Emigrating with pets
 

Hi

Has anyone transported their dogs with them if so any advice or help gratefully received we have 2 dogs we would like to take but don't know if its financially possible.

Many thanks

Laura

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Yes Laura there are hosts of us bringing animals one way or the other, it is relatively simple. If you go to the blue Wiki bar at the top of the screen it will give you lots of links to it. Also if you use the search for thread feature. It can be done relatively cheaply depending on the size of dog, I think. I used Golden Way, to send my three cats and Cairn terrier, but depending where you live you can get them to the airport yourself, which is considerably cheaper. There will be a kind poster along who will give you lots of links and info....my unfriendly tablet just won't let me! I do however wish you very good luck:thumbup:

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

we travelled from Gatwick with a cat and small dog to Vancouver Island, they travelled as excess baggage which cost roughly £300. We had Rabies jabs for them and pet passports. You will need specific crates for them (we have Vari-kennels) but you will get all the size advice that you need from Defra.
My two were fine, one angry moggie but he's spoiled so nothing new there! hth's x

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

cost us $180 to bring our border collie from glasgow to calgary,then a $60 customs charge when we collected the dog in calgary.

We already had her microchiped,and vacs were up to date,got a pet passport for her,and a rabies shot as well.

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

We have just brought over our french bulldog with Air Canada. Very easy. We got an export license through Defra, rabies jab and vet check before we left then £175 as excess baggage. Beware that some airlines won't take dogs over the summer.....

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

We bought two dogs and two cats with air Canada wasn't difficult or too expensive we had always budgeted for them in the move no way were we going without them :)

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

We brought a Jack Russell and a three legged cat over with us no problem. We used a pet travel company which was more expensive, largely as I didn't know about the DIY route at the time! LOL

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

http://britishexpats.com/forum/searc...archid=6391192

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Transporting_Pets

:)

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

We also used a pet company for our 2 small dogs, due to us needing them to go in kennels for a week.
It cost us £800. All we did was drop them off, they did the fit to fly certs, supplied the cages, 7 nights boarding in their Uk kennels and boarded them on the flight.

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Your dog has to be under a certain weight for excess baggage. I have a fully grown lab and she was too heavy.

If this is the case you will have to use a pet carrier :)

I used Skymaster at Manchester Airport and they were great :)

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Air Transat have assured us that the weight of the dog is irrelevant, so long as they have the proper paperwork and their crate is suitable for air travel. I checked and double checked this - our 25kg airedale terrier is flying excess baggage with us in 2 weeks, Manchester to Calgary. I have it in writing that our he and his giant varikennel crate will be accepted at the check-in counter.
Maybe this is some restriction that has changed recently.

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Let us know how you get on

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

We did this with our 25kg Labrador from Manchester to Vancouver in early June. The staff in Manchester were great and the dog was perfectly happy when we got to the other end too. She went as excess baggage with Air Transat and we'd certainly recommend them.

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Maybe a silly question, Looking at your forum handle did your two dogs consist of pugs?. I have heard that not many airlines will fly pugs(flat faces and all that) as we have three pugs to consider as well as chihuahuas and a corgi maybe i will just charter my own boat :rofl:

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

hi wolfman yes i did bring my puggy with air canada and yes i know there were a few airlines that dont fly them or any flat faced breeds my stanley was ten when he flew no sedation or anything i didnt want that for any of my pets he was perfectly fine when we picked him up, lol sounds like you need to charter your own plane for your zoo lol :)

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Wow... Exact opposite of what I was told.

Good luck and let us know how you got on and if it all went smoothly :)

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

We brought a French bulldog over this summer, air Canada was the only airline that would fly her because of the flat face!

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Why is that when pitbulls etc aren't banned over here? :confused:

First time a pitbull came running over to me off leash over here I literally froze in fear. I've never seen such a powerful dog in the flesh. It could have ripped my lab to pieces if it wanted to.

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

They are banned from being imported or bred in Ontario, although any that were here prior to the act coming into force were 'grandfathered' and allowed provided they wear a muzzle and a leash outside of the home and are neutered.

Most other Provinces have laws in place too. http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/pre-20...gs/bylaws.html

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

REALLY ?? I do love a blanket generalisation - lets ban all pit bulls . . .

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

I think what people do not realise is its the owners that cause issues, pitbulls, staffies etc can be lovely dogs and its a shame they get sterotyped because of a minority of bad owners :(

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Very true Mikey I know two families with pits here and both dogs are the soppiest kindest family dogs because they have been raised properly :)

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

At what point did I say lets ban pit bulls? Err none. I love dogs. The comment about being banned was my confusion about them not being allowed to fly when they are not banned! As in if they are not banned why are they not allowed to fly?

What I said was I met a pitbull for the first time and was scared by its size and potential power. I've never seen such a powerful dog before. I was with a young lab and the fully grown male dog was not muzzled or on a lease!!

Don't taint me with the brush of wanting to ban breeds - I believe a dog is a reflection if its owner thank you very much.

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Your post wasn't particularly clear.. To me it read as if you we're of the view that there should be a blanket ban.

