Andy, various friends and I took shotguns into Canada (Quebec) for duck hunting over a period of 10 years. Entry paperwork for guns is a piece of cake; you download the customs form off the internet and fill it out completely (make multiple copies). The official document is form RCMP Non-Resident Firearms Declaration. you present the completed form to the customs officer assigned and he/she checks you through.
Most often when we crossed the border the customs official would go to our vehicle and visually verify each gun on the list, sometimes IDing them physically, other times by actual serial number. They are very thorough and methodical and very efficient; after our third trip I began keeping a log of how much time it took us to clear customs each trip; our longest event was c. 40 minutes. (This for 3 people and 7 guns). Having everything filled out correctly and completely beforehand is a huge plus and the only way to go.
Coming back into the US, I don't ever remember US customs physically inspecting our guns, but each time they reviewed our forms carefully. They verified our total ducks brought back, and these were always cleaned and tagged per the usual regs.
We never took dogs into Canada so I can't speak to the vagaries of that exercise, but I assume proof of current vaccinations would be of major concern.
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