My understanding is that the text book says you do not need the license but our vet said you did and we got one. I would call DEFRA, they are very helpful and will not send the license to the vet until just before you travel anyway so you still have time - just. You definitely will need the confirmation from the vet that the dog is fit to travel and this can only be done in the last day or two before you travel. Good luck.

How hard is it to find temporary accommodation with 2 small dogs? Anyone in the Mississauga/ Toronto area had any experience of this? I'd ideally like to bring our westies over as excess baggage, but the idea of having to find somewhere that takes them too (as well as sorting out a house for us & 2 small children) seems very daunting!

Can I ask if your two dogs travelled together? I'm worried ours will really stress if they are separated. Thanks!

One animal per crate was Air Transat's rules. I believe this is the same with all carriers.

They will get a bit stressed anyway, together or not I'm afraid. If you are that worried, you probably shouldn't be flying them. It is a one off, so don't worry about it too much.

Less messy if they are in separate crates too....

They will be in the crate for a long time - eg 12 and a half hours for a direct flight to Vancouver.

Arrange a rental before you go. Craigslist or Kijiji.

Or a hotel for the few days. Many chains accept dogs.

There are no guarantees that they will or will not get stressed. Our Lab tends to get stressed easily but she was absolutely fine when we collected her in Vancouver and she seemed to have had a stress free flight. We worried about her but we don't think she was at all concerned. Good luck.

Hi Laura, we are due to fly April 2 with our cocker spaniel, on a Airtransat flight from Gatwick to Vancouver. We paid £175 extra baggage and £55 for her kennel. We were told by Defra she needed a fit to fly form which they send to your vet as long as she is registered to do this.the fit to fly exam will cost me £77 , and I was told that as the UK is a rabies free country she would'nt need a Rabies jab. Good Luck

We brought our Rottweiler to Canada in July 2012. I forget what company it was now but they provided a crate and it cost us about 2000GBP.

A lot of money I know but totally worth it for us and a better quality of life for him! He is now living on a acreage running around keeping fit and healthy! The only downside was that we had to pick him up from the international airport, which is understandable and the crate didn't look like the most comfortable thing to travel in. But he was fine and recovered very quickly after realising he has 160 acres to himself to play in !