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Usually it's flat faced dogs that airlines don't like to fly .. Due to respiratory issues. Air transat did query where we were flying our staffie cross to .. They were worried about flying him to Ontario due to the PB ban.

B.C. Was fine

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Hi I've just moved to vancouver form the UK. I flew my 2 cats over here, I used air transat from manchester and could fault them. I had their pet passports and health certificates but no one checked them at the airport. I did use a pet transport company as they were all expensive. In total it cost me £98, pet passport and rabies jab, £35 health certificate, £30 for the carrier and £180 for the flight they flew as excess baggage, this is PER CAT. I had to pay 40$ to get them "inspected" at vancouver airport, they never looked at the cats or their documents, they only asked where I was flying in from.

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Just a quick update on our flight with dogs on Air Transat. We'll try to write in more detail when we get a chance.
Everything when smoothly, check-in staff was very helpful at Manchester airport. They have asked about combined weight of each dog and a crate but it was only that they have this information added. Our Airedale is 25kg plus giant crate, nobody looked surprised or disapproved.
It did take a long time for them to check us in, check and seal the crates etc., we even had to run to get onto the plane as they have made a "this is a last call for.." us three times. We have got two small kids and we had to check in pram, baby carrier, car seat etc. and then go through security with all that stuff, so that might have been something to do with it. ;)
The dogs were fine at Calgary. The bigger dog got a bit stressed, I think, as he started growling at people coming straight to the crate to have a look at him, and this is not his normal behaviour. Anyway, out of the crates they were fine.
The paperwork was not checked at Manchester airport, but it was checked in Calgary

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Sounds like it all worked out which is good. Did you just have fit to fly or did you have defra paperwork as well?

it seems a little confusing as our vet is defra approved and when she rang them they confirmed just a fit to fly note in the pet passports would be fine. Both our cat and dog are up to date with rabies and other vacinations so we had wondered if we just need the fit to fly and pet passports?

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

We had everything stamped by the vet in their Pet Passports: Rabies, Worming, Ticks, Fit to fly. We did not have any extra piece of paper, everything was in passports.
At the Calgary they only checked Rabies stamps as they need to write the date down in their paperwork.
Other airlines might require more paperwork.

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

We plan to use Air transat, so no need for either an import or export certificate?, just the pet passports. That sounds good then :)

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

And the fit to fly that you need to get within 24 hours of the flight. :)

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

All the posts above cover flights and vari-kennels and what not. Its no big deal really and not overly expensive, no need to hire some expensive firm to do it for you...

However what isn't mentioned is the long term impact on your pet of the whole moving process, its a very stressful time for a dog, from when you start decorating to sell up your UK house, then weird people visit, then all the furniture disappears, then he's in a weird little moving box for hours and wynds up in a weird place with weird smells and it could be months again before you find a permanent home and the boxes and cases disappear....

We wouldn't be without our dog and brought him with us, he's essentially fine despite all this. But.... he has nipped at a few strangers, which is utterly out of character for him and we're having to just keep his world as calm as possible to let him re-adjust and relax in his new environment. Our dog is a big friendly giant that doesn't get stressed easily, if it impacted him then others must have similar issues.

Throw into this mix the fun you have finding a place to stay that accepts pets... and getting your dog, kennel, people and all your masses of cases to the airport at each end!! Way harder to fix than the flight!!

I'm just saying there's more to bringing your pet than just the flight! Good luck :)

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

We have a 3 year old boxer and a 2 year old french bulldog cross (little and large) how best way would people say to get them across to Calgary, as cheaply as poss had a quote for £2600!!! :thumbup:

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Use Air Transat, buy the vari-kennels directly and organise the paperwork yourself. air Transat will take larger dogs ( we checked and brought our Lab with us 3 months ago) the DEFRA website tells you all you need to know about the paperwork and they are also very helpful if you have any questions.

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

If you need to look for a property to rent , can you get temp accomadation that will take your dog also? Edmonton?

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Have a quick look on www.padmapper.com, input the City and price range, bedrooms etc., then go down to "show more filters" and select "dogs".

:)

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

how much did you pay to take your lab over? :thumbsup:

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

See air transat details here:

http://www.airtransat.co.uk/en/gamme...voyageur&id=20

Price per pet is GBP180..

You will need a kennel on top of this, price is size dependant, but they are roughly 100 ish. Try here http://www.skykennel.co.uk/

For rentals try www.realtor.ca... but you are best to get a realtor to help you for this, its very difficult to sort renting or accommodation here without help, specially with a dog.

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

Just over 300 pounds including the kennel - it was about the only thing that was under budget as we'd been quoted 1700+ from the pet transport companies:thumbsup:

Re: Emigrating with pets
 

We are flying from MAN to YVR on 26th October with Air Transat.

Cocker Spaniel as excess baggage £180. We had to speak to Montreal to arrange as excess baggage. UK end wanted the dog t go as cargo - which was about £600.

Vari Kennel cost us £80.

You have to change the plastic wing nuts for metal ones (apparently).