Last summer was our first summer with a new dog. As we do every year, I take my kids to Canada for a month and then we do something inEurope for a week or two…we live in London. This time hubby stayed home with the dog for most of the time and we put her and the cat in a kennel for about two weeks when he joined us.
Next summer we’re thinking of taking the dog with us to Canada…renting a cottage for a month and maybe travelling to the States for a bit. My dad can look after her while we do that. ( I hope!)
My question is how well do dogs recover from air travel? The flight would be maximum 8 hours each way. I wouldn’t feel bad about a one-off…if we were moving from one country to another but is it unfair to a dog to make air travel a regular thing? As long as I use a reputable pet transport service do I need to worry abut her health or safety?
I would never fly a dog unless I had a charter plane or something where doggy could be in the passenger area with me. Otherwise, they put the dog in the cargo area, and if you look around on the Internet, there’s TONS of stories about dogs dying because it’s too hot/too cold, dogs getting lost by luggage handlers, etc. etc.
It’s a huge risk for snub nosed dogs (boxers, boston terriers etc) and less of one for most other breeds but I would definitely investigate the safety records of the airline before making your decision.
You might not actually have the option, many airlines have simply stopped transporting pets due to the risks and liability.
I think you’d have trouble bringing him home again. There’s this thing called rabies in North America, and Europe* really* doesn’t want it. It’s been several years, but the last I checked canines leaving NA and entering the EU were required to spend 6 months in isolation.
That said, if you buy the dog a ticket so the carrier can go in the passenger cabin it’s no problem. If you send them cargo then horrible things can happen. Don’t do it.
I help people every week take their pets by plane, both in the cabin and in the hold. The vast majority do fine.
The particulars for your pet depend on your pet. Very anxious pets, pets who have chronic issues like heart disease, or very old pets are not awesome candidates, particularly for short trips where they will likely spend most of their time in the hotel anyway. If you are traveling during extremes local temperatures, then don’t take the pet (you aren’t, but I’ve had people who want to fly their large shaggy dog from Seattle to Phoenix in the height of summer).
Younger to middle aged pets, pets who are not anxious, or pets who really do poorly in a kennel are better candidates.
TruCelt also makes a really good point: Getting back into London with your dog after being abroad is very difficult. I haven’t looked at the particulars in a while, so there may be an exception for “visitor” pets who are only out of GB for a short time. If not, there’s something like a 6 month time frame to get all the paperwork and testing sorted.
Pooch will be pretty uncomfortable and most likely stressed for eight hours crated. If you dog is small enough you may find some airlines will allow it in a crate in the passenger section. Don’t know about trans-atlantic carriers, but last time I checked, Swiss from London City to Geneva allowed dogs under 8kg to be carried on board in a crate.
I would never fly with my dogs unless absolutely necessary (like I was moving overseas). They are too large to be carry-on and I have heard too many stories about animals being harmed during flight or on the tarmac.
What are the requirements so that the dog doesn’t have to go into quarantine when you return to the UK?
I wouldn’t be concerned about the dog’s recovery after an uneventful flight, provided they were an easy-going animal. I would, however, be concerned about the potential for problems. I don’t think I would rest easy the whole time.
I think Pullet pretty well covered it. I’ve flown dogs three times (all foster dogs) but just within the US and the dogs were healthy and not really prone to stress. They were pretty much unfazed by the ordeal although I imagine they didn’t find it exactly fun. Although one was a blind terrier foster who found a “forever” home in Tenessee, and I happened to know someone here in Michigan with a private plane AND a second home in TN…so that little blind dog pretty much flew first class.
My own personal dogs…I don’t think I’d fly them that distance and with that many possible complications for a vacation. Not unless the dog was small enough to travel in the cabin with me. I’d be a nervous wreck during the flights for sure!
IMO, and what I would do- and have done, is either board the dog with a friend or relative, or find a really good boarding facility that has “doggie day care” so my dogs get plenty of stimulation and play and interaction.
As long as you jump through the bureaucratic hoops with respect to vaccinations etc quarantine rules are waived for EU and other qualifying countries, Canada included. Getting the dog back into the UK is not really an issue.
I had heard lots of horror stories over the years about pets on airplanes but was wondering what the more recent experiences were like. My dog is a labradoodle so too big for an on board carrier. I was hoping that with the recent trend of bringing small dogs and cats on board, travel with pets was becoming more commonplace and that conditions below decks had improved and it had become an easy thing to do.
It does seem frivolous to bring the dog all that way. We do have a terrific farm in Surrey where we’ve sent her before and she loves it. But we have been mulling over the idea of purchasing a holiday home in Canada so we would have a base of our own to go to as our parents become older. No one can afford to visit us here so we’re always going there and after 9 years, I’m getting pretty tired of hotels. It seems a shame to leave the dog behind for so long when she could be playing on the beach in Nova Scotia… I don’t think the cat would care…
It sounds like the potential for something to go wrong is still very real and I would feel terrible if the dog were harmed in any way. sigh
The US is exempt from the 6 month quarantine, but there’s a significant process involved.
