Transporting A Puppy Interstate

[Baileys mum]

I have a litter of puppies expected to be born in Mid April (Vet confrmed pregnancy on Tuesday & we saw 6 pups )

I have had alot of interest for this litter & I already have a quite a long waiting list of potential owners here in Victoria.

I got a lovely call from a potential owner this morning, we chatted for about 2 hours & they sound like they could provide a perfect home for one of my babies. The only catch is that they live in Innisfail Nth QLD.

This is only my 2nd litter & with my last litter all my puppies went to perfect homes here in victoria, with all the owners picking them up from my home.

So this would be the first time that I have had to put one of my babies on a plane & the thought of it makes me nervous....but at the same time, these people seem great & I would really like them to have one of my puppies.

I was just wondering what other peoples experiences have been transporting pets interstate, especially puppies.

Can I transport the pup at 8 weeks old or is it better to wait until they are a couple of weeks older?

Is it better to book door to door service? Or would taking the puppy to the airport myself be better.

What is the best company to use? I have looked at the Jetpets website & Dogtainers, but haven't got a clue which one is better.

What price would we be looking at payin?.These people are quite happy for me to do all the travel arrangements & put the costs in the puppy price, they have even offered another $50.00 for my trouble & the cost of posting my puppy pack up to them, so they are very reasonable.

Thanks guys I'm probably making a big fuss over nothing, but seeing this will be my first time of sending one of my babies interstate, any Info & advice would be really appreciated.

Edited March 17, 2011 by Baileys mum

[Sandra777]

I've sent a few pups interstate and never had an issue until the last one when Dogtainers managed to not make the booking despite having the credit card details and having confirmation from both me and the new owner of the date and flight needed. Worked out in the end but the new owner ended up having to pay for a puppy crate they didn't want and an extra $20 freight bill.

The pups have always arrived perfectly happily and well. I tend to send them closer to 9 weeks than 8 weeks but don't know this makes a huge difference really.

BUT! I haven't flown one in Australia anywhere they've needed to change flights. Did do so in NZ and never had an issue, but the temperature usually isn't an additional worry over there!

I have always taken the pup to the airport myself but we're not far (about 1/2 an hour) and it's really very simple - but if you're hours away it may well be a different issue.

[Paptacular!]

Portia was flown to Darwin from Melbourne (with a short stop in Sydney) with Jetpets. She was 4 months old.

At least one of my current litter will be travelling interstate and personally I am waiting until 10 weeks to send him. I feel that this gives him time to get over his vacc at 8 weeks and grow up a little bit more.

I haven't started making enquiries with the transport companies yet, so I suppose I should start now in terms of getting quotes etc.

[whiskedaway]

Halo arrived via plane from Melbourne on Australia Day and she was almost 9 weeks old. We went with a member on here's company (Wayrod) and we were extremely pleased with the service. Our breeder dropped her off to the airport in Melbourne and we picked her up from the airport in Adelaide.

[Baileys mum]

Portia was flown to Darwin from Melbourne (with a short stop in Sydney) with Jetpets. She was 4 months old.

At least one of my current litter will be travelling interstate and personally I am waiting until 10 weeks to send him. I feel that this gives him time to get over his vacc at 8 weeks and grow up a little bit more.

I haven't started making enquiries with the transport companies yet, so I suppose I should start now in terms of getting quotes etc.

That's a good point you make about the vaccination, I think I will probably wait an extra couple of weeks to let the pup get over the vaccination & grow up a little more.

[Baileys mum]

I was also wondering what time of the day is best to put a puppy on a flight, would a morning flight be better?

[Sandra777]

That's a good point you make about the vaccination, I think I will probably wait an extra couple of weeks to let the pup get over the vaccination & grow up a little more.

Be careful about running in to the first fear period.

[Baileys mum]

That's a good point you make about the vaccination, I think I will probably wait an extra couple of weeks to let the pup get over the vaccination & grow up a little more.

Be careful about running in to the first fear period.

That's a good point too Sandra, maybe 9 weeks then.

[SparkyTansy]

All my pups have come from interstate to Perth with no ill effects. First pup was 8 weeks, and the other two were 9 weeks when flown.

[Gayle.]

Dusty came to me from SA at 8 weeks with JetPets. Her flight cost about $135. She wasn't fazed at all by the flight, the fuss or being collected by strangers.

I recently had Shae flown to me from WA. I emailed both JetPets and Dogtainers for a quote. JetPets got back to me the following day, I'm still waiting for Dogtainers to email me their quote.

Shae came as a rescue dog from a registered rescue organisation and her flight was $305. The standard price (non-rescue) was about $380. Shae is not a puppy, she is 5 years old. When we collected her, she was very shaky and nervous........but whether that was because of the flight, the strangers or just that she doesn't cope well in those situations, I'll never know.

She recovered very quickly though.

I have found JetPets to be easy to deal with, fuss-free and very professional. I have no idea about Dogtainers, quote must have got lost in the mail.

[Baileys mum]

Dusty came to me from SA at 8 weeks with JetPets. Her flight cost about $135. She wasn't fazed at all by the flight, the fuss or being collected by strangers.

