Ailidh

We're planning on moving to Texas in December. We have two cats and two dogs - one of which is (unhelpfully) a giant breed - a deerhound, very old, very nervous and very beloved.

Can anyone recommend any shipping agents or best airlines for the trip? Also, anybody know where it is possible to purchase (or have made) a giant-breed sized airline crate?

Thanks!

Weeze

Sounds like you may need extra large-
http://www.doggiesolutions.co.uk/sky...es-8725-0.html

There is another thread running at the moment about pre shipping with lots of links to useful threads. We moved our Border Collie over with KLM.

Bob

Welcome to BE!

Have a search around, plenty of threads on shipping pets to the US, Houston especially, with a couple of recent ones in particular

ian-mstm

I love dogs... and there's not much I wouldn't do for mine! With that in mind and with the utmost respect for your feelings, it'd be a total disservice to the deerhound to ship him to the US if he's very old and very nervous... regardless of how very beloved he is. I implore you, most sincerely, to reconsider your course of action in this matter.

Ian

lisa67

I agree with Ian. When we moved over we made the heartbreaking decision to leave our old dog with friends rather than put her through the trauma of moving. We thought long and hard and discussed it with our vet. Good Luck.

Ailidh

There is no possibility of leaving the deerhound here - nobody we can give her to. So either we have her put down (and she's healthy though old) or bring her with us along with her only pal, our other dog - a Border Collie -and our two cats (that she loathes and despises).

Weeze

Before you start thinking about crates, I'd check that you can find a vet willing to issue a fit to fly certificate. If your doggy is very old, the vet might not be able to do the certificate. Then the only option to get them over would be a boat trip.

Ailidh

"Boat trip"... I've been trying for the past 6 months to find a ship - freighter as the only transatlantic cruiseship that takes dogs is the Queen Mary - and that's just between Southampton and NYC AND they won't take a deerhound - she's too tall for their crates.

I had a friend who transported herself, her husband, her two Irish wolfhounds and her cat on a freighter from Barcelona to Galveston... unfortunately, that was 20 years ago and the friend has since passed away. Everything went perfectly. But I cannot find a freighter that's willing to take passengers with pets now.

Nutmegger

Another thing to bear in mind and look into: because of the heat in Houston, there will probably be some caveat that pets can't fly in at certain times of year when the temperatures are at their highest.

Ailidh

We were planning on flying just before Christmas, probably around 20th December 2012 - could be hot in Houston, still..

Mr Weeze

The temperature will not be an issue for animal transport then.

mollow

have you asked the airline your traveling with? they might provide you with a solutin, that's how i got my dog in the us. keep in mind there are lots of paperwork to be taken care of.

Ailidh

Hi,
We don't yet know - we'll probably take either British Airways (Geneva-Heathrow-Houston) or KLM (Geneva-Amsterdam-Houston). For some reasons I trust baggage handlers at Heathrow and Amsterdam to be more careful with pets than baggage handlers at JFK or somewhere!

Weeze

Amsterdam were great for us. He got taken off to the dog hotel to await his next flight. You'll need to investigate plane types though for Amsterdam to Houston as we were restricted as only one flight had the hold section for pets. Our dog was in good company- a racehorse!

Moxie

Weeze, can you tell me where exactly did you collect the dog in Houston after arrival? Any special customs procedures you had to do in Houston or wait for before he was released? Was it in the terminal or elsewhere? What airline? Thanks!