Traveling On Spirit Of Tasmania

[dougal]

I am looking at taking a trip to Tassie with a young pup and wondering if anybody can let me know the for and against between the kennels provided and leaving him in e car. Specifically I'm interested in the security arrangements of the kennels.....are they locked? What access do people have to your dog? With the car, do they have to be in a crate or can they sleep on the back seat? Is the ventilation good if they are in the car?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Edited February 11, 2016 by dougal

[Heidley]

I travelled in the Spirit of Tassie last January and I believe they've been refurbished but not sure if they've done the deck levels where the cars are.....we happened to be parked directly in front of the kennels, things to know there are cages rather than kennels.....you have to settle the dogs then leave them and you're not allowed down there while the ship is moving so won't get to see your pup until you get to Tassie. Not sure about the ventilation in the deck area but I'd say its average. If you have a large pup you have to get there early as people put small dogs in the big cages for more room and I don't think they are locked but no one has access apart from staff once the boat is loaded.

ETA I didn't travel with dogs but was looking at this stuff for future trips

Edited February 11, 2016 by Heidley

[JulesP]

Fairly sure that you aren't allowed to leave dogs in cars anymore after a tragic accident.

[dragonwoman]

Fairly sure that you aren't allowed to leave dogs in cars anymore after a tragic accident.

You can sign a waiver..........I wouldn't use the ferry in warmer months.........and I would not leave a dog loose in a car anywhere

[oakway]

Why not do this if you are concerned about the dog not traveling well. Before you leave for the boat drop your dog off at your favourite shippers to be flown to Tasmania the next day. The dog is only crated for a few hours and takes the stress out it for both of you.

[dougal]

:D I m looking at the boat as I've had some bad experiences in the past flying dogs......watching my dog in his crate falling off the back of the trailer on the Tarmac

[Allerzeit]

We've used the ferry a few times, always with dogs.

The kennels are a bit like the cages you would see at a vet surgery, banks of cages with large at the bottom, going up to smaller as they go up. As Heidley mentioned, people tend to put small dogs in the large cages (even though they're not meant to - you are meant to use appropriate sized cages for your dog), so it can be hard sometimes to get large dogs in. When we moved down here from Victoria, I had to get a rottweiler bitch into a smaller cage on the second level, because of little dogs taking up many of the large cages at the bottom. While the cage was an ok size for her, getting her in and out, was hazardous!

The cages are not locked, they are secured with a typical padbolts, but not locked. However, no-one except security is allowed down there during sailing, passengers cannot access the vehicle decks once all the vehicles and pets are loaded.

I've been called cruel for putting our dogs in the kennel blocks, with people claiming that the cages are too small for our breed. I personally haven't found that. I've had a large adult male rottweiler who was quite comfortable in a large cage on the ferry several times, and he had no less room than he would have if he were being crated overnight.

[dougal]

Allerzeit does anybody attempt to swap the dogs around? How can you cram in a large dog into a small pen.

[Allerzeit]

I've never seen anyone try and swap dogs around. We were just lucky in our case that the second level cages were still big enough for my rotty girl, who was a smaller girl. Had that not been possible, my next step would have been to approach the staff for advice, and may have ended in her having to stay in our car.

Every other time, we've been lucky enough for there to still be enough large cages for our dogs, but every time there has also still been small dogs in the bottom large cages, when they shouldn't have been in those cages.