I recently had Shae flown to me from WA. I emailed both JetPets and Dogtainers for a quote. JetPets got back to me the following day, I'm still waiting for Dogtainers to email me their quote.

Shae came as a rescue dog from a registered rescue organisation and her flight was $305. The standard price (non-rescue) was about $380. Shae is not a puppy, she is 5 years old. When we collected her, she was very shaky and nervous........but whether that was because of the flight, the strangers or just that she doesn't cope well in those situations, I'll never know.

She recovered very quickly though.

I have found JetPets to be easy to deal with, fuss-free and very professional. I have no idea about Dogtainers, quote must have got lost in the mail.

Thanks Gaylek, I might actually look into Jetpets, & see if they can give me a quote, it won't be for another 3 months anyway...so I have plenty of time to organise it.

[Ons]

sweet little Wagga, litter mate to my Latte flew all the way to Vancouver, Canada, two weeks ago. She was just four months old. Survived the journey, survived the fact she is now running in snow and freezing cold. Flew her with Dogtainers, went from Tamworth, to quarantine one night in Sydney then to Canada.

My little kitten at 13 weeks flew from Brisbane to Tamworth via Sydney and was fine.

[Gayle.]

I was also wondering what time of the day is best to put a puppy on a flight, would a morning flight be better?

Depends on the time of year, the other party and the flights.

Dusty was put on the plane in Adelaide at midday and we collected her at around 2pm. I was on holidays so that worked out for us as I didn't need to take time off work. When Shae came, we arranged for her to go on a flight that would arrive in Melbourne at about 6.30pm on a Thursday, as I couldn't take a whole day off to collect her, but had 3 hours flex time up my sleeve, and an RDO on the Friday. So using my flex time, I finished work at 2pm, went home and got organised, drove to Melbourne and arrived at the airport at about 6pm, had dinner there, collected the dog and came home by 9.30pm. Then had 3 days to settle her in.

That worked perfectly for all of us, because an earlier flight from Perth would have meant a very early wake up for the person putting her on the plane and I didn't want them to be put out more than necessary. And I wanted her to arrive on a day when I'd have multiple days off work to settle her, not just throw her in the back yard with the other dogs and go back to work the next day.

[Miranda]

I flew a 9 week old puppy from Melbourne to Rockhampton in December. I used All Creatures Air Road and the cost was $245.00. There were no problems.

[whiskedaway]

I was also wondering what time of the day is best to put a puppy on a flight, would a morning flight be better?

Halo got into Adelaide just before 4pm with no adverse effects. She left Melbourne at about 2:30 from memory, and it was warmer - about 28C I think. She was drooling, but even now she still drools in the car because she gets car sick.

Cost us about $80 to fly from Melbourne to Adelaide, was shocked at how cheap it was.

Edited March 17, 2011 by whiskedaway

[Bundyburger]

My boy flew from Tassie to Melbourne, smack on 8wks 16 months ago. He and his sister survived the 2.5hr delay really well, and just bounced out of their crate. He got his 8wk vac the day after he came home. I'm not really sure why people have problems with sending them on the plane at 8wks.. surely if it was that bad for them the airlines would say they couldn't fly till they're older? Each to their own though, but I'd just want my dog home sooner!

[Sandra777]

Bundy's mum - you will find there are moves afoot to make the minimum age for flying 12 weeks, which is stupid because of the fear period factors but doesn't surprise me as I've always thought that those people who want to make out they care about our dogs more than we do don't know squat about dogs at all.....

Edited March 17, 2011 by Sandra777

[Baileys mum]

Bundy's mum - you will find there are moves afoot to make the minimum age for flying 12 weeks, which is stupid because of the fear period factors but doesn't surprise me as I've always thought that those people who want to make out they care about our dogs more than we do don't know squat about dogs at all.....

Wow 12 weeks is going a little too far, I would really want the puppy to start bonding with his new family before that age.

[Baileys mum]

How long is a flight to cairns from Melbourne?...I'm guessing it would be about 5 hours.

I would Probably be best to put the pup on mid morning flight to enable the puppy arrive in the afternoon.

[lappiemum]

I was also wondering what time of the day is best to put a puppy on a flight, would a morning flight be better?

Halo got into Adelaide just before 4pm with no adverse effects. She left Melbourne at about 2:30 from memory, and it was warmer - about 28C I think. She was drooling, but even now she still drools in the car because she gets car sick.

Cost us about $80 to fly from Melbourne to Adelaide, was shocked at how cheap it was.

With my last litter we flew little Halo to Adelaide for whiskedaway and Thor to Lobostar in Perth using Wayrod - he was very good and takes a lot of care with the transport organisation - can certainly recommend him.

I'd fly from 9 - 12 weeks - any later than that and you may hit a fear period. I'd probably do 10 weeks next time (although the litter wasn't far off it).

Oh, the flight from Melb to Adel was just the flight, we had a crate on loan from another DOL friend here (who also used Wayrod). However, we purchased a new crate for the flight to WA. Regardless of who you go through, I would recommend that you purchase a new crate for the puppy - I don't know how stringent some of the companies are in disinfecting their rental crates, and the last thing you want is for a healthy puppy to leave you but arrive at its destination with parvo or something else nasty.