Flying A Pooch Ahead - Vancouver -sydney

[Madge]

Hello all,

I am an Australian living in Canada until September 2010. Early next year I am picking up a Vizsla pup from a breeder in BC and I am so excited and can't wait to meet him. As my visa expires September 2010 I will need to be out of Canada, which is ok for me as I want to head back to Oz. By this point I will have been overseas for nearly 2 and a half years, so I'll be ready. I've been reading a lot about flying dogs and how it works. What I'm wondering is this, is there a service that will transport your dog without you, or must the dog travel at the same time? What I am thinking is sending my boy ahead by a month and then meeting him at the other end after he has spent his month in quarantine. Any one have any thoughts on this, who does it, would it work? Any advice and experience would be really helpful. Sorry it's so far off, it's just I have been working out what I'm doing for the next few years, and my future dog is an important consideration. Cheers

[Gomez the Norfolk]

Hi Madge, definitely possible - when we left London for Melbourne we shipped Gomez a week ahead, he was collected by quarantine and then held there for 30 days -

You would not be allowed to collect him at the airport in Oz anyway, AQIS does it all..

Look for a pet transport company, I don't know any in Canada, but a Google search will reveal all - The transport company will also be able to help you with the reams of paperwork required, plus advise you on what vaccines to give and which not to give, etc... They will be able to reserve your spot in quarantine, etc...

There is a pinned topic on this board about flying your dog and what to do and what not to do...

When we left Sydney a few weeks ago for the US we flew on the same flight with Gomez, but even so, a pet transport company collected him from us the day before and placed him on the plane - no quarantine on this end, so we had to fly together to collect him here.

We used Dogtainers from Sydney to New York, if you can't find anything, maybe contact them and see who they suggest you use form Canad to Oz.

[Madge]

Hi Gomez,

Thank you for your help, I did read through that topic and remember reading about your shipping experience. Do you think it would be possible to do it a month out? A main reason for this is that I don't actually come from Sydney. So I would be having to make a separate trip back to pick up my boy, and basically it would be great to just land and be able to go and pick him up and take him home. I'm also looking at going to India on my way back, so it would be a great overlap to kill that month without him and be in India then pick him up from quarantine once I arrive back in Oz.

It's entirely possible that I fly out of the US rather than Canada, so if you could recommend Dogtainers then I would certainly look at planning my exit this way. Any other advice/thoughts on the matter?

[Gomez the Norfolk]

Hi Madge,

You certainly could do it a month ahead, however, consider that pooch might get a bit lonely and could benefit from a few visits in quarantine from you, unless you can arrange for a friend/family to visit...

When we shipped from US to UK we used a US based transport company - Dogtainers is based in Oz. You want an agent based in the country you are shipping from.

[Madge]

Cheers Gomez. Yeah, I might overlap it so it's two weeks of waiting for my boy to be released instead. 30 days is such a long time to be separated. I mean, I'm talking about my future dog here, but I know we'll be tight

[Rysup]

You just have to make sure all the health tests needed line up correctly, so that they pass the tests and can go to quarentine in the required time frame, if that makes any sense.