Bad, Bad Start in Malta. Bad Start. Bad!

This blog-post will describe a dark chapter in my (Pompe’s) life. In fact, it will describe THE darkest chapter in my life. So, if you are reading my usually cheerful puppy blog to get in a good mood, stop reading right now! Or at least skip this post and move on to any of my other blog posts.

Unfortunately, this story needs be told, so here we go. Are you ready? (Doggy sigh)

After we had arrived in Malta, I had a happy reunion with my mama at the luggage-claim area of the airport. But the joy was just short lived, because there was also a man with a big nose in the luggage-claim area who looked very strict and demanded to see my passport.

Mama handed the man my passport and he flipped through it. Mama and the big-nosed officer talked for a while. It turned out that my French Veterinary had forgotten to stamp my passport with the stamp that shows that I have gotten the vaccination for worms.

When we lived in France a few months ago, the Vet gave me a worm-vaccination pill in his clinic and then gave mama a package with more pills. He instructed her to give me two pills every 3 months, which she diligently did. So big-nose was right, the stamp in my passport was missing.

My mama showed big-nose the package of anti-worm pills that she had brought for me all the way to Malta, but it didn’t please him. Then mama told big-nose that she has no intentions whatsoever to take the dog-worm pills herself. The only reason she had them in her luggage was because she intended to use them for their intended purpose, to give them to me, her dog.

But nothing pleased big-nose, he told us in a strict voice that I need to be kept in quarantine until tomorrow.

Mama was shocked, but also exhausted from the long travel. Because the officer was right in that there was no stamp in my passport, she didn’t put up a fight and accepted the decision to put me in quarantine for a few hours.

What did I think about this? To be honest, I didn’t understand what was going on, but trust me, I was soon to learn!

Big-nose drove me and mama to a quarantine place that was on a crappy piece of land close to the airport. There, they shoved an anti-worm pill in my mouth and put me in a small cage!

Ok, to be fair, I have been trapped in small cages before. The cage I must stay in when mama drives a car in Sweden is about half as big as the quarantine cage, but still!

Probably the worst thing about the quarantine was that other dogs barked constantly all day and all night. I couldn’t sleep, and I kept wondering if my mama would ever come back to rescue me from this horrible place!

Luckily for me, mama arrived in a taxi 18 hours after she had left me off. I could tell she was irritated and upset.

Apparently, mama had fretted around Sliema in a desperate attempt to get a check for 26.45 Euro, which was the necessary payment for my release. Mama has never owned a checkbook as the Swedes stopped using checks in the 1980’s, so getting her hands on a Maltese check was a big deal for her.

Mama also learned the hard way that the Maltese banks close at 1 pm. To cut a dramatic episode short, a big-hearted local man finally came to mama’s and my rescue by persuading his (reluctant) wife to write a check in exchange for cash.

But mama’s struggle didn’t end there, oh no, we are not at the end of this drama yet! The gentlemen at the quarantine didn’t think it was necessary to inform the dog-owners what the address of the quarantine was, so that dog-owners knew where to pick up their beloved pets. Mama had to exhaust herself once again in order to even find the quarantine in this foreign country.

But there was a happy ending to this story. Finally, mama arrived in a taxi and rescued me from the horrible quarantine. Freedom at last! On to new adventures in Malta!

This episode put a mark on me. Learn how in the post Kebab Therapy for Pompe.

If you want to know more about traveling with a dog in Malta, visit the page Plan a Trip – Malta. In the post mama covers what activities you can do with your dog, whether dogs are welcome in public transportation system or not etc.

#VisitMalta #Customs #Pompe #TravellerDog #TravelWithDog