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.

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

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?

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.

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.

Thanks to all the suggestions, I was actually lucky enough to get a spot at Montana Lodge which sounded pretty good...the PAX lady let me know first that although she doesn't do boarding anymore she recommends Acacia Lodge, then Acacia Lodge was full so she recommended Montana and I rang them and although they were pretty much full they'd just had a cancellation so my pugs slotted right in

Please let us know if you were happy with Montana and if your pugs were also happy.

I can recommend Meadowmist at Marsden Park which is western sydney - have used them myself for many years and very happy with them.

How do they prevent dog fights? My friend's dog was attacked by another dog in some pet facility and I wonder if this could have been prevented. For this reason I am very worry to place my dog in pet motels.