Moving my dog from England to Canada
 

Hi

I will be moving to Canada in September and I will be bringing my dog with me. I was hoping that someone might be able to give me some advice on the best way to do this. Would you recommend using a pet transport company, and if so which one? I have also thought about booking this on my own with the airline, is that recommended? Does someone know what paperwork has to come with my dog, I have his shot record from the vet but not sure if I need anything else. Finally I will be going to Alberta so that is approximately an 8 hour flight, would you recommend sedating the dog so the trip is less stressful on them?
Really just any advice and experiences that people have with moving pets from England to Canada would be great!
Thank you

Re: Moving my dog from England to Canada
 

Hi there. We moved to Alberta with our dog two and a half years ago. We used Airpets and our dog flew over on the same flight as us (Heathrow to Calgary). We had no problems with Airpets although I understand it's a lot cheaper to go the DIY route. If your dog is small enough (not sure what the size requirements are), they can be booked as excess luggage which, again, I understand is much cheaper.

Apart from all the regular shots, your dog will need a rabies shot too and also needs to be microchipped if not already. If you're not planning on returning to the UK with your dog, you don't necessarily need to have a pet passport; just the appropriate export papers are OK.

Our dog wasn't sedated for the flight (she was 11 at the time). We were advised against it as there is no one watching over them on the flight whilst sedated so could potentially be dangerous if their heart beat slows too much etc. We were told that once the flight is in progress, dogs just tend to settle down on their own anyway.

All the best.

Re: Moving my dog from England to Canada
 

:thumbsup:hi. We are moving to Canada later this year too and have done alot of research into bringing the dog. Firstly they will not sedate dogs anymore but we were advised about a collar called a dap collar , its supposed to give off a scent that lactating bitches give off to calm the pups , cost about £30 , you can find them on internet. You can move you dog the diy route we looked at it and it would save approx £100 (we have a deer hound about the size of a German shepard) . The quotes we had flying from gatwick to Toronto ranged from £950 -£1800 . I think with the higher price he would be served spring water and hand fed bonios. The company we have looked at is trans fur they have the best price and seemed the best company to us. Many me the companies wanted to take dog a day before you flew and get him there the day after Thats why the prices are so much as they then charge you for kennel and delivery but transfur said they would book him on same flight . They del the cage 2 weeks prior to flight so dog gets used to it and then meet you at airport to book him in . Hope this helps some:thumbsup:

Re: Moving my dog from England to Canada
 

Hi

Sedation is not allowed, the airline expect the dog to be alert when they load them on the flight and will not fly them if they are not. Sedation can slow the heart rate and that is not good when flying.

To enter Canada all a UK dog needs is a fit to fly certificate that includes a statement that they are from a Rabies Free country. They dont need a rabies vaccination nor do they need a microchip.

It is however advised to have the Dog microchipped and rabies vaccinated as a) Canada is rabies controlled & b) if you return to the UK the dog wont have to be quarentined if he has been vaccinated and recieved the boosters at the set time periods. If you are told they must be vaccinated then they dont understand the Canadian import rules. The fit to fly certificate needs to be issued a few days before the pet's flight.

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/...i/canine.shtml

The decision on DIY vs Pet Shipping Company will generally come down to circumstances.

We have a 9 year old Choc Lab which does not travel well and we were very worried about her w.r.t to the flight. We flew her over after we landed as we wanted time to sort out the house etc. When we picked her up we saw her in the crate whilst in the Cargo warehouse........she was so chilled, just sat looking at all the workmen. So was not trying too get out etc.

Some airlines will not fly dogs during summer months due to the potential time an aircraft can spend on the tarmac.

When you pick up your dog at the cargo area of the Canadian airline, you are responsible for the crate and must either take it with you or pay for disposal of it.

You are recommended to put the dog on the goods to follow list. They will still let the dog in but we got grief for not listing the dog.

Sorry to be negative but each province has a list of prohibited dogs.

The DAP collar is a good idea.

The information on crates for air transport can be found here:

http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/l...ages/pets.aspx

Re: Moving my dog from England to Canada
 

sorry also meant to say that some airlines ie t.cook wont let you book dog yourself you have to do it through a pet travel company , but if you want to look at diy air transat do let you , not sure if your flying from where they go from , you can get their No. From internet too. The op was right about micro chip and rabies jab they also have to have a health check but your best off asking your vet about that good luck :thumbsup:

Re: Moving my dog from England to Canada
 

Taken from website I quoted, from Importing dogs eight (8) months of age or older + From countries recognized by Canada as rabies-free section

Import Requirements:

Dogs may enter Canada if they are accompanied by rabies certification, which means they must have:

a signed rabies vaccination certificate;
a signed veterinary certificate, declaring that the dog is originating from a country recognized by Canada as being rabies-free.

