Choosing Your First Nomad Base with a Dog: 4 Crucial Factors

When I left New York I picked Mexico City off a short list, and most of what made it a good first base came down to Mochi. If you're choosing a first country with a dog, here's how I'd weigh it now.

The Entry Rules Come First

Before anything else, find out how hard it is to get your dog into the country at all. This is the one thing that can rule a place out completely. Some countries wave a healthy dog through on a current rabies certificate. Others require a blood test with a waiting period of months before you're allowed to fly. A few still quarantine dogs on arrival.

Mexico was on the easy end when I brought Mochi in, which is part of why it worked as a first stop. I could decide to go and be on a plane within a couple of weeks. I wouldn't make somewhere with a long titer-test wait or a quarantine my first country, while I was still learning the rest of this. These rules change, so confirm the current ones on the destination's official import pages before you commit. How to read those pages is in pet import rules for nomads.

Vets You Can Reach

You want a vet within walking distance and somewhere you can get to at night if you have to. In Mexico City both were easy and cheap. In a couple of smaller towns I've stayed in since, the nearest clinic was an hour's drive, which changes how you feel every time the dog seems off.

Before I commit to a city now, I search for vets in the actual neighborhood I'm looking at and check whether anything is open late. A place with one vet who closes at five is a different kind of base than a city with twenty.

Finding a Place That Takes Dogs

How easy it is to rent with a dog swings the whole month. In some cities half the listings welcome dogs; in others you'll message twenty hosts to get two yeses. Bigger cities used to long-stay renters and remote workers tend to be easier on this.

I check it before I arrive by filtering listings for pet-friendly and seeing how many are left. If the number is small, I already know the search is going to eat my first week.

Somewhere You Can Both Walk

A dog needs to get out two or three times a day, and that's far easier in a place with parks and sidewalks than one built around cars. Mexico City had green space every few blocks, so Mochi got a proper walk every morning without either of us going near a car.

When I've stayed somewhere more spread out, the walks turned into a chore, and it showed in his mood and in mine. I pay attention to this now in a way I didn't at the start.

Your Side of It

The usual remote-work questions still apply on top of all this: whether you can legally stay long enough, whether the wifi holds up for work, whether you can afford the place. I weigh those a little lighter now. Mochi's side of it tends to decide where we land, and the rest follows. The full version of my own setup is in the main guide.

Where I'd Start

If I were doing it again with a new dog, I'd start somewhere with easy entry, plenty of vets, and a walkable center. Mexico City worked. Lisbon would have too. I'd leave the harder places — islands, anywhere with quarantine or a long blood-test wait — until I had a few moves behind me and knew the routine cold. The first country is the one you learn everything else in, so it helps to pick an easy one.

For how that first stop actually plays out week by week, I wrote it up in our first month abroad with a dog. And the entry rules, the part worth getting right before you book anything, are in pet import rules for nomads.