Preparing for Hawaii

Eleven years in Washington!! Who would have thought that the military would still send us to other posts! We realized that it does not matter how many years my husband has left in the military, years in JBLM, a secure job, a nice house for 7 years and excellent school district for kids. I was very excited to move to Hawaii but at the same time I did not want to leave our home but it wasn't really a choice-- I didn't want to break up our family because of a job and a house.

My husband broke this news to us last July of 2010, while he was in Iraq. At first our decision was he was going to Hawaii by himself since he was going to deploy a month after he supposedly arrived. A couple of months after that, we found out that he wasn't deploying, so we made a decision as a family to stick together no matter what. I had to tell my boss different dates of my last day of work since the Army lost his documents. From January to February then finally Apr. 8. When it was set, we had to make decisions on what to do with our 130-lb-dog and our house.

Remodeled Home

Our house in WA -- we remodeled it before we left to change it to a rental property.

Shipping out Thor-thor

Shipping Thor was a lot of phone calls and internet research. It took me 2 weeks to finally get it done. Hawaii has a very strict rule when it comes to pet entry into the island. The state is a rabies-free state and they would like to keep it that way.

To get an accurate info, please visit their website: http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/ai/aqs/info. Since our decision was last minute - less than 30 days before our departure, we had no choice but to quarantine him in Oahu. Our initial plan was to send him to Alabama to stay with Keith's parents but the thought of being away from our dog, our big baby and our guardian was more than I could bear.

The following are the steps that we went through before his departure: (note: there are other options, please check with quarantine office in Oahu, they are very helpful)

1. Ensure that your dog has rabies shots and the third one should be 30 days within/prior to his arrival to the state.
2. Get all the shots and treatments just to be sure.
3. Go to their website and choose a vet from their list and register him.
4. Go to their website and print out the Dog and Cat Import Form. Fill it out then have it notarized and mail it 10 days prior to pet's arrival.
5. Call the quarantine to make sure that they have the paperwork so they know the arrival time and date of your dog.

Thor was very upset with us when we dropped him off at the cargo airplane. He wouldn't look at us or lick our hand- he thought we abandoned him.