Overseas Move With Dog Involved

[blakkjackal]

Here is the new one. A lot better I think.

[Missymoo]

No you can not send food.

Hey Sway, I did, I asked and then taped it in bags to the top of vary kennel!

Mine went via London to Finland, and the spent the night in a run in London :)

A lot of paperwork and mucking around though.

ie crate, they need to be able to stand up fully (no crouching) and turn around.

Edited May 10, 2014 by Missymoo

[blakkjackal]

We are going to Finland too. However my dog will go via Singapore as that was the easiest and shortest route; luckily we're leaving in winter so it shouldn't be quite as bad temperature wise.. There's going to be am overnight stopover in Sydney and then 6 hours in a dog run type thing in Singapore.

[jacobite]

We are in the process of moving from here to France and taking 6 Deerhounds with us, (wouldn't move anywhere without my dogs), we are using Jetpets and couldn't wish for a better service. They will pick the dogs up here in Melbourne and arrange for them to be delivered to our new address in France, this includes dealing with all the paperwork at CDG. Have used Jetpets before for exports and found there service to be excellent, wouldn't use anyone else.

[blakkjackal]

Alright, we've been here almost a month now and the dog is absolutely loving it. However the flight experience itself was pretty horrendous and I wish never to do it again. The poor thing must've been scared absolutely shitless during transit and the crate + him were covered in pee upon arrival. He was cowering in the corner and hardly recognised me at first.. I have always considered him to be a very stable tempered dog and before this he has handled all sorts of situations really well, including loud noises and crowds etc. but this must've been quite different since someone had written "vicious dog, will bite, do not open" on his crate. And we're talking about a very, very human friendly dog. They also misplaced my good lead, I sent it off with him but it was nowhere to be found once I went to pick him up. There was also some confusion about flight times and the agent was unable to book him on the intended date which meant an extra day at a boarding facility since we were already travelling then.. The whole thing is something I don't want to experience again to be honest.

[howdoesitgetbetter]

I sent two dogs from Melb to Denmark last week with jetpets. I supplied my own vari kennel. They went Melb to Dubai, had a 22 hour stop over and were placed in a dog run for the stop over. They were then crated up again and flew to Copenhagen. From the time they left me 9.30am Wed, they arrived Sat 1am. I dont think I could cope doing it again.

My beautiful beagle Chester is a "frequent world traveler". He was born in Mexico where I lived at that time and since Australia doesn't allow direct import from Mexico I had to first take him to another country and stay for more than 6 months before he was allowed into Australia. Because I lived in Japan before I decided to take my Chester from Mexico to Japan first and after 8 months from Japan to Australia. My entire life & work had to be re-arrange because of all the regulations required by Japan. It took me 2 years (!!!) before Japan allowed Chester to come (mistake by the vet, vaccination and lab tests) to Australia. Yes, I was prepared to do whatever it takes.

The flight from Mexico to Japan got delayed due to weather (snow storm) and my Chester was without water for 23 hours. Chester was on the same flight, same plane with me but in the cargo area in his cage. The entire flight I was sending him telepathically all my love so he knows I am not far away and he will be OK. Upon arrival in Tokyo he didn't recognize me due to extreme dehydration but I was just overjoyed that he survived. I cried from happiness and was very proud of him. Japanese quarantine people were kind and all the documents were already prepared so it only took 10 minutes and Chester was released from his cage. Long before we even arrived in Tokyo I was in frequent e-mail contact with the Japanese quarantine to make sure all the paperwork is in order.

Then while we were staying in Japan we experienced March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the Australian government was assisting all Australians with leaving Japan but they couldn't help me and my dog because of the regulations (6 months minimum). I cannot even describe how stressful it was. And so we ended up staying in Japan 8 months in total before Chester was allowed to come to Australia and the procedures, applications, vaccinations, laboratory tests it took over 2 months...an absolute nightmare. Luckily Chester passed all tests and we finally obtained approval from the Australian authorities. Again, Chester was flying on the same plane with me (Japan Airlines) in the cargo area but when we arrived in Sydney the quarantine people picked him up and I only could visit him the next day.

Therefore I didn't even know if he survived the flight! So very very stressful!

