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Fly Or Drive?


westiemum
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Hi All,

A friend is picking up her much longed for Westie puppy in the next few weeks from a registered breeder in Ballarat. The dilemma now is does she fly him to Adelaide or drive over with two drivers and collect him?

I'm erring on the side of driving for a number of reasons - meet the breeder, gentler travelling, bonding time and by the time the puppy gets from Ballarat to Tullamarine, waits for his flight, gets loaded, flies and gets unloaded and drives to his new home in Adelaide it will be almost as long as a drive. And airports are noisy scary places IMO. Obviously if we were talking Sydney or Perth it's a no brainer - pup flies. But IMO the drive to and from Ballarat is easily doable.

But the breeder seems to think a flight would be less stressful.

Brains trust thoughts please?

TIA.

Edited by westiemum
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Personally i would be flying .

All my pups are flown to me & my dogs fly all the time & never had issues,yes issues can happen but the same applies with driving.

If they truly want to meet the breeder & make a weekend of it then maybe okay but honestly given the heat if there was a cool day forecast pup would be flown quick & simple

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Depends on weather.

We drove 10 hours to pick up our sibe, but flew the arab pup down from QLD.

He had a very long day to get to me.

Ifyour friend went with other peoople, like family it might be ok.

The drive home solo from the airport with pup had me at wits end. And I only live about 3km from there.

*whine whine* Squirm* Bark squir squirm. Get stuck in awkward position.

Would not want for 10+ hours

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Depends on weather.

We drove 10 hours to pick up our sibe, but flew the arab pup down from QLD.

He had a very long day to get to me.

Ifyour friend went with other peoople, like family it might be ok.

The drive home solo from the airport with pup had me at wits end. And I only live about 3km from there.

*whine whine* Squirm* Bark squir squirm. Get stuck in awkward position.

Would not want for 10+ hours

Yeah, that part of Ronin's journey was not good and sounds exactly the same.

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I'd fly, would she be driving back alone with pup? We had enough trouble driving back from the airport while Nala was awake! She slept for the remaining 4 hours which was 7pm onwards - so nice and dark for her. Puppies find all the trouble right when you can't get to them!

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We just flew our boy the opposite route and he was fine :)

He was pretty stressed when I opened the crate, I will never forget that tiny little face that did look scared. But I got him out and he snuggled up under my hair then popped him into the back of the car and hand feed roast chicken and he perked up instantly.

Good luck to your friend :)

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Thanks very much everyone. I'm convinced! I've suggested to her that she fly him - and get puppy diet advice from DOL ( I know nothing about puppies or what they should eatrofl1.gif). I hope she'll post some pics! He's very very cute! smile.gif

There breeder will supply them with a diet sheet & they should be talking to there breeder with issues.

Good breeders will tell there puppy buyers to please contact them with any issues & they do mean it after all its there breed,lines & they now there pups & diets are often part guarantee for the first 12 months plus not every dog or breed suits certain diets or foods

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I would have no problems with flying a pup but if possible I would go and pick the pup up from the breeder, even if it meant a long drive (within reason).

I like to meet the breeder in person and see Mum and thank her :laugh: , see the other pups, how many had already gone etc etc, it is part of the excitement and fun of getting a pup for me. It's the whole puppy experience :)

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Normally I would say fly but in this case I would be adding up time and if they want to drive. Depending on where they live, the time taken may not be significantly different.

I went to Victoria for a course with the dogs many years ago and drove over with a friend. Some other SA people flew over and back. For the return trip we worked out we got home 15 minutes before them. In their situation though they had to travel back up the South Eastern Freeway, not far from Murray Bridge.

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Normally I would say fly but in this case I would be adding up time and if they want to drive. Depending on where they live, the time taken may not be significantly different.

I went to Victoria for a course with the dogs many years ago and drove over with a friend. Some other SA people flew over and back. For the return trip we worked out we got home 15 minutes before them. In their situation though they had to travel back up the South Eastern Freeway, not far from Murray Bridge.

With a little puppy & stopping in summer no real comparison .

Ballarat isn't in the boonies & is the airport side ,would be way quicker to fly

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Really does depend where they are from.

If they don't have to battle through Adelaide proper to get to the major highway to Victoria (which goes through Ballarat) it is a lovely drive.(Just ask Leema LOL who did the same run as a rescue transporter a few weeks back).

They need to calculate how much driving time they will need to do to get to Adelaide airport and back from where ever they are and how important it is to them to meet the breeder etc.

In hot weather like we have been having the pup is better doing eight hours in a crate in a car with air-con or a crate fan and constant oversight, than doing 5 hours (a lot of which is unobserved) in a crate (from Ballarat 2 hours to Tullamarine airport then sitting around another hour or so waiting for the flight, then the 3/4 hour flight and another 1/2 hour being unloaded plus the unknown travel time from the airport to the new home).

But actually, I'm sure a lot of baby puppies have travelled both methods quite successfully.

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