Dont put your puppy in a cargo hold!!!

FoxyWench

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#21
i think it also depends on the airline, i will ONLY ever reccomend continental to anyone, they temp control their cargo for animals onbaord, and are wonderfull,
ive had too many wonderfull experiences over the past 6 yrs with continental i cant honestly say i dont trust them, other airlines however i woudlnt think about shipping live animals with.

continental at least do take wonderfull care of the animals onboard.
 
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RedyreRottweilers

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#22
Pitbulliest, I ALWAYS insure the dog I am shipping for at least 10K. You can do this when you are checking in. It costs very little only a few dollars. You can bet this makes a difference in how YOUR precious cargo is handled.

You can also observe the cargo being loaded, either from the terminal bldg or from inside the aircraft.

It is good to advise the crew, even tho they may already know from the manifest, that you have a dog in the cargo bin.
 

Herschel

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#23
Boat. :)

Good questions about the international/long distance travel, I was wondering if there was a decent way of transporting. Herschel is small enough (barely) to fly on board with us so we haven't had any problems yet.
 

pitbulliest

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#24
that's great. So they don't usually object if you ask to see them loading cargo?

Another question: How much does it usually cost to travel with your pet via air? I mean..for example, if you are travelling from the U.S to Europe.. how much does the pet's airfare/cargo boarding/insurance etc cost altogether?
 

J's crew

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#25
Out of curiosity... how would you then go about transporting a large or even medium sized dog then?
I know I certainly could not bring either of my dogs as a carry on if I had to fly somewhere.
The carrier required for a 50 to 60lbs dog is much larger then what you could bring as a carry on so how would you work around that?
I have no personal experience but there are companies that offer ground transport with a caretaker provided to be with the dog at all times. Cost quite a bit more but worth it IMO.

I have had to transport medium and large dogs before and I either have the person adopting the dog fly out to get them and they rent a car to drive back or twice I have made the trip myself via car. It is also amazing to see rescue workers that will coordinate transport cross country.

I refuse to ship a puppy via plane from out of country. Insurance is great, but the dogs life and humane treatment is worth more to me than any risk.
 

bubbatd

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#26
I've only had to fly one puppy , and the new owner and I were more traumatized than the pup ! I stayed with him until he was loaded and at the airport until he was airborne . It was only an hour flight and he bounded out and hadn't even peed or potted . I would never ship during questionable weather or with change of flights . I'm sure there aren't many animals on flights , so I wish the cages could be loaded with passengers !
 
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Bobsk8

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#28
Hi I am new to this forum. I just got a puppy and started doing some research and found this website. Glad to be here!!

I would like the administrator to sticky one part of my post if they would.

I am an airline pilot, and I see abuse on a DAILY basis at work. Animals left in crates in the extreme cold and heat are pretty bad, but what I have seen in the past several years makes me sick.

You see, it gets COLD in the cargo compartment. It is pressurized, but we don't turn on the heat back there unless the ground personnel let us know that there is an animal being shipped. I can't tell you how many times I have flown a 2-3 hour flight only to find a shivering puppy or kitten that I didn't know about. I have started to run the heat on EVERY flight, but very few pilots do this.

Also, rampers sometimes leave puppies/kittens within feet of a howling APU (Auxiliary generator) That can produce as much as 150 decibels. Imagine being that puppy in pain from the noise. It would be a life altering event for them!! Especially as sensitive as their hearing is!!!!

I have tried in vain to advise MY company and ground personnel, but trust me THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR DOG/CAT. As long as your pet LIVES then it is acceptable to them.

I am POWERLESS to do anything so I am starting a campaign. Please help!! Call your local I-team TV investigators, they love this stuff. The FAA doesn't care, the airlines don't care 20/20 doesn't care. Please call them and ask them to do a story.

And most of all. DO NOT EVER, EVER SHIP YOUR PETS IN A CRATE. THEY COULD BE TRAUMATIZED FOR LIFE!! Make alternative plans for your pet. Carry them on board, drive or leave them at home.
What aircraft do you fly?
 

SharkyX

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#29
Well what about some of those companies who specialize in animal transport.
Just very quickly going to google I put in animal transport and came up with a few like this
http://www.animalsaway.com/

I don't know anything about it, just the first link I found... but how do companies like these go about moving animals, does anybody know?
 

Scooter

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#31
I'm so glad you posted this. My husband and I are going to Guatemala for a week and were considering taking our puppy with us. I had concerns about the cargo hold, and this confirms them. We'll be leaving her at doggy camp here at home.
 

Doberluv

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#32
Thank you for posting this valuable info. I'll see if it can be stickied. Appreciate your care and concern. I wish more people shared that.
 

MafiaPrincess

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#33
It's really a non choice matter for many people to fly animals. It's not just a gee, I'll drive those extra few hours. It is far more cruel to drive from Ontario to NC to go get my puppy, and then make it sit in the car the entire way back. That is Multiple really long drives.