Now regulations changed but in 2011 he had to stay in the quarantine in Sydney for 30 days and I was allowed only 2 visits per week (2 hours inside the kennel) and 2 groomings per week (30 minutes each). I promised myself I will never ever go through this. Due to my work, I have to leave for Japan in April 2015 and of course Chester is coming with me. Then in June 2015 I am taking him from Japan to Europe.

[howdoesitgetbetter]

A 5 year old bitch I bred flew to Canada, west coast, via Hawaii and then onto Newfoundland to be with her owners who were working their for a year.

What pet transport company did you use?

Thank you.

[howdoesitgetbetter]

Alright, we've been here almost a month now and the dog is absolutely loving it. However the flight experience itself was pretty horrendous and I wish never to do it again. The poor thing must've been scared absolutely shitless during transit and the crate + him were covered in pee upon arrival. He was cowering in the corner and hardly recognised me at first.. I have always considered him to be a very stable tempered dog and before this he has handled all sorts of situations really well, including loud noises and crowds etc. but this must've been quite different since someone had written "vicious dog, will bite, do not open" on his crate. And we're talking about a very, very human friendly dog. They also misplaced my good lead, I sent it off with him but it was nowhere to be found once I went to pick him up. There was also some confusion about flight times and the agent was unable to book him on the intended date which meant an extra day at a boarding facility since we were already travelling then.. The whole thing is something I don't want to experience again to be honest.

Does it mean you would not recommend using Dogtainers?

[blakkjackal]

I don't really think it was the agent's fault (albeit there was some sloppiness in schedules etc. that got a bit annoying because we wanted to work our schedule around the dog's but that didn't happen as we didn't find out about most of the stuff until pretty much the last minute). Not sure if using a different company would've made much of a difference in the actual travel experience. I guess moving a dog over such a long distance without you being able to accompany them is hard to get right for anyone.

/Oh, and the Finnish Customs people were an absolute joke and it took me 1,5 hours to clear the dog with all the paperwork correct and readily presented. But that has nothing to do with the travel company, just another frustrating thing.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Black_jackal

[JRG]

1.5 hours is nothing - took me 4+ hours to clear a couple of pups though Melbourne from New Zealand!

[blakkjackal]

I didn't expect it to be fast but I had to point out all the bits they needed and practically tell them what to do half the time, tragicomic.. Worst was when the clerk said that she's never really done this before so please excuse her while she learns. Never again!

[howdoesitgetbetter]

I don't really think it was the agent's fault (albeit there was some sloppiness in schedules etc. Oh, and the Finnish Customs people were an absolute joke and it took me 1,5 hours to clear the dog with all the paperwork correct and readily presented. But that has nothing to do with the travel company, just another frustrating thing.

Thank you soooo much for replying. I greatly appreciate it.

It took me 10 minutes to clear my dog in Tokyo after arriving from Mexico City so I guess it should be about the same when I will be taking him back to Tokyo from Brisbane in this upcoming April. I will do more research on the transport people and ask around here in Queensland.

All the best to you and your dog. :D

[aussielover]

We took our Aussie Shepherd to the UK and back to Australia a few years ago. I think we used jetpets for the trip over and a UK company which I can't remember (I can look it up for you if you want) on the way back.

There were no problems with either trip and we were happy with the service both times. Our dog had minimal crate training- she had been to a few dogs shows with her breeder as a pup but that's all- hadn't been crated for years after. But she was a laid back dog and around 7 when she went over and 9 when she came back.

She did not appear to be stressed when she arrived. As others have mentioned she was quite thirsty but that's all. I think they are allowed water in the crate but obviously if they knock it over or something no one checks on them regularly. I don;t think she was let out of the crate for the whole trip (around 24 hours). She had a very large wooden crate with shredded paper. They must have washed her or something before we collected her because there was no faeces or urine in her coat.

I think my current dog- a labrador, would also be fine, as she is crate trained and used to a lot of travel.

I would have some concerns about a brachy breed though. I would speak to the transport company to see what measures they had in place to keep them cool and stress free.

[howdoesitgetbetter]

We took our Aussie Shepherd to the UK and back to Australia a few years ago. I think we used jetpets for the trip over and a UK company which I can't remember (I can look it up for you if you want) on the way back. There were no problems with either trip and we were happy with the service both times.

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. That's so comforting to know about JetPets. For my beagle Chester it will be bit easier because we will fly only 9 hours direct flight from Brisbane to Tokyo and stay there for couple of months before we continue on to Europe.