Borders

We spent two weeks in July travelling to North Dakota (for my research), then to Winnipeg to visit family, back to Wisconsin to a cabin on the lake etc. All in all, we crossed the border four times. The first and worst crossing was at Sarnia. The border guard detained us for almost 8 min. with a zillion questions. We had our dog with us, all of his papers were in order as were our passports. Here we are, middle aged retired folks, Canadian citizens since birth, as were our parents, travelling with our dog. How much of a threat are we?!!!

Because we didn't have any camping or trailer equipment, she inquired as to where we were staying. The general answer, in motels/cabins wasn't good enough, we had to specify 'pet friendly' and then name the places! Thank goodness I had my travel binder on my lap and could verify day by day where we were! She looked in the trunk, through the cooler and attempted to move a few tightly packed bags. No booze or cigarettes at all. Water and ice tea only.

She asked us about the dog's food....was it in it's original packaging? (No, we buy in bulk and put in the required amount into a ziploc bag). WRONG answer! She chewed us out about that. Then she asked where the dog food was made. (Toronto). Well, that was wrong too. If we are travelling with dog food, it has to be made in the USA.

By now, her line is very long and the others are going past quite quickly. I guess she noticed this. So, she said she was going to be nice to us and not have us report to customs, even though we really should have our trunk emptied. Thank you!!!!

When we crossed at International Falls, the guard saw the dog and brought out a cookie for him. Asked about the breed (Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier), asked where we were headed, didn't even take the passports out of our hands and said to have a good vacation! What a difference! However, that initial crossing experience left us quite intimidated for the future crossings.

We have crossed the border many times with our dog, in past years. Never an issue!

Big difference in agents.

I was told they can listen to conversations within vehicles 5 or 6 back from the gate. Not this applies here, but it seems interesting all the same.

SZQ, nice to see you back. I was wondering where you were. Anyway, I have crossed both borders and found that female border officers are worse wherever you go and I am a woman. We never have any problems with the male officers regardless of going or coming. I laugh every time the guys ask Dale and I how we know each other. What is with that? A few weeks ago the guy asked my girlfriend how she knew me. On the way over to the casino last week Dale had his trunk taken apart at the Rainbow Bridge. They are very leery of people crossing by themselves for some reason but Dale is always prepared for lots of questions, etc. when crossing by himself. No problems coming back just going over. I can't say all female officers are dreadful because I have had my share of very nice ones but also my share of dreadful ones.

One time when crossing at the Rainbow Bridge on our way to a car show with five other antique cars, we were asked how we knew the people in the old cars ahead of us! Well, let's see, which one of the ten people do you mean? I agree...silly question. You could make up any answer!!
Interesting about Dale crossing alone and that being suspicious. I would think business people would do that all the time!
Regarding male vs female guards, some of the females have given us a bit of grief and none of the males!
Regarding conversations, that's very true. When travelling with our car club, we have walkie talkies and we pick up conversations from other places, so if we can hear that, the guards can hear too.
I'm glad that it isn't 'a breeze' to cross over if passports, papers and goods aren't in order. Nice to know there's some security!

I think they take turns to decide who has to be the A hole that day. I have had a few bad ones and a lot of good ones. You have to do a bunch of reading to figure out what answers are good and which are not. The Dog food one gets a lot of people.

What is it about dry dog kibble that causes concern?

Only time we've ever had a problem is in Sarnia. 2 years ago we were almost 2 and half hours crossing over. They were only letting as many cars as could be in their line up over the bridge at one time. There was NO cars or truck on the bridge and they had guards posted if you tryed to stop on the bridge. As far back as you could see were cars and transport trucks. (No bathrooms either). I guess what had happened is someone tryed to buy a lot of cell phones at a Wal-Mart the night before and were reported and when the car was stopped the trunk was full of cell phones. They were on the way to the Mackinaw Bridge and it was reported that they were going to blow it up. On the way home 3 days later no problem crossing. What I find interesting is that this only happens at the Canadian crossings! I guess there no problem crossing in from Mexico to the states.

I think the kibble is a concern because it has meats and vegetables in it neither of which are allowed across the border.
They are not always that fussy but they can be. It does seem like a silly rule but some people think that seatbelt laws are as well.

I checked out the Border Crossing Information on line. "Only US made food in original package can be brought into the US. Only small amounts of pet food in original packaging with proof of origin can be brought into Canada."
So, now we know. Our dog, Riley has crossed the border about a dozen times, eleven without incident. However, in the future, I will buy a small bag of food and transport it for the next time we cross the border.

That's a bummer for all the Canadian students living this side of the border attending Teachers College in Buffalo, who carry a lunch over every day.

My daughter attended Teacher's College over there this year and didn't have any problems going in or coming out with or without food from here. She took her lunch just about every time she went across to school. She has a sticker on her car that said what college she was attending plus other papers to prove that she was a student. I can tell you those girls brought back more booze than I ever would. I'd say they each brought a bottle back every week and were only there one night a week. My daughter declared everything she brought back including the booze and never had to go and pay any duty. All she was ever told was "you girls know you aren't supposed to bring any booze back after only one night" and they always let them go.

My daughter has to show her lunch many times (or asked about it) going over near the end of her year.

A useful site to check on border wait times.

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/general/times/menu-e.html