Leave your hand guns behind. You will have them confiscated and you may be arrested. otherwise they are fairly friendly. Rifles are ok.
Sorry (INCONSISTANCY IS WHAT MAKES THIS DIFFICULT), I had a different experience. The Canadian side took my handgun and held it at the crossing because I was to return in less than 48 hours. If I had stayed longer and used a different crossing to return then they would have forwarded it to that crossing. No paperwork, I just had to UNLOAD it and put it in a plastic bag that they supplied. They ran a check on the serial number - that's it. This may have changed in the high terrorist threat era we are in but that's what happened to me 3 years ago post 9/11. The crossing I used was Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls. NOW, I admitted it upfront and they cautioned me that the NY side may not be as NICE - and they WERE NOT, BUT they did not ask me about firearms on the NY side so I did not tell them. The NY side gave me a @ss chewing about my dog - I had papers but they were a printout from a regular printer with a signature and a business card from the vet stapled to it. NOT GOOD ENOUGH for this guy, he went nuts telling me how backwards Mississippi was and how "dumb did I think he was to believe this paperwork was real?". ANSWER ONLY THE QUESTIONS ASKED is good advice - but firearms are something you should not try to pass over the border with. He just never got around to asking me about guns.
JUST DON'T DO IT, but I never leave my drive without one, sorry it goes way back.
Hi Bob...Re Rabies vaccination.. Dogs have never been every 6 months.... but were yearly until a few years back.. I have never heard of any dogs being taken from anyone BUT there had to have been a reason .. maybe the dogs had bite someone.. if anyone wanted to take our dogs.. we would be turning around and heading back ... don't let our dogs in .. we don't go.
Here's what I found to work best. When you pull up to the booth turn you motor off. Remove sunglasses. Be polite , don't joke with the officer as it strictly business with them. Have all your paperwork , passports , pet shot records and firearms declaration (if you have a long gun with you) in hand to present to them when they ask for it. Don't offer any "unasked for information" answer questions with a simple yes or no.
I'll just say ask a lot of questions long before you plan to cross into Canada. Find out ALL the rules in advance!!
$7,000 worth of pre-paid, no refund fishing trip went down the drain for my daughter and son-in-law. The stated reason??? He had a DUI 9 years ago. They don't check everyone, but when they do there is no other option but to turn around. I'm still pissed and my kids vow to never leave another dollar in Canada or even have a kind word for the place.
Sam
Sam .. Sorry that they lost the money but it works both ways.. Canadians have been turned back for the same reason from the US border... Always, always leave nothing to chance when entering another country...Check and double check the rules and regulations
Our trip into Alberta and BC last year was a joy. No hassles at all, even with our dog (never checked papers). On the way back into the states in Montana, they wanted to know all about our new F250 and one wanted a tour of the AS. She didn't really check out anything, just wanted a peak inside.
Do make sure you have your passport and/or birth certificate. I made the mistake of getting into Canada last February with just a drivers license (idiot concierge at the Hyatt said that was all I needed!!) and was detained in Niagra Falls for 30 minutes.
I can't resist telling this story - I think the statute of limitations is passed.
Almost ten years ago (pre-Airstream) my wife and I flew into Canada to tour Banff for our 10th anniversary. Our vacation plans included a rental car, and several nights spent in secluded rental cabins.
We brought suitcases and two cardboard boxes, taped shut. One box had some camping stuff. The other one had a dozen bottles of very good wine.
The Canadian customs official asked "what's in the boxes?" Without hesitating, my wife blurts out "CAMPING EQUIPMENT". I held my breath waiting to see if he would open them, and if so, which one (or both?). He opened neither. On the other hand, doesn't wine qualify as an essential camping requirement?
Then he asks for our passports - which we hadn't brought. We gave him our driver's licenses and he pouts "We are a sovereign country, you know. You should bring your passports."
To which I mentally (not verbally!) reply, "Really, we thought you were - like - the 51st state - actually we were thinking of trading Massachussets for you!"
I know, I know, very immature of me. But he really was a bit snotty.
Banff was fabulous - highly recommend it.
__________________
Hey, its the only way to be sure!
All of our crossings have been very pleasant. Capnred has the right idea. But be aware about any convictions other than minor traffic violations. You will be turned back.
The only crossing problem we had was on the US side... we didn't know that a couple of good, prime Alberta filets that we had planned for that night's dinner in Glacier were contraband. Mad cow, you know. Still sad about having to throw those into the trash.
When I lived in western NY, I crossed the border scores and scores of times, but that was a long time ago. In this decade Barb and I have been to Canada about 5 or 6 times, not with a trailer. One thing is pretty constant—getting into Canada is pretty easy and the Canadians are almost always friendly. Coming back to the US is usually pretty easy, but there are a higher percentage of nasty US agents (probably former immigration agents; customs agents were always a lot nicer).
In '04 we crossed into New Brunswick from Calais, Maine, and the Canadian border guy started making jokes and we got into jokes together about old rock 'n' roll songs. Then he realized he was supposed to be serious.
In '06 we crossed into Alberta from I-15 and the Canadian woman agent seemed to being trying to prove she was tough. She asked where we were going and I said "Northwest Territories, Yukon and Alaska". She coldly told me to drive over the office. Inside, the guy, who was very friendly, wanted to see all sorts of papers and asked for more information plus whether we had $300 each or a credit card. The last was strange since we were driving a new SUV and he had the registration so I would have assumed that told them we weren't broke. I asked him why we were stopped and he said they assume anyone who is going to Alaska may be dangerous: "A lot of criminals go to Alaska". I didn't know if he was joking or not, though I think there's some truth about that (I think a lot come to Colorado mountain towns too). That took about 25 minutes since they checked us out by faxing copies of our documents somewhere.
Also in '06 as we crossed into Alaska from Yukon Terr. near Haines, after the usual questions from one guy, he said, the other guy wanted to ask us a few questions. My first thought was this was the nasty guy, but he wanted to know about Colorado since he had a offer to transfer here.
When we came back to the lower 48, we crossed into Idaho at a small town. We stopped at the Canadian side to get the forms stamped to get the GST back. On the northbound side of the road, an American who had just passed through the Canadian border station had pulled off the road about 50' afterward, gotten out of his car and was doing strange exercises or some variant of tai chi. The Canadians were watching this as were we. I asked them what they thought about him and one guy said they would probably shoot him. At that time Canadian border guys were not permitted to have guns, so that was part of the joke. So I have found Canadian border guys have a dry humor generally. I think if you are confident and used to crossing the border, humor is ok in some situations, but I don't recommend it for everyone.
I have also heard from people telling me how they were hassled going either way, asked to take everything out of their vehicles and such.
We have crossed the border both ways with a pickup with a tonneau cover and were never asked to open it even though no one could see into it. Occasionally they have asked to look in the back of a SUV crossing into the US, but hardly looked for more than a few seconds. I've never been hassled about food though we have always brought a lot with us. I just tell them what we have and when the list gets long, they stop me and tell me to go. But no potatoes in Newfoundland (we didn't have any). I think generally it's about food for personal consumption vs. to sell.
We haven't been to Canada since '06 and haven't bothered to get passports, but have started to get it done since we may go in '09. I found Canadians were pretty upset that the US govt has acted like Canadians are dangerous and required passports from them. It was easy to cross the border forever and now towns and neighbors and families are being somewhat split. If you have a couple of kids and have to get passports or those cards now, it's a large expense. When I was in school in Buffalo I don't know if I could have afforded a passport. We used to go to Canada a lot (better Chinese food there). I'm not sure what's happening in places were the border goes right through communities, but I would think a lot of casual travel along the border has stopped.
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