So it looks like our two dogs are going to have to be flown from Manchester to Calgary with Zoom, but we are going to be in Indian Head, Saskatchewan, a half hour East of Regina.

As it also looks like we will be arriving mid-end Jan 2008, we are worried that we are now going to have to drive over to Calgary airport to pick them up.

Being the dead of winter and not having driven in a Prairie Winter before we were wondering is there any other way to get the dogs to us. I keep imagining us stuck in a snow or ice storm and the dogs left stranded at Calgary airport.

Apparently the internal airlines wont fly the dogs in the winter months

Any of you bright sparks in Canada got any useful ideas

Tie them to a sled and shout "Mush!!"?

Have you tried calling Westjet? Friends of ours brought their two Cairn terriers here in February. I can't remember who they used to get them to Calgary but I know they flew from there to Regina with Westjet because I checked it out for them. Westjet are always really friendly and helpful. I asked the guy about it being too cold where the dogs were kept and he said they were not kept in the cold and that it wouldn't do much for their customer relations if they killed their passengers dogs!

I know that Westjet have certain days before and after Christmas where they won't take animals because of the Christmas rush. I bought a puppy from Alberta a couple of years ago and it was touch and go whether they could get him on the plane before the date of the cut off. But I know it was nothing to do with the cold weather - it was just that they have too many passengers and cargo around Christmas time.

Check out this page. The dates are December 11th to January 10th. But it says

Holiday embargos Not applicable to cabin travel Animals will not be accepted in checked baggage from December 11 to January 10, inclusive.

I can't remember what it means about cabin travel.

Read on this page - its more than halfway down.

http://c1dsp.westjet.com/guest/bagga...fL0!-420494010

You could try a pet transport company, there are lots of them. When I moved here from Texas, I used www.petrelocation.com, they were amazing. We were moving ourselves on the day the cats moved, and they couldn't fly to Edmonton because of heat restrictions, and we didn't want to board them as they are nervous cats anyway, and the flight was going to be enough of a trauma for them.

Pet Relocation were fab, they had one pet shipping company come to our house at 3.30 am to pick up the cats, they were driven to the airport and checked in, which saved us worrying about how we would fit four cat carriers and six people with luggage in a car. The cats flew to Houston, then on to Calgary, and another pet shipping company picked them up from Calgary, cleared them through customs and then drove them to Edmonton for us. We arrived a couple of hours before the cats and the cats were perfectly happy, and ready to explore the new house.

Pet Relocation uses approved shippers in the areas you are going to, so if you google pet shippers there, you will probably find a company that services your area and will pick up the dogs for you. I wouldn't hesitate to use pet relocation again, it took a load of stress off my shoulders as I was more worried about the cats getting here safely than us

I had a look through my papers and http://www.boomerangpetcarrier.com/ were the people that brought our cats from Calgary to Edmonton, I know your dogs will have to go a lot further but you might try and contact them and see if it's possible anyway, the ladies from Boomerang were lovely, the lady we dealt with was called Karen, hope this helps.

What great advice as usual:

You always make me laugh Novo!

Thanks Liz, I will give Westjet a phone and see what they say.
This sounds even more ideal Snorkmaiden, will also contact them too

I remember that when my friends got to Calgary they went to Wesjet and the people there let them take the dogs out and take them for a walk outside before they boarded the plane for Regina. In general the people at Westjet seem really helpful.

When my granddaughter and I flew back from Vancouver on Sunday, we had to change planes at Calgary. The darn plane we were supposed to get on was 3/4 of an hour late. I was wandering around and spied some people in Westjet uniforms so I started chatting to them. One guy said to me - "You're asking the right people. I am the pilot of your plane. We are here - but the plane isn't. We'll see if we can catch up some time for you on the way to Regina!"

1st call Zoom & calgary airport and ask what will hapen if snow/weather prevents you from picking up the dogs.

Then if the weather is bad to stop you driving it is probably bad for everyone else to.

It's about 825 km – about 8 hours 58 mins according to google maps so you'll better plan to do some shopping as well.

We used Boomerang for our cat and dog, we flew them to Calgary where they were picked up and put on the plane to Regina the following day using West Jet. We sent our animals a week before us as they were going to board in kennels until we found somewhere to live.

I can recommend Boomerang as the dog was very ill after flight from UK, they looked after her really well.

Thanks for that...have emailed them but not had a reply just yet. According to Westjets website, my biggest dogs crate is too large to go on their airline, so I don't know what will happen in this case?

What breed of dog do you have?

Any of you bright sparks in Canada got any useful ideas

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Hire a dogwalker?

A German Pointer and a Cairn Terrier.

Thanks Bobbiel, that was very useful.

If Karen from Boomerang gets back to you she may suggest using your crates to get them to Calgary airport and then using the largest plastic dog crate (can't remember size but it was the biggest one they made) to transport the German Pointer to Regina.

We have a tall Border Collie and luckily she just fitted into the large crate so she could do the whole trip in it, but if not we were going to swap at Calgary.

The flight from Calgary to Regina is just over an hour and West Jet quite happily took her in that size crate, I would try and ring Karen and see what she can suggest, I found her very helpful and completely professional.

Hope this helps