Ever flown with a large dog before?

Has anyone here ever flown with a large dog before? I'm talking 35 kg/75 lb range. I know airline regulations and customs info for border crossing but wondered actual hands on knowledge of what things made it easier for your animal? I'll already be using Bach Rescue Remedy for her and possibly a recommended rx from vet.......haven't decided yet. Will discuss with dog doc this week.

I have never flown with live cargo larger than small housecats and that was almost a decade back.

Please no horror stories!! I'm a bit worried as is but I do know that animals are flown daily and this is no different. Trying to have one less worry in my mind before travel.

Thanks.

<font color=purple> --zh </font color=purple>

I'm sorry I don't have any advice, I've never flown with an animal...

but it does bring to mind one of my favorite jokes:

A woman travels to Israel on her favorite airline. She checks her dog into the cargo hold of the plane.

The woman is very wealthy and is a frequent flyer on this airline, so she is known by the airline staff and gets VIP treatment, such as having her luggage personally unloaded.

When the staff unloads the plane, they discover the dog dead in the cargo hold. They call the manager. The manager panics because he will be fired if this woman makes a complaint. He tells the staff to stall the woman using any excuse they can. Meanwhile he runs to every pet store in town, trying to find a dog that matches the woman's dog in size, shape, coloring... After an exhaustive search, he finally finds the PERFECT dog. An exact match in every regard.

So the manager races back to the airport, puts the new dog into the woman's dog carrier, and tells the staff to tell the woman that her baggage is ready.

When the woman arrives the manager apologizes for the delay, makes up some excuse, and offers the "replacement" dog to the woman, holding his breath.

The woman take only a cursory glance at the dog and says to the manager: "This is not my dog."

The manager feigns surprize and tries to get the woman to take another look, hoping to convince her. She still insists "This is not my dog."

So the manager, wanting to know where he went wrong and hoping to be able to salvage something, asks the woman "Well, what makes you think this is not your dog?"

And the woman replies "Because my dog is dead. I was bringing him home to Israel to be buried."

<hr>

Hope that doesn't upset... that just always gets a ton of laughs. Your pup will be fine, I'm sure the doc will have some good advice and that some people here or somewhere will be able to relate some real experiences to ease your mind.

{{{{{zenhussy}}}}}

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--http://www.idexter.com

Yeah that's a funny story!

_____________________
RIP Dexter...
<font color=red>The best dog ever!!!</font color=red>

<font color=green>In the real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning.</font color=green>
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Zenhussy,
Ever try ginger? It is suppose to relieve nausea in dogs for motion sickness and it natural. I am not saying that they pills from your vet won't work either, but I think the ginger would have less side effects. Kinda like Draminine... that stuff makes me almost unconscious when I use it. Kinda defeats the purpose of trying to relieve the sickness.
While I do not know how much to give I am sure that your vet or a website could give you the proper dosage.
I know that this is a puppy thing, but I have heard that putting a ticking clock in the crate would calm them down. I had a friend with a lab that it worked perfectly with.
I hope that some of this advice works and I hope that your travel experience is a good one.

Jessica

"Take these chances. Place them in a box until a quieter time..." ~DMB

It is funny! Thank you Dexter.

It is over a twelve hour day of flight and travel to and from airports, connections/customs and all in all a drag. I guess I wonder how I am going to do this alone with my large beast and her crate.

Somehow it will happen. And if my worst fear is not being able to transport the beast through the customs process in time to make my connection then big whoop.

<font color=purple> --zh </font color=purple>

My girlie is part shepherd so she is a pro at car sickness!! Poor girlie. I used to feed her crystalized ginger pieces (ginger slices dried and coated in sugar) and that helped for a while.

I had never heard of the clock idea but that would make sense of possible human contact/heartbeat maybe. I plan on putting some unwashed laundry in there with her so she has her scent and my scent from home (a towel of hers and my pajamas) to comfort her.

I'll find out more from dog doc tomorrow. Never in my life did I expect to be flying my pet in a cargo hold while I lived the high class coach life with no leg room and mystery meals (hint......order the kosher meal instead of vegetarian.........it is awesome and usually veg anyway)

Hmmm...........shoulda looked into the emotional service support animal stuff and the ADA before this flight. I have had folks mention before that if she is well behaved/trained then she could be my support animal and go places with me without discrimination. Still.........doesn't get her an airline seat next to mine!! lol

Thanks again for the ideas and support. Like I said above to Dexter if my largest worry is not being able to get through customs in time then I'm sure both me and dog will be fine. I always stress about clearing customs in time for connecting flight. I loathe this airport I'm connecting through!!

<font color=purple> --zh </font color=purple>

Which airport are you connecting through? Travelling to Norway and back last month, everything went without a hitch until I got to Minneapolis/St.Paul. I almost didn't make it there. Lost luggage, security issues, opposite ends of the airport, .... Barely got on the plane before take-off time. Then they discovered a problem with the cargo hold and had to fix it. Then Air Force 2 was about to land and everything froze until the vice president's caravan had left the airport grounds.

I didn't think about meals when I was getting my tickets, but was lucky. All my flights had vegetarian stuff, but I got the very last vegetarian meal they had on one flight. I had slimfast bars and stuff with me because I wasn't sure if they would have vegetarian options, but I didn't need them. Water is a good thing to take with you though.

Crystalyzed ginger is good stuff.

If you need help getting your dog and your luggage through the airport, you can try using skycap service or something. You'll make it.

<font color=orange>"If a light beckons to you, follow it. If it leads you into the quagmire, you'll probably find your way out of it again; but if you don't follow it, you'll be plagued for the rest of your life by the thought that perhaps it was your star." Friedrich Hebbet</font color=orange>

I'm flying through one of the largest airports in North America that isn't USA.

I would have been cursing the VP if Air Force Two were delaying my air travel!! That's just me tho.

Thank you for reminder of bringing food with me because I do need to have a day's worth of food and water for both me and dog. Along with all my rx to bring. Wonder if my carryon will have room for anything else after my rx bottles? lol

I didn't even think of the skycap service. My pdoc called and has suggested a written medical note for me due to my poor physical health. That way I'll have the chair/cart service through the airports and I guess skycaps or other airline/airport employees assist me through customs with the crate and such.

I appreciate the ideas. This is exactly the kind of help thinking this thing through I needed.

<font color=purple> --zh </font color=purple>