole ballgame. It is a CFIA rule, and US breeders miss it constantly because domestic airline travel and dogs entering the US both run on a 10-day certificate. Canada gives you three days. We have been refused entry over this ourselves, spent the night in a hotel at Niagara Falls, and found a vet the next morning for a fresh certificate before we could cross. Now we confirm the certificate is inside its window before a puppy ever leaves the pickup point.
Air cargo or ground, your call
Air cargo to a US gateway. For the flight we use Airbound Pets, who ship pets by cargo from one US city to another US city. They do not fly cross-border, and that is precisely the split that makes this work: they cover the domestic US leg into Detroit, Buffalo, or Boston, and we pick the puppy up at the airport and take the border ourselves. Nobody is doing a job they are not set up for.
Airlines set their own crate specifications, temperature embargoes, and health certificate rules for their own flights, so those get confirmed for the flight itself. Whatever certificate the airline accepts, a puppy under 8 months still has to be inside the 72-hour Canadian window when it reaches the border, and those two clocks are not the same clock.
Ground the whole way. Some breeders prefer the puppy never sees a cargo terminal. You can hand off to a ground transporter who brings the puppy to the meeting point, or in some cases we come further into the US to collect. Bangor is the usual eastern meeting point for a ground handoff.
Either way, the border is ours. We meet the puppy, work with the broker on the entry, cross, and carry on.
Your buyer can fly down and carry the puppy home
This is the cheapest way to move a puppy into Canada and plenty of families should take it. Your buyer books a flight to the airport nearest you, meets you, collects the puppy, and carries it back in the cabin for a small in-cabin pet fee charged by the airline. For a lot of buyers that is a good day out and a story they keep.
Because the puppy is accompanied by its owner, the whole unaccompanied apparatus falls away:
- No transporter. Not us, not anyone.
- No customs broker, because there is no unaccompanied entry to file. They declare the puppy themselves on arrival.
- They still pay GST on the value of the puppy at Canadian customs, so they must have the purchase receipt in hand. Same receipt, same four details, and the real price on it.
What does not change is the vet paperwork. The age table above applies exactly the same way, so a puppy under 8 months still needs its health certificate inside the 72-hour window when they land. Tell your buyer that clearly, because a family arranging this themselves is the most likely person in this whole process to miss it.
Have them confirm the airline's own in-cabin rules before booking anything. Carrier dimensions, minimum age to fly, how many pets are allowed in the cabin per flight, and breed restrictions all vary by carrier, and a snub-nosed or bully-breed puppy is the one most likely to be refused a cabin seat.
If your buyer asks us and flying down is genuinely the better answer for them, we will say so. We would rather be the transporter you recommend to the next twenty families than the one who charged this one unnecessarily.
Border crossing prices
These are the crossing prices in Canadian dollars. Read the "what it includes" column carefully, because the eastern routes deliver to the door and the Ontario routes hand off near the crossing.
Detroit, MI
Buffalo, NY
Bangor, ME
Boston, MA
On top of the crossing price
- Customs broker, $150 CAD plus provincial tax. Running Red bills this directly, not through us. One fee per shipment, so littermates crossing together on one entry pay it once. Tax is charged at the rate that applies in the buyer's home province, which is why the total differs for a family in Alberta versus one in New Brunswick.
- GST or HST on the puppy's purchase price, payable by the buyer at the border, calculated on the value shown on the sale receipt. This is a separate tax from the tax on the broker fee.
- The domestic US leg, if the puppy flies or is ground-relayed to the meeting point. Set by your airline or transporter, not by us.
- Each additional animal, $200 CAD. The first puppy is in the crossing price and every one after it adds $200. Two littermates to two Ontario families crossing at Detroit is $465 plus $200, not $930, which is why it pays to line up a litter on one trip instead of booking them separately.
- Onward delivery past the endpoint listed for each route. Quoted per trip.
A $200 CAD deposit holds the date. The balance is due on delivery. Either you or the buyer can pay the deposit, and plenty of breeders fold it into the sale price. See our deposit policy and full pricing guide.
Start to finish
- You or your buyer requests a quotewith the pickup point, the buyer's address, the date, and how many puppies. We come back within 24 hours.
- We introduce ourselves to your buyer on a video call. No charge. It settles the family down and it makes you look like you have this handled, because you do.
- The deposit holds the date.
- We give the broker both sides of the paperwork and, for a puppy under 8 months, confirm the vet appointment lands inside the 72-hour window before it travels.
- You send the puppy to the meeting point with the folder, or we collect it.
- We cross.Broker files the entry, the buyer's tax is settled, the puppy is released.
- Handoff or door delivery, per the route table. You and the buyer both get updates and photos the whole way.
When it is a commercial import instead
Everything above assumes the puppy is going to a family to live as their pet. If your Canadian buyer is a breeder taking the puppy for breeding, resale, re-homing, adoption, or show, it is a commercial import and it runs on a different set of rules. For a dog under 8 months, which covers essentially every puppy sale you will make, the commercial regime means:
- A CFIA import permit is required.
- The health certificate window tightens to 48 hours.
- A CFIA veterinary inspection at the border has to be scheduled in advance.
- Permits are capped. Two permits per year, two puppies per permit, on the pathway with published caps.
