Slow Baja - Travel Talk: Dogs In Baja: What You Need To Know With Josiah Roe

Episode Date: July 17, 2026

Big thanks to Baja Bound Insurance for their support, which has allowed me to bring back Travel Talk, my occasional series on travel-related topics. Today’s show is all you need to know about bringing your dog to Baja. We sat down with dog owner and Director of Marketing for Baja Bound Insurance, Josiah Roe, to get the latest information. If you or your friends are bringing a dog North or South across the border, you’ll want to listen to this Travel Talk conversation. Check out the official Mexican Government Secretary of Agriculture PDF list of SENASICA-approved veterinarians who can issue a Screwworm-Free Certificate. Click here for the list.Follow Baja Bound Insurance on Instagram ⁠here.⁠Need Baja Bound Insurance? Get a quote ⁠here⁠.Support Slow Baja with a donation ⁠here.⁠Join a Slow Baja Adventure ⁠here.

Thanks for tuning in to today's Slow Baja. My heaping dose of gratitude goes out to Baja bound insurance. Their generous underwriting has allowed me to bring back the travel talk with Slow Baja series. It's an occasional series where I bring in news you can use or an interview. directly related to travel. Maybe it's about a hotel, maybe it's about a restaurant or a service or someplace that's directly related to travel. So today's show is related to travel, and it's all about traveling with your dogs to Baja. Now, there's been an awful lot of chatter on the internet. There's some changes, the CDC with the screw worm, and, well, we're going to jump into it all.

I've got Josiah Roe from Baja Bound. He also has a dog and has been traveling with his dog, Rona, to Baja for six years. I've been traveling with my dog, Frank, to Baja for a year and a half. I had three puppies on my Slow Baja Vintage Expedition, get adopted in Baja and brought back to the United States. And we're going to talk about a little bit about all of that. So it's a short one if you want to hear about dogs in Baja. and get some updated information on the screw worm virus and all the hype and hoop law surrounding it. Well, stay tuned because it's Josiah Roe on Travel Talk with Slow Baja.

Hi, Frank. What are you doing, buddy? I know. You're such a good dog. You're such a chocolate dog. Rona, I'm not cheating on you. Hey, man. Hey, how's it going?

We did it. Sweating up a storm here in my pearly's possum. sweater. No, you're doing great. You're doing great. It was pretty chilly over in P.B. when I jumped in the FJ40 to come down here. Checks out. And, well, it's nice and warm now. Hey, we are here in Ocean Beach. We're here in Ocean Beach with Josiah from Baja Baja Bound. And I am, there's been so much chatter. So much. On the internet about what you need to know to get your dog to Baja. I thought I would sit down with a guy. who spends all day every day getting the what you need to know is right. Something like that, yeah.

I mean, I'm fortunate to work with a lot of folks who also are obsessed with making sure that everyone who is traveling to and from Mexico understands the rules and regulations as they exist on the ground, which, as you know, with all things, Mexico can be a little bit of a, a little bit of a sort of a permanent state of flux. I think your corporate ethos or, you know, just, my reflections of speaking with Hank recently, being first online, do you guys want to have the information? People are looking to you for the information, and I think your company, Baja, Baja Baja, wants to get it right. So there's been all this chatter about the new screw,

this and that. You can't take your dogs. You're going to get arrested. Holy Toledo, talk me off the ledge, man. I've got to take my dog to Baja. What do I need to know? Well, I mean, in addition to being pet owners ourselves that go to Baja regularly, as soon as there's any sort of chatter about any ruler regulation in Baja or Mexico, we immediately start getting questions directly to us. We see it in Facebook groups on subredits, and we immediately start chatting about it as a team. We contact officials that we have built relationships with over 30 plus years with in customs, Mexican customs, in U.S. U.S. border control and the USDA and various organizations that might have some sort of say or influence. To try to get to the bottom of what the actual changes are, if they're real, how much is gossip? Because as you know, on the Internet, there's so much misinformation that floats around.

But on this issue specifically, there's definitely been some important changes that have happened that a few, about a week ago, they did have a temporary pause on the ability to bring your pets into mechurchase. without a clear veteran or veterinarian's official certificate saying that your dog was screw worm free, but they've since lifted that. So right now there is no prohibition on you being allowed to bring your pet into Mexico. Now that said, at every border crossing, it is always up to the customs agent in Mexico to exercise their authority or discretion on. on what is a good thing to allow to happen in that space. And it's their space. You're in another country once you cross the border.

All enforcement is local in Mexico. Exactly, exactly. Until otherwise proven. It's always a good idea to have some kind of proof of ownership, always a good idea to have some kind of record of vaccinations. It's always a good idea in this particular environment to have something that says your dog is screw worm free, which you can get at any veterinarian around the border,

is an incredibly important thing to be conscientious of, now because it has the potential the screw worm epidemic or outbreak has the potential to be incredibly devastating to the livestock industry in the United States. It won't kill your dog, but it's devastating to livestock. So it's very, very serious, especially when you're going northbound. If you're going northbound with your dog, you don't have to, but hit a vet in Mexico, Get that certificate that says it's screw worm free because if you get checked when you're crossing back into the United States with your pet, you want to be able to show that your dog's not bringing this incredibly harmful creature back into the United States. Now, we'll have some veterinarians in the show notes that can provide this certificate on the Mexican side of the border,

whether that's Mexicali or Rosarito or where you may find these. I've been doing some research. It sounds like some of the veterinarians in Mexico or not. staffed up or geared up for this. So it might be an afternoon's excitement for you. Yeah. I mean, I was able to get one when I had to fly out of Tijuana a few months ago, an hour before my flight was boarding. They were in there. They had her in and out, fully written up, cleaned or cleared her, and it was great. There you go. So in the past to travel with your United States pet into Mexico and bring your U.S. pet back to the United

States. There was an online form to fill out that asked for some veterinary information and all that. And it was a form that went for every, you needed to renew every six months. Frank, you're going away? All right, take off, buddy. Getting too warm for you here. Oh, it's getting toasted. What you have to say about that? Frank. All right, Frank's going to go.