Your pet must be microchipped, and then vaccinated AFTER the microchipping, then receive a vet’s official certificate of the microchipping and vaccination, then wait 21 days, then treated for worms within 5 days of travel, then travel – in cargo – only on an approved carrier via an approved route.
It looks like you can just barely fit the requirements into a month.
And it isn’t clear from any of the links I found whether a UK-origin pet can do anything to avoid the more time-consuming requirements on return. (for example, can you complete the requirements other than the worming before departure from the UK?)
Man, I am jealous of your life. I’m going home next month to visit for the first time in 7 years, and I’m not going out of country. Do you mind me asking what you do for a living and how I can get into that field?
hee…the farm’s not ours…it’s just a good kennel where the dog seems to really like to go. We are fortunate to be able to travel back and forth a fair bit but now with the dog I don’t like leaving her for so long.
When I was in the US I flew with my golden at the time from NY to Minnesota as time was of essense. Doggy was perfectly fine. We drove back (and had a blast, that dog absolutely -loved- driving around). I also used to work for a couple of airlines (inflight crew - based in New York & Hong Kong), and we never had any problems with dogs that flew as cargo, although the airlines were fairly strict at not letting dogs fly during the summer or to very hot locations; I’d definitely check your airlines’ homepage for more details. Some airlines are not part of the UK’s pet travel scheme (see below).
I’m also living in London at the moment, but we’re in the midst of preparing to move to Tokyo, so we’re actually just now looking at this very issue (albeit not the ‘and bring doggy back to UK from oveseas’ bit).
Depending on your dog’s breed / age / temperment, as far as the air travel itself your dog should be perfectly fine. Canada recognizes the UK as being ‘rabies free’, so according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency:
The UK launched a new Pet Travel Schemein January of 2012 that shoujdl cover the ‘rabies certificatio’:
The Pet Travel Scheme documentation is a bit of a hassle, although you probably already have your doggy microchipped:
Not sure I’d jump through all the hoops just for a few weeks, especially if the dog is well-looked after while you’re gone, but I wouldn’t be overly concerned about any problems for the dog from the flight itself (again, depends on breed, temperment etc)
For the microchipping / vaccination requirement, could those be done prior to leaving the UK? Or are rabies vaccinations not even available there (because of the rabies-free status)? If so, that would (guessing based on the requirements others have cited) meet the rabies portion of the requirement. And you could find a local vet to administer the tapeworm treatment while in Canada.
That said, I probably wouldn’t submit her to this kind of travel.
Personally, I think I would risk it with a dog like that when you’re going away for so long. That is a long time for a dog to be without its family. Obviously you could only do it when the airlines are prepared to take dogs as cargo, so that might make it impossible anyway.
That can all be done in the UK and really isn’t that much hassle. You’d want your dog vaccinated against rabies when travelling abroad anyway, and most dogs now are microchipped when they’re tiny.
I recently brought my cat with me from the US to the UK – she didn’t have to be quarantined due to the new schemes a poster above mentioned, but getting her medical paperwork, proof of vaccination, and microchipping sorted not only required a lot of precision timing (getting the approval from the USDA was a bit hair raising), but the cost was through the roof. I can’t imagine going through all of that just for a holiday (and considering that the same cat is sat next to me at the moment constantly biting me on the hand, I regret I just didn’t let her swim over :mad:).
The Pet Passport scheme isn’t on offer between the US and the UK (I believe it’s between the UK and EU countries only), so you’d have several different schemes to contend with. You’d spend most of your holiday sorting out your dog’s paperwork, alas.
If you were just going to the Continent, however, the Pet Passport is an excellent scheme. The hassle comes into play if you’re going out to the States and back. I used a pet travel agent because the paperwork must be absolutely correct and filled in properly, or you will have to start the process again – even with the vet (and you need to find a vet familiar with the USDA’s regulations for shipping animals), the pet travel agent, and my partner looking over the paperwork to make sure everything was properly signed, dated, and cross-referenced, we were horrified to get to Heathrow and discover that a typo between the rabies certificate and the general health certificate (two numbers in a long string transposed) almost meant that The Beans was to be sent either back to the States or put into the 6 month quarantine.
So take doggie to the Continent, but let him/her go on his or her own holiday if you cross the sea
(As for ill effects – the Beans was fine when she came off the plane. I think Mr Magnet expected to receive a shit ‘n’ piss besplattered kennel when she was returned to me, but she was quiet and happy, and quiet on the ride back to the house. She flew BA – which is expensive, by the way; you do go through their World Cargo as they don’t allow pets in the cabin – and she was well treated along the way. I flew out of Philly, and you can see the BA plane at gate A27, and watch them load it. I saw them bring her to the plane in a dedicated vehicle, and someone sat with her until they’d put the ramp onto the back end of the plane to hand carry her onboard; the guy sat with her was obviously playing and talking to her until his mate came to carry here on board. Here she is, boarding the plane:
BA puts pets in a pressurised section of the cargo bay. Considering the fat little fucker can hear me silently open a small bottle of Cats’ Milk in the kitchen even though she’s over in the neighbour’s garden, I’d say her hearing is unaffected.
Bear in mind some airlines will not fly pets during the warmest part of the year.)
