Taking pet dog to New Zealand from UK

[Cherry]

Hi all,

Does anyone have first hand experience of taking their pet dog to New Zealand from the UK?

We fly to Christchurch at the start of November and cant decide whether or not to take our dog.

We keep reading contradicting information on the internet with regards to the actual process and the costs involved.

Can anyone share their own experience and give us an idea of the costs we should expect to incur?

Thanks for any input.

[Manks]

Try searching in the Making the Move forum using the search term Dog or Golden Arrow is a good one (they are a pet transport company in the UK that often gets recommended).

[charliesdad]

we debated about bringing Millie our Choc Lab, but not really as we all knew we would take her regardless of cost. In the end it was easy and the company (who's name escapes me but I will try and find out) were really good.

Not sure if the rules are still the same but I literally drove to the airport, signed a couple of bits of paper and Millie and Fish (the cat) where wheeled out in their crates and I took them to the new house. Millie was very pleased to see me and seemed to be no worse for her epic journey. Fish looked like he would have a fight with anyone who came near him, not being too chuffed about his accommodation!!

Can't imagine them not being here.

[Hagabel]

I just sent choc lab off today..from US though, cost us around $5000 total (US) inc quarantine, vets fees etc. Be prepared for a LOT of paperwork and buy a bottle of wine!

[JandM]

Lots of threads here. http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=sit...aq=f&aqi=&aql=

[Kenzie]

I'm flying my dog to NZ in December, using Golden Arrow.

The main thing to be aware of is there is now 10 days quarantine for dogs from the UK in NZ. 10 days isn't a lot but it is costly.

I understand that you can't ship your pets yourself - you must go through a shipping company, but at least they organise all the paperwork for you. Generally you just need to sort out various blood tests/treatments in the month before the dog flies.

To ship my small dog it is going to cost around 2,500 British pounds all up.

[Cherry]

Thanks for your replies.

We have received quotes ranging from 2k up to 4k for just her flights... Add on all the vet costs and quarantine costs and its definitely not cheap.

I think we need to think long and hard and assess our budget before we decide.

[frodo]

Monty our Jack Russell x Manchester terrier flew out in July this year. We used Golden Arrow who were great and boarded him for 2 weeks before he flew. He flew 2 days beore the new quar regs came in (10 days now from the uk) The prices goes on size and we paid just under £2k which included all the tests from our vets, if he had to go into quar in Auckland it would have been about £800 more in fees. He arrived well and is enjoying life here.
We brought Monty as he's only 2 years old, has excellent health and is a great dog, so for us the right choice.

[whakapapa]

we used Golden Arrow (they changed the dates to get us in before the quarantine regs came into force) and we brought two very old cats and our 5 year old dog. They boarded them for a month and therefore they did all the vet stuff (much better than dragging the pets back and forth), it also gave our girls an opportunity to get used to the crates there were to be flown in. It cost 4,150 GBP for the lot (boarding, jabs, flights) and was much better for our peace of mind. I couldn't leave them, even if we'd had to pay quarantine fees. I suggest you contact the quarantine facility in your intended location in NZ and they can give you an idea of what 10 days will cost so you can factor it in. For me, even though the cats are 18, I'd never have left them whatever the cost. It would have been a deal breaker over coming to NZ if the only option was to leave them.

I'm speculating but you are probably looking at 3-3.5k GBP (obviously this depends on the size of your dog and whether you have them boarded before (we actually found it was of little difference to have them boarded with GA and have all the vet treatment done there, than it would have been to have our vet do it, with the added visits and stress all around!!)

HTH