Here at Little Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruiser south of the border. When we go, we'll be going with Baja Bound Insurance. Their website's fast and easy to use. Check them out at Bajabound.com. That's Bajabound.com, serving Mexico travelers since 1994. So in the past, to bring your pet from the United States on your Mexican vacation via car, you needed to go online and fill out a form. There was some veterinarian information needed about the health of your dog, et cetera, et cetera.

I found in practice, now this is the, this is the, this is the, the experiential portion, in my humble opinion, year and a half of taking Frank to Baja, nobody on either side of the border cared at all about any paperwork or that I was traveling with a dog. Now, there is some chatter on sites like Talk Baja that you can get a ticket if you're driving through Mexicali with an unrestrained dog. And I love Talk Baja for all the things that have gone wrong in all the opinions of all the people who were the perps in that in those infractions and how they deserve that for not having this or that or what have used but i have never experienced any of that and going north with my dog for the last year and a half i have not experienced any

um anything on the united states side asking for any paperwork now i bring digital files of all that i haven't gone through um printing things out i have as rabies to have to have to have to with me and of course I have all the records from the vet on my phone but I do not have them printed out I'm not presenting them anybody and nobody on either side of the border is asking us what my experience has been you've had Rona back and forth across the border for about six years yeah what's your experience been on traveling by vehicle absolutely no questions anything ever on either side now flying by plane I I think any of us who've flown in and out of Mexico or Baja have recognized that it's a little bit more structured.

Like you get your FMM as you're landing and they're just a little bit more. So there, they definitely, to be able to board and force those restrictions. And your idea of keeping a digital copy is really good. I don't actually keep the printed one. I take photos of it and I have it in a folder with Rona's name on it with all of her relevant paperwork so I can show it. And that has worked both going into the United States and coming back into Mexico with her. I was able to just show that. And that worked fine.

Nobody ever asked for a printed one. But I did make sure when we flew to also get that screw worm certificate. And this was back after they had removed that requirement. And so I still got it just to be extra careful. Like it still took an hour and a half out of my day. It was worth it to have it. I actually do care about the issue as something that is potentially very, very serious and something that is going to affect the livestock and cattle economy in the United States. But anyway, industry.

Well, to circle it all back. We will have a list of veterinarians to the best of our ability in the show notes. Take a look. And if you are bringing your U.S. pet back to the United States border, swing into a veterinarian, get that screw worm certificate, bring it across. Now, there's probably not going to be any enforcement, but better safe than sorry, I believe, is the way I've always ruled in Baja. I've always bought insurance. I've always followed the rules. That's the way I do it.

Your mileage may vary, but I think right now there is a loophole carve-out, whatnot on. You can bring your pets back and forth. Let's be good citizens. Get that screw-off certificate. Yeah, whether you're going to Rocky Point to Tijuana, it's a good idea. Okay. I think we did it. Awesome.

Got anything else to say? No, that's it. Enjoy Baja, enjoy the summer. It's beautiful down there. Fishing's great. Surfing's been awesome. And I do want to thank Baja Bound for their support. We've got a new series coming out here of news that you need to use.

They're not a long, flowery podcast, but it's just a quick information, stuff that's in the news, stuff you need to know. And I thank Josiah Rowe for making a little time for me today before he travels so we can talk about this important issue about. screw worms in dogs in Baja. Yeah, and let us know in the comments what things you want information about. We love responding to the community's needs for the news and the real brass tax information. We do our best to get it.

They are my go-to source, and it's news you can use on Slow Baja. So thanks again to Baja about. All right, we did it. Hey, well, I hope you enjoyed that brief podcast. Travel Talk with Slow Baja. Yeah, it's back. It is back. I hope to bring you an occasional show on news you can use

or tell you about a place that I just stayed in or an restaurant I ate in or a service that you need to know about or a punga captain that's really cool. Anyways, thanks to Baja Bound for making that happen, bringing that series back. I appreciate their underwriting 20 years with Baja Bound. 20 years. I started back in 2006 with them. Amazing.

All right, well, if you like what I'm doing, please, please, please, drop a taco in the tank. Go to slowbaha.com. Click that donation link. Pick out the number of tacos you're going to send. Is it one? Is it five? Or you're sending in a whole tray of tacos?

Because you know, I need them. Dang, I need them. But I get it. If you don't have tacos or if you have tacos, you're not going to. to share them. Please do me a solid. Go on to Apple or Spotify, drop a five-star review, say something nice because that helps people find the show and that is always, always helpful and it doesn't cost anything. So drop some tacos in the tank or or and or drop a five-star review on Apple or or Spotify, say something nice and I really appreciate it. Okay, I'm going to close up.

with Mary McGee. Mary McGee, Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame. When I reached out to her, she didn't even know what a podcast was. Pretty soon she does podcast, and off-road Motorsports Hall of Fame reaches out, fast-tracks her into the hall. She gets a ESPN 30-for-30 documentary. It gets a New York Times obituary. Amazing, amazing, amazing stuff that happened to Mary McGee at the end of her life. And I was happy to know her and have a small party. and all that. All right, well, she had a friend. That's right, Steve McQueen, who invited her to go out to the desert and ride motorcycles. And Mary said, ooh, and get dirty, Steve? And Steve said, yeah, come on out.

Me and the Eakin boys, we're going to ride. And she did. Anyways, well, you know, Steve loved Baja. He said, you know, Mary, Baja's life. Anything that happens before or after. Just waiting.