stevensfamily

Hi folks,

A long story but our daughter had a dog after years of waiting (she is 11) and it dropped dead at 9 months old from a heart defect, she loved him so much and looked after him totally. It is breaking our heart she is so sad and we do not know what to do. We submitted our visa (139) in June and therefore would expect to have visa by next June at the latest (fingers crossed). We do not anticipate going to Oz permanently until 2008 as my husband is serving in Army and will not finish until late next year and we have therefore scheduled a possible move mid 2008 due to a number of factors.

We have a huge empty and sad atmosphere in the house and our daughter is at that difficult age where a dog would help her through the hormone stages of growing and dad being away all the time. We have said wait until we move to Oz but that is so long to a child. What do we do?

I know this is our nightmare but I wanted to hear from dog owners who have moved over to see what they thought about the move of animals over to Oz? should we spare an animal from the distress? wait? cost is it a major issue (lab sized dog?).

Any advice would be welcomed in our torment time to help us make up our minds which swing one way or the other each day?

Cheryl

esperanza

When I read the title of your post my first reaction was 'no' - but if you're not going for a couple of years then I don't see why not.
Just realise that it will be a major hassle and expense when it comes to moving.
We're organising for our lab to come out with us next year, and the cheapest quote was just a fraction below £2000 - that's not including vets' fees this side and quarantine the other, which might easily add another £500.
That much money could buy me a car once we got there! (Or at least 6 more dogs....)
If you're planning a permanent move then the stress to the dog is not the end of the world, especially for a lab - in my experience they are quite tough cookies.
Personally I would say that the happiness of your daughter is vastly more important than the stress levels of a dog - the deciding issue might be whether you are prepared to stump up several thousand pounds for it over the next few years.

tinkerbell

we shipped our dog and we are glad that we did,
if you can afford all thats associated with bringing a dog over then, go for it.
many people asked us why on earth we were spending 'all that money on the dog', but she is part of our family, and i couldn't bear to leave her at home.

cresta57

Surely it would make more sense to give her an IOU for the dog so she has something to look forward to when you arrive. It would save you an extra airplane ticket for the pooch and she would get an animal which would be more likely to survive in the heat.

You'll probably get more replies later as it's wake up time in Oz.

Debs

hilary6

Hiya Cheryl,
So sorry about the dog

The very same thing happened to us last year we lost our dog before we came out.

Against everybodies advice we got a pup and brought her with us....and it was worth every penny.

I does make sense money wise to wait till you get here but when you've got heart broken kids sense goes out of the window

Good luck
Hilary

stevensfamily

The cost is not the major issue, when we got Buddy for our daughter we agreed that the cost was not the issue but that was over a year ago and now we are moving into planning to move stage(even though it is a year and half away 20 months) it is questions such as "can she wait", "it will make her feel like it is her new home with a new dog, help her settle", "poor girl will be 13 nearly and will not have had the joy of a dog during her childhood", "the cost was not an issue with buddy why is in now", "what if he doesn't pass the tests to go we will have torment again", "we miss having a dog we miss walks over the weekend through the woods, where has our life gone".

Mad but its yes we will / no we wont. I am going mad the visa process is hard but life is standing still until we get to Oz. You know the usual "oh we wont buy the new 3 piece suite as we can get a new one in Oz (2 years away!).

As you can see going mad!

Thanks for reply I know at the end of the day its our decision
Cheryl

stevensfamily

Hilary,

Thank you so much a couple of thousand is nothing for two years of love and affection, god here I go into the YES lets go for it mode!

Will let you know how we go but we will wait until well after Xmas as we are not going to buy into that pup for Xmas market.

Cheryl

tinkerbell

i think you sound like you've made your descision.

go and get a dog, enjoy doing all those things that you do when you've got a dog, and then remember the look on your daughters face, when you go and collect your dog from the airport..................................priceless !!!

my 11 yr old in tears,(of joy) seeing 'millie' again. must admit, it made our family feel complete.

stevensfamily

Hilary,

Hope life is going well over there I have just seen you have only just gone over. Hope you have settled well. You also have the same birthday as our son, have a good one, at least you can celebrate in the sun and not gloomy winter. Our children are both December babes and it will be great for them to have more options for birthdays when we get over as they will have summer birthdays not winter ones.

Anyway thanks fro your reply

Cheryl

stevensfamily

Yes it sounds like it but I will sleep on it and tell myself several reasons why its mad and talk myself out of it. Dogs are something you cannot take on lightly, see here I go again. We always said we would get two next time to keep each other company , now that would be mad.

Can I ask, how long are you separated from your dog, how long are they in quarantine in Oz?

Cheryl

tinkerbell

we dropped Millie off at Golden Arrow shippers 3 days before she flew.
she then spent 30 days in quarantine in Sydney, and we collected her from the airport.

we decided to ship her around the same time that we flew, that way, she would spend her time in quarantine, whilst we were running around organising houses, cars, etc......

hilary6

My 2 sons are also december birthdays
We love it here hubby just got a job and things are going great thanks

When will you be out here??

Good luck with the puppy/doggy decision, our mates thought we were barmey and should have waited but Im so glad we didnt listen

tinkerbell

hi Hilary,

how has your dog settled? ours loves lying in the sun, until she realises it's a bit too warm, and then goes and lies in the shade!!!

stevensfamily

Hilary,

Thanks again, there are three of us, I am 6th Dec, daughter 19th Dec and son 30th Dec.

We plan to be out early 2008 after husband finishes army career, I am in work in Germany and have guaranteed contract until late 2009 but we/ or he will go over early 2008 with kids as Kate will start 2nd school Feb and as she has had 7 schools so far due to hubby's job and moving around we would like to settle her for secondary education. We will move to Melbourne as have family there (also have family in Brisbane and Hervey Bay).

Cheryl

stevensfamily

Thank you so much, that sounds bearable, I was told 6 weeks and you have confirmed that its not long.

Cheryl