FAQ:

Q: Does my dog require a tattoo or microchip identification?
A: Canada does not require a microchip or tattoo identification for pet dogs. However, dogs that are being imported for breeding or commercial purposes must have a microchip.



P.S ~ I am dog mad, I would recommend both. I just wanted to identify the legal requirements. I would have both done in the UK as vet fees here are very expensive.

Re: Moving my dog from England to Canada
 

We used Airpets co uk and were very happy with them. Word of warning make sure your vet has correctly recorded dates of vaccinations as our dogs records were a year out, the vet had written the wrong year as it was January and he had not got used to the year- we moved in May and it was not until I was at the hotel the night before and looked at the copies of the vaccination photocopies I had that I realised, luckily I was able to get the vet to fax to Airpets and get it sorted out!!! Phew!!!

Took us just over an hour to get the dogs out of cargo. They will not let you put a collar on the dog of any kind in case they hang themselves by catching it on the cage.

We had the dogs chipped so that it was on their record in case they got any problems...

Re: Moving my dog from England to Canada
 

w.r.t collars...this must be dependant on the pet shipping company rather than the airline as ours flew with her normal collar and a DAP collar on.

Re: Moving my dog from England to Canada
 

hi jb do you think the dap collar worked then ? When we asked the vet he said 'there was no actual evidence that it did work '. We were going to get one anyway just in case but looking at what you said it was money well spent :thumbsup:

Re: Moving my dog from England to Canada
 

I would say yes, our dog stayed with relatives whilst we landed etc. They all commented on her new calmness.....especially as they expected her to be a bit more off the wall as we were not around. Plus a few other relatives went to see her the day before she was picked up by the shipping company and they all said the same.

The dap collar lasts 4 weeks so we fitted it a few days before we left and kept it on a week or so after she got here.

We kept our crate and it is in the basement.....I moved it the other day and the door was open. She walked calmly into it and turned round then picked up some of the shredded paper that was put into it by the shipping coy......so she I dont believe she had a too bad an experience in it.

Re: Moving my dog from England to Canada
 

it will be worth getting one then i think. Our dog gets very jumpy when you move suddenly or theres a load noise , he is a rescue dog and unfortunately we dont know his history , he also worries if he is apart from us for too long so i think it would be a good idea, well when i say us i mean my wife i could disappear for weeks and he prob wouldnt notice lol :thumbsup:

Re: Moving my dog from England to Canada
 

i moved my dog from london to vancouver, i used a pet agency as then you know it's all done right, i think it cost around 900 pounds to do, but i got the pet passport so if you every move back to the UK it's easy to do, and you got a have a few jabs and blood work done

Re: Moving my dog from England to Canada
 

Do not waste your money on pet agency's. I made sure my dog was chipped, had a pet passport with all the rabies stuff in it. I too almost fell fowl to the 900 pound pet agencies. I flew from Heathrow to Edmonton with Air Canada. I booked my dog in as excess baggage, it was 160 pounds. They pushed me to the front of the line at check in, I followed a chap who put my dog in his office.

I was even informed on the plane that my dog was loaded. By the time I had cleared customs at Edmonton International my dog was sitting waiting for me.

I did this move one year ago.

Hope this saves someone some money :thumbup:

Re: Moving my dog from England to Canada
 

When my dog flew, some friends we had made in Ottawa were on the same plane flying back from their UK holiday (lucky coincidence). They knew our dog was on board and loved it when the Pilot did the usual "welcome, we will be flying blah, blah, blah....also we have a dog in the hold who is doing great, so we are ready to go". Our friends were also able to tell us that they did not hear her....which was good to know.

Re: Moving my dog from England to Canada
 

Our two labradors will be flying from Gatwick to Toronto on May 7th. Air Transat have quoted £780 for the two of them.
I will be taking them to Gatwick cargo 4 hours before the flight, and my husband will collect them in Toronto about an hour after the flight lands.
They both need a vet certificate detailing vaccinations, and a vet's 'fit to fly certificate' dated no earlier than 4th May. They are both microchipped and have had rabies vaccinations.
They will be travelling in sky kennels bought from doggiesolutions, at a cost of about £250 for the two kennels.
It would cost an awful lot more than that to ship them through a pet transport company...