Hello everyone, I have a question... There's a possibility I will be moving abroad and will need to travel by plane (aprx 10 hour flight)...my question is, has anyone travelled by plane with their dog?? How did it work out?? What needed to be done?? I am totally stressing hoping Bella will be ok!
I think it all depends where you are now, and where you are traveling to; whether there is a stop-over involved or not, or big changes of temperature, or special requirements regarding vaccinations, quarantine etc. @Dexter has flown with her dog and can probably give you the best information.
Thanks! My destination is Canada. I'm going to try for a direct flight as to make it as less difficult as possible for her.
My friend flew her dog from the UK to NZ a few years ago. That's 24 hours flight time, plus stop overs. Then the dog had to spend 8 days in quarantine once she arrived here! It cost her a small fortune, but her Lab seemed to take it all in her stride. Angela's posts about her experiences prepping Dexter to fly (and then the subsequent flight) were really interesting, they're well worth reading.
I have indeed done lots of traveling with my pup (over 40 flights) but am very fortunate that he could fly in cabin with me as he was an assistance dog. It's a bit trickier when they need to go into the hold. I think @Dexter is our Forum specialist on that! A tip that I've passed on before here, however, is that a good friend of mine flew her three dogs from Paris to San Francisco and used a pet transport agency and absolutely swears by them. It was a commercial flight, but the agency apparently made sure all paperwork was in order and made sure the dogs were well-cared for up until the were loaded on the plane and then getting them out of the hold and back to my friend at the other end of the journey. Also certain airlines have better reputations than others with the care they take with pets in the hold. Looking around online can be truly frightening, so I'm not sure I really want to recommend it, but there are a lot of sites where people share their experiences on pet airline travel if you want to do that. Otherwise, some things to keep in mind in addition to the choice of airline are to carefully choose the time of year and time of day (not too hot, too cold), avoid any un-necessary plane changes, fly in the same plane as your dog and let the captain know there is a live dog in the hold, don't give your dog any sedatives, make sure you have the correct crate for the voyage, ID both on your dog and on the crate, etc. Finally, as @Karen said, a huge amount depends on where you are going to and coming from in terms of conditions, travel docs, quarantine, etc. It is amazingly easy to fly within the EU or between the US and the EU if your dog has an EU Pet Passport. Other places can be really complicated. A few years ago I was offered a job to work an event in South Africa for three days and after a lot of research had to turn it down because it was simply too complicated for my dog Brogan to get cleared by customs. He could get on the plane, but not off! The best thing to do is to look directly on the government website of the country you are going to - this is usually overseen either by customs or by the agriculture agency of each country. There are lots of websites that say they give you all the information on traveling with your dog and laws, but they are generally useless because laws change quickly and these sites don't. Plus most are really just trying to sell you expensive yet minimally helpful services for customs paperwork which you can easily do yourself for free. So first step, find the government site of the country you are going to, read and download every bit of info you can and if you are unclear on anything, email them. Keep a paper (email) trail of everything...it will be very important if there is any snafu down the line. I can't stress that enough as it saved my bacon several times - you get to the airport or land somewhere and all the sudden, according to the person meeting your plane, you don't have the right documents or right to land. If you can pull out a sheath of documentation from the airline and/or agricultural officials it can be invaluable. And finally it may be very worthwhile - especially if you don't speak the language of the country you are going to - to enlist a legitimate agency such as my friend used. Also do some research on what doggie illnesses that exist in the new country you are going to that do not exist where you are now. This is not to scare you, just so you know. For example, Germans completely freak out over heart worm as it doesn't exist there, but for me (as a Californian) monthly heart worm tablets are just par for the course. Spain has all sorts of weird things that I would have never knew about before coming here with Brogan. But you just get educated and then can deal with what's out there. And while it shouldn't be a problem for a Lab (my dog was a Rottie), be aware of the laws concerning dogs. Is insurance mandatory? Can authorities seize your dog for any reason? Leash/muzzle laws? Do you need to register her with local authorities or pay a special tax? Another thing - there are different microchip standards in different countries, so make sure that Bella's chip is readable where you are going. Brogan had two chips for this reason - one on the left for the US, one on his right for the EU. Technology may have improved to where this isn't an issue anymore, but just to be aware. I know I just threw a ton of info at you, but it will all come together if you just work through one issue at a time. The bottom line is that it's very worth it as you'll be keeping Bella safe and with you on your adventure in a new country!
Thanks so much for the replies everyone! @Emily_BabbelHund do you think it is possible to find the name of the pet transportation agency your friend used? I am going from Greece to Canada.
I just sent you a private message with the reply from my friend. I had a look at their website after I sent you the PM and it does look like they only specialise in transport from France, but perhaps if they can't help you from Greece, they can recommend someone else who can. The good thing about Canada being your destination seems like they would have lots of good online info (in English). And of course no worries about breed restrictions on a Labrador going to Canada...Bella should have lots of Labrador company upon arrival.
Hi there, Sorry I've not been around this last couple of days... Dexter had to fly UK to Dubai as a 5 month old when he came to us and then last Summer we decided to take him back for a couple of months to escape the heat. I was really nervous about it ,despite being reassured by so many people that he would be ok,I worried that he would Be on high alert the whole time and exhausted when he got there.....He wasn't ,he was absolutely fine. What I would say though is you can't do too much preparation to get Bella comfortable with her travel crate.I had my in the lounge for about 3 months before we flew probably excessive,but that's me! I'll do the same again this year though too.Dexter had his meals in there ,his mid morning Kong and we scattered surprise treats in there for him to find when he was mooching around.He sleeps on our bed usually but I shut him in and made him sleep in there for a week before he travelled.The agents at both ends remarked how good he was in the crate...on the return journey ,he just went in and settled down straight away ,ignoring all the banging and crashing noise of the cargo terminal around him....I honestly believe that was because he was so comfortable with his crate. Best of luck,I'll say don't worry but you will ( I still will this year ) but honestLy they cope really well x
Omg that makes me feel so much better! Bella has a crate that she sleeps in and stays in if we leave the house..she seems fine with it so I'm hoping a travel crate wont be too bad!