It's nice that you care how animals are treated, but your post is written in a scare tactic manner that will likely needlessly freak people out. I'm sure some not so great things happen, but that's no reason to say pets should never ever be flown.
 
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RedyreRottweilers

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#34
I have shipped dogs multiple times with zero issues.

I agree that the original post was written in a manner to frighten people away from shipping their dogs.

A crate trained dog will travel JUST FINE in the cargo hold of an aircraft as long as it is not so hot outside that it's dangerous.

I find it hard to believe that people would make decisions on the basis on one post by some unknown person on a message board.

There are plenty of places on the net to research air travel with pets, how to prepare your dog and your crate for safe travel, and what the fees/costs are.
 

J's crew

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#35
I have shipped dogs multiple times with zero issues.

I agree that the original post was written in a manner to frighten people away from shipping their dogs.

A crate trained dog will travel JUST FINE in the cargo hold of an aircraft as long as it is not so hot outside that it's dangerous.

I find it hard to believe that people would make decisions on the basis on one post by some unknown person on a message board.

There are plenty of places on the net to research air travel with pets, how to prepare your dog and your crate for safe travel, and what the fees/costs are.

This is not the first time I have heard horror stories about dogs being flown in cargo. I believe a few years back there was video documentation of what really happens on 20/20 or a similar show. They recorded temp. changes, noise, etc....

I am sure the majority of the time everything goes great. But, if there is a 1% chance that something will go wrong, why risk it?

ETA: Of course you can't keep your dog from any and all dangers but there are very few people I trust to care for my dogs.......complete strangers are never the one's I trust. ;)
 
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RedyreRottweilers

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#36
This is not the first time I have heard horror stories about dogs being flown in cargo. I believe a few years back there was video documentation of what really happens on 20/20 or a similar show. They recorded temp. changes, noise, etc....

I am sure the majority of the time everything goes great. But, if there is a 1% chance that something will go wrong, why risk it?

ETA: Of course you can't keep your dog from any and all dangers but there are very few people I trust to care for my dogs.......complete strangers are never the one's I trust. ;)
Life equals risk. Getting up in the morning probably carries a greater than a 1% risk. :D

I choose not to live my life in fear, but to educate myself on the pros and cons, and the relative risks, of activities and behaviors.

Shipping a dog by air I do not feel is an appreciable risk to the health and safety of my dog if it is approached in a sensible manner.

:D

JMO as always.

Carry on. :)
 
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#37
I think this really serves to put us on alert to perform our due diligence before putting animals on a flight. Often, just the fact that we care enough to ask questions can cause others to be more careful :)
 

Aussie Red

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#38
My stepson is a pilot for SWA. He told me that what poster said is true and more and that he would never fly his guys. I had never given thought to this as I assumed that airlines would take as much care for them as human passengers.
A good point he made to me is that people are people and not all love your pet.
so bad things do happen daily. He gave me some stories about what he personally has seen and that not all pets arrive safe and unharmed and it is from the improper handling of them.
I told him of this thread and he strongly agreed that people do need to get involved and change this not just say oh well what choice do we have.
 

RD

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#39
I've never shipped a dog, and to be honest when I was consdering shipping one previously, I wasn't comfortable with the idea. It's costing me a little extra to fly to North Carolina and pick up my new puppy, but it's worth it for the peace of mind. I'm a worrier and would be a nervous wreck if I was flying my puppy to me.

I have a feeling someday I'll have a dog flown to me . . . Just not this one. I'm just not comfortable with it at this point.
 

FoxyWench

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#40
that's great. So they don't usually object if you ask to see them loading cargo?

Another question: How much does it usually cost to travel with your pet via air? I mean..for example, if you are travelling from the U.S to Europe.. how much does the pet's airfare/cargo boarding/insurance etc cost altogether?
depends where in europe your going.
all out of country flights the dog must be in cargo (wth the exception of canada and mexico with some airlines)
if you want to go to the british isles, hawaii or anywhere else that has quarrentein laws, i dont suggest it.
there is the pet pasport but it takes aproximatly 6months to complete and is a very rigourous process costing ofter over $1000 however it does mean your dog or cat can go straight home instead of having to sit in quarrentine.

if you do plan on flying into a quarrentine based conuntry without the pet passport its a 6monthed kenneld quarentine and can cost anything from $5000 upwards from what ive been told, a good average is about $1000 a month for quarentine boarding.

cost of flight is usually about the same cost as a childs seat in regular class, but it also depends on the airline.
some airlines also dont fly animals at all...

insurance is usually anythign from $25-$200 per pet, again depending on airline.

as an example, to ship vixie and dodger to me, via continental, shipping was $250 for vet check, crate, flight and insurance.
for my dane puppy to be shipped if i whent that route itll cost closer to $350 because bigger crate, and bigger crate means more expesnive.

so it all depends on weight and crate size.
its always best to contact the airline and talk to them about their rules and regs and prices.

again, if our planning on duing such the only airline i trust with dogs are British airlines (when we moved over our cocker was flown cargo with BA and continental (both vixie and dodger were sent via continental, wonderfull airline for pet transport!)
 

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