Hello Pet lovers out there.
Am i right in thinking that my beloved Dog will get no exercise while in Sydney Quarantine?
I have emailed Eastern Creek twice and they have said that they are far too busy with all the animals to walk mine and have given me names of 2 people i can pay to exercise my dog 1 to 3 times a week at my expense.
I am so upset at this on top of him having to be in a pet container seeled for 42 hours.
He has 3 runs a day and is a very fit dog that also goes swimming, he will be overweight and very stir crazy if he cant go out.
Any one have any info on this or any help from people who have already done the Quarantine stage?
Thanks for reading this.

Thats a bit rough. I assumed they would be walked, that's part of the basic care of the dog.

So.. they endure a long flight in a box and then are stuck without a walk for a month

I'm sure people will jump in and say that I should pay for them to be walked as they are my dogs but considering how much it is costing me to take them, I would expect them to get at least basic care.

They do feed them don't they

yes they do feed them, thats why most dogs are over weight when picked up.
Too much food and no exercise.

This is a worry isnt it? Something that we didnt realise happened and will be looking into further as pets are due to fly out 10th June C x

We are just waiting for our house to sell before we ship our dog.
Let us know what you find out, but as i said i emailed them twice and there answer was not enough time in the day to walk all the dogs.

OH will be horrified when i tell him about this as his dog is the love of his life.................next to me of course!!!
Will get him to ring Golden Arrow tommorrow and get back to you C x

There are exercise areas at Eastern Creek... A lot of owners visit their dogs a couple of times a week and take them to one of these areas for a run around...

Eastern Creek is absolutely huge with God knows how many dogs/cats/horses, etc there at any one time... If they exercised all the dogs every day they would have to quadruple their staff numbers and with it their charges... It's not like a boarding kennels where you can let them all out together for a good runabout... They're all kept away from each other...!

Chances are your dog will lose muscle tone - ours was used to lots of runs and he was less obviously muscly when we collected him. He wasn't fat though - they know that they dogs aren't getting much exercise, so they don't continue to feed them as if they are getting three runs a day.
They weigh them on arrival, and aim to maintain the dog's weight until they are released - unless they arrive as fatties, and then they will ask the owners if they can implement a diet.
If you are that concerned then the best option might be to go and visit a few times and book one of the exercise yards to take your dog in yourself.

(Out of interest, what do they charge for dog walking? I might set myself up doing it!!)

i haven't enquired how much the walking is yet, i was too horrified at the answer that he would get no exercise to call them.
It will not be that easy for me to visit him in quarantine as he will be in Eastern Creek and we will be on the Sunshine Coast. i am not sure how long it will take me to get there, but i have a funny feeling it is a very long journey.

I'm no expert but I imagine you're right!
It's only 30 days though, it really isn't all that long, I'm sure your dog will be fine. They adjust pretty quickly to more/less exercise - it might even be good for his joints to have a rest.

when our fellas were at Melbourne they got 2 sessions a week in the exercise yard. We were not in the position to go and visit them when in quarantine. as another posted said, they did lose muscle tone. when we got them back they were fine we were told to not take them out for walks straight away, first week, garden only, 2nd week short walks on lead and garden, 3rd week occasional long walks, short walks and garden, 4th week - back to normal routine. To be honest we didnt follow it precisely, we let the dogs tell uswhat they wanted, they got very tired the first week from the garden and as they built up their muscle again they wanted more. It was fine, they are absolutely back to normal and certainly no worse for the experience.

Lisa.x

Hi there. We just got our wee dog back on Friday after her stint in quarantine. And Esperanza you were right, although she initially looked like she had lost a substantial amounf of weight, she had actually lost mostly muscle mass.

We found out the day before she left that they weren't walked at all and swiftly e-mailed Byford. Their response was much the same as the OP's that they didnt have the staff to walk all the dogs every day and she explained that they had a yard in which owners could come and walk their own pets.

I phoned to check she had got there ok and spoke with the lady in charge (Carol) who was lovely and explained that for the first two weeks of Zara's stay we were still in the UK and that then we were going to be in Adelaide therefore absolutely no way we could be there to walk her. I explained how active she was and that she would probably struggle to settle if she wasn't walked at all and she advised that they would try to find the time to walk her a few times a week, but that there were only 3 members of staff on at any time. And certainly anytime I phoned to see how she was and asked whether she was getting out they said they were taking her out as often as staffing allowed which was very good of them, but I would say that I believe Byford in Perth is a substantially smaller quarantine station than any of the others.

Zara weighed 18kgs before she went into quarantine and has lost about 4kgs in weight and muscle mass, but I would say that she was really active and extremely fit before she went in and most of that is muscle mass loss.

I know this won't reassure anyone in particular but the point I'm trying to make is that although she has lost a bit of weight and a lot of muscle mass, she's here and she's fine and there is nothing a lot of TLC and plenty of food and exercise won't sort.

Nikki

Couldnt have said it better myself!

Thanks, that has put my mind at rest a little.

I'm only worried abiout the bigger dog. The chihuahua would be quite happy not walking at all if he has a spot of sun to lay in.

I've just spent ages trying to get him off my daughters bed so he could go out for a wee (I refuse to carry him downstairs like my daughter does), he just laid there stretching and looking at me. When she eventually managed to push him off, he sneaked under the bed and laid back down

He enjoys a walk when he goes but wouldnt be too upset if he didnt get one.

Re-home it and don't bring it with you - problem solved