A dog waiting in an airline travel crate on an airport apron at dawn

01 — one pet, one route, one departure date

Your flight is booked. Your dog is not cleared yet.

Argos turns the world’s scattered animal-import rules into one dated, sourced Timeline, counted backwards from the day you leave. Every line carries the official page it came from and the date we read it. If a route cannot be cleared in time, that is the first thing we say.

See a Dossier↓

The free Route Check opens on this page. Nothing here charges you or signs you up.

route

United States → Portugal

pet

Dog, 31 kg

departure

4 November 2026

remaining

70 days

02 — the problem

The rules are public. The order they happen in is not.

Moving a dog or cat across a border looks like paperwork. It is an information problem. The requirements are sequenced — a rabies titer test carries a mandatory three-month wait, and it is void if the microchip went in after the vaccination. Miss the order and the chain collapses. Nobody publishes the order against a real date.

where the rules currently live

USDA APHIS export pages
CDC dog-import rules
EU TRACES
National agriculture ministries
Embassy PDFs
Per-airline pet rules
Approved ports of entry
Rabies titer waiting periods
Screwworm inspections
Breed and snub-nose bans
Quarantine reservations

Free official pages, forum threads

Authoritative or friendly. Never route-specific, never dated, never counted backwards from a booked flight.

one appointment

Ask your veterinarian

You get a veterinarian's slice. Most veterinarians are not trained in the export systems that clear an animal.

$2,000–$6,000

A relocation firm or shipper

It works. It also prices out most people who are moving, and you were always going to drive to the vet yourself.

A general chatbot will answer confidently and cite nothing. On this route that is a dog turned back at the border, an emergency rebooking, or 28 days of quarantine.

03 — the Dossier

The most valuable thing Argos can say is “not this flight”.

Below is a specimen Dossier for one dog leaving the United States for Portugal. It is a worked example, not a live document — but it is the shape of the object we sell.

specimen — not a live Dossier

Dossier — Nero, dog, United States to Portugal

departure 4 November 2026
issued 26 August 2026

BLOCKER

Not possible on 4 November 2026. The rabies titer test needs a three-month wait after the blood draw. The sample had to be drawn by 4 August 2026.

earliest workable departure

26 November 2026

Requirements found

Blockers

Timeline — counted back from 4 November 2026

01
Rabies titer blood draw, three-month wait before entry
USDA APHIS, read 26 August 2026
by 4 August 2026
22 days ago
02
Microchip, ISO 11784/11785, before the rabies vaccination
European Commission, read 26 August 2026
done 3 February 2026
03
Rabies vaccination, given after the microchip, still current
European Commission, read 26 August 2026
done 17 February 2026
04
TAP Air Portugal pet booking confirmed on the same flight
TAP Air Portugal, read 26 August 2026
by 21 October 2026
in 56 days
05
EU animal health certificate issued by your veterinarian
European Commission, read 26 August 2026
by 25 October 2026
within 10 days of entry
06
USDA endorsement of the health certificate
USDA APHIS Veterinary Export, read 26 August 2026
by 28 October 2026
in 63 days
07
Arrive at an approved port of entry, Lisbon
Direção-Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária, read 26 August 2026
on 4 November 2026
departure day

A “not possible” verdict is never a dead stop. It ends on the earliest date that works.

04 — how it works

Verdict in under two minutes.

No account, no email wall, no quiz. Five fields on one screen, with dog and “no transit” already chosen. The Route Check is free and stays free.

01
You give us five things
Dog or cat. Origin. Destination. Any transit stops. Your departure date.
02
We read the official Sources, live
Not a cached summary. The agriculture ministry, the customs page, the airline's own pet rules, today.
03
The Route Check returns a verdict, free
Possible. Possible, but tight. Or not possible on your date — and the earliest date that is.
04
The Dossier is the plan itself
$149. The dated Timeline, every line cited, your forms, the Vet Brief, the Arrival Check.

what you watch while the Route Check runs

Reading USDA APHIS export requirements, Portugal…

Reading Direção-Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária, entry of dogs…

Reading TAP Air Portugal, animals in the hold…

Verdict ready. 7 Requirements found, 1 Blocker.

05 — one object, one price

$149, once, for the whole move.

One Dossier covers one pet, one route and one departure date. No tiers, no add-ons, no urgency timer. A second animal is a second Dossier, sharing the same route research.

Full refund if a rule we cited is wrong.

Timeline

Every Requirement in dated order, counted back from your departure date.

Sources

Each Requirement cited to the official page it came from, with the date we read it.

Forms

The forms your route needs, with your pet's details already filled in.

Vet Brief

One sheet you hand your veterinarian. It states what to sign, and when.

Arrival Check

What has to happen on landing day, and in the 30 days after it.

Watch

Twelve months of email alerts if a cited rule on your route changes, and a free re-issue.

A cat in a mesh airline carrier on an empty terminal floor at night

06 — the line we hold

We will not guess.

Every line is cited, with a date

A Requirement without an official Source and the date we read it does not go in the Dossier.

Dogs and cats only

Other species need rules we do not research yet. A wrong answer there is worse than no answer.

If a Source will not load, we stop

We say what failed and we charge nothing. An uncited line is not a cheaper Dossier, it is a worse one.

The route corpus compounds

Every Dossier makes the next move on that corridor faster, and every rule change becomes a dated alert.

A booked flight, a living animal, and no way to know.

Argos is being built now. The free Route Check opens on this page. Nothing here collects your details — if you want to come back, take the link.

read the specimen again