A dog 8 months or older going to a commercial end use follows a different pathway. Confirm that one with CFIA or a broker rather than assuming these four points carry over, and do not guess it from this page.
Those rules are strict enough that people are tempted to call a commercial shipment a family pet. Do not. The classification is enforced, not assumed, and border officers look importers up online. A buyer whose website says kennel does not get to be a pet owner for an afternoon. If your buyer is a breeder, start at the commercial import guide and give the permit timeline room in your sale terms.
FAQs
Am I exporting the puppy, or is my buyer importing it?
Your buyer is importing it. You sell the puppy in the United States and the Canadian family owns it before it moves. It crosses the border as their personal pet, in their name, on their paperwork. You are the seller, not the importer. That is what keeps the crossing on the simple personal-pet path instead of the commercial permit route.
Why is a customs broker required if the family could just drive down and get the puppy themselves?
Because of who is in the vehicle. If the buyer travels to your kennel and brings the puppy home themselves, the puppy is accompanied and they declare it at the primary inspection line with no broker involved. If a transporter carries the puppy and the buyer is not there, the puppy is unaccompanied and moving on a for-hire carrier, so a formal customs entry has to be filed. A customs broker files it. Both routes are personal pet imports. Only the unaccompanied one needs the broker.
How much is the customs broker and who pays it?
Running Red charges $150 CAD plus tax at the rate that applies in the buyer's home province. It is billed by the broker directly, not through us, and it is on top of the crossing price. One fee covers the shipment, so two or three puppies crossing together on one entry still pay the one broker fee.
Does the CDC six-month minimum age apply to my puppy?
No. The six-month minimum age, the microchip requirement, and the CDC Dog Import Form are United States entry rules for dogs coming into the US. Your puppy is going the other way. Canada has no minimum import age for a puppy and no CDC form. If you have read that a puppy cannot travel before six months, that is the rule for the direction you are not going.
How current does the health certificate have to be?
For a dog under 8 months, it must be dated within 72 hours of the border crossing. This is a CFIA rule and it is the single most common reason a crossing fails. It is not the 10-day window US breeders are used to for domestic airline travel and for dogs entering the US. Book the vet appointment against the crossing date, not the flight date, and confirm the two line up before the puppy leaves your kennel.
Does a dog over 8 months need a health certificate?
No. From 8 months of age a health certificate is not required at all. A valid rabies certificate is the requirement, and that is it. This makes an older dog markedly simpler to move than a young puppy, because the 72-hour timing problem disappears entirely. If you are placing a retired adult, a started dog, or a returned adolescent with a Canadian family, that crossing is easier than any puppy sale you will do.
Can my buyer fly down and carry the puppy home in the cabin themselves?
Yes, and it is the cheapest way to do it. Your buyer flies to the airport nearest you, collects the puppy, and carries it back in the cabin for a small in-cabin pet fee charged by the airline. Because the puppy is accompanied by its owner, no transporter is needed and no customs broker is needed. They declare the puppy on arrival and pay GST on its value, so they must have the purchase receipt with them. The paperwork by age does not change, so a puppy under 8 months still needs the health certificate inside its 72-hour window when they land. Confirm the airline's own in-cabin rules first, including carrier size, minimum age, and any breed restrictions.
How does the puppy get from my city to the border?
For the air leg we use Airbound Pets, who ship pets by cargo from one US city to another US city. They do not fly cross-border, which is exactly the split that works here: they cover the domestic US flight to Detroit, Buffalo, or Boston, and we take over at the airport and handle the border ourselves. You can also hand off to a ground transporter, or in some cases we come further into the US to collect.
What does the sale receipt need to say?
Four things: the date, a description of the puppy, the words 'non breeding', and the price paid. The receipt does double duty. It proves the puppy already belongs to the buyer, and it establishes the value that tax is calculated on. Write the real price. If a border officer thinks a value was understated they can ask for proof such as a bank or e-transfer record.
What if my Canadian buyer is a breeder buying breeding stock?
Then it is a commercial import and none of the above applies. CFIA's commercial permit regime covers dogs under 8 months: an import permit, a health certificate within 48 hours rather than 72, and a pre-scheduled CFIA veterinary inspection at the border. Permits are capped at two per year with a maximum of two puppies per permit. A dog 8 months or older follows a different pathway, so confirm that one with CFIA or your broker rather than assuming these rules carry over. Either way, the personal path is not a workaround. Border officers can and do look importers up online, and a kennel presenting a puppy as a family pet does not hold up.
Will the puppy be quarantined when it arrives?
No. Pet dogs imported into Canada are not subject to post-import quarantine, regardless of which country they come from.
Can several puppies from the same litter cross together?
Yes, and it is the cheaper way to do it. Littermates going to different Canadian families can travel on one crossing and one customs entry, then split to separate destinations after the border. Tell us how many puppies and how many drop-offs when you ask for the quote and we will price the trip as one route.
Confirm before you book
Treat this as general information, not legal advice. Requirements change and a border officer always has the final say, which is why we re-confirm them for every trip rather than trusting a page. The authorities:
Related: the buyer's version of this guide · moving a whole litter · cross-border requirements · transport for breeders
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