LISTEN TO THE EPISODE:
APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY | GOOGLE PODCASTS
Having a Dog in Guatemala: Vets, Daycares and More
Believe it or not, Guatemala is a nice place to have a dog, it is packed with everything you need to have a good well-cared dog here. I have been living here for a long time now, and I have two dogs as members of our family. Today we’re going to be talking about having a dog in Guatemala, I’ll let you know how are the vets here, daycares, and more useful tips.
Breeders vs. Street Dogs in Guatemala
There are a million rescue dogs out there. If you guys really want a breeder, there are definitely breeders. Make sure you go with a good breeder because there are also a lot of crappy breeders. But this is an international thing. So if you want to get a street dog, you could obviously pick up any. There are tons. Unfortunately, Guatemala does not care about their street dogs, and there are many street dogs that are right there for you to just take and give a loving, beautiful home to.
Dog Rescue Organizations
There are also a lot of rescue dog organizations that you could work with. And at this point, they’ve already done the Neutering, the Castrating, the Vaccinating. But if you are going to go with these rescue dog organizations, please give them a donation because they do care. They put a lot of their own money into taking care of these dogs. So understand that and please do that.
Veterinarians in Guatemala
The vets here are phenomenal, and they are very well priced. A lot of the vets here speak English. They are fantastic.
They give the best care. If you do not have a car and your animal is sick, they could come to pick them up, they could bring them back. They have these beautiful hospitals, and it’s anywhere that you live, pretty much. Obviously, I know mainly in Antigua, but I know that Guatemala has fantastic veterinarian care as well. Very well priced.
Vaccines and Neutered
I mean, we have two dogs in Guatemala, all vaccinated. You do need to get your dogs vaccinated, please, because there is distemper, there is rabies here, and there are a lot of them that can’t get sick. So please make sure you have your dogs vaccinated. So I’ve had both of our dogs, Vaccinated and Neutered.
Prices
Again, if you go with the best, which we went with a perfect veterinarian that we really love, it was like $200 to castrate and neuter our dogs.
So that is definitely something you need to look at. There are different prices, and if you go with a rescue dog organization, they could have the dog neutered for you at a very low price because they get the bulk rates. So you do need to do a little bit of your homework for that.
Daycares and Dog Hotels
Now let’s say you usually travel with your dogs, but you can’t take your dog with you. So there are fantastic daycares and doggy hotels here.
We have been with Chucho Feliz, which is in Antigua. Since the day our dogs came into our lives, we’ve been working with them. But not only that, the owner, Mayo, is also a trainer. She’s a fantastic trainer.
Dog Trainers and Walkers
If you can afford to train your dogs, we’re talking like $12 an hour to train your dogs, and they give you packages. So you could have six-week packages. This is one on one or group sessions. I really recommend that. There’s also you could post on Facebook and good groups for people that will doggy sit and walk your dog if you are not going to be around. So there are many other options as well. But owning a dog in Guatemala is amazing.
Is Guatemala Dog Friendly?
Almost every restaurant permits you to take your dog with you there so that you could hang out with them. A very abundant amount of dog-friendly places.
So you could take your dog everywhere. They are like kids here. So that’s a beautiful thing. There are no dog parks that I know of as of today at all. But you could pretty much take your dog to any park or any place that you go. So that is a huge deal if you do want to travel with your dog. There are restrictions per country, so make sure that you find out what those restrictions are. But you can definitely travel with your dog pretty much anywhere.
Conclusion
If you guys have any questions about having a dog in Guatemala, I am happy to help. As I said, I have two dogs, and we have trained them in doggie care.
We’ve done all the medical stuff. One of my dogs had a massive medical issue. She had to be hospitalized for almost a week. They took amazing care of her, everything. And that cost me $500 for all of that.
Then we also had one of my dogs who needed to have surgery on her as well. And that was also $500. It was pretty major surgery. So you could understand the prices here are not that high, and it was phenomenal care.
How to subscribe?
If you subscribe to my podcast you’ll be the first one to know when a new podcast is up!
Did you enjoy the podcast? Leave a Review!
Leave a review on Apple Podcast! They are one of THE most important factors for podcasts, and it’s super easy to do:
- Click on “View in iTunes” on the left-hand side under the picture.
- Leave an honest review.
- Thanks, you’re super!
