Transporting Dogs

[Gubbs]

What airlines can fly your dogs out to New Zealand from the UK.

[JandM]

Most people use a specialist pet shipping company (some mentions here http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sclie...w=1112&bih=768) to sort out the details, because there are so many formalities and regulations which they already have at their fingertips, but are a lot for a private person to get their head round when already coping with packing belongings, immigration rules, etc.. From the UK, many people speak extremely highly of Golden Arrow - you can find them and other firms by Googling.

[Gubbs]

cheers JandM i have phoned round a few now and finding it very hard. I have two Brish Bulldogs and not many flight companies will take bulldogs. Cant bear thinking i haveing to leave my two dogs.
This is not good.

[JandM]

Have you tried talking to the pet shipping people? If one that you ask won't do it, they might be able to put you on to another who would. And I notice that the United Airways 'banned' list that there was a lot of bad publicity about has been withdrawn quite recently.

There are plenty of British bulldogs in NZ already, and they certainly aren't banned in the country.

[nickydwuk]

Why won't they ship bulldogs?? Having shipped our dogs from UK - NZ and then back again I would recommend you use a pet shipping company. Our dogs were flown using Air NZ but initially one of our dogs was bigger than the others and would have had to go via Qantas (unfortunately he died before we left). We shipped 2 rottweilers!!!

[girlwithanewf]

Do not attempt to ship dogs to New Zealand yourself! The opportunities for things to go wrong are many, and if you haven't followed the procedure properly, your animals just won't get in, or be flown in the first place.
It is expensive to use a pet shipper, yes, but they have extensive experience of this and know all the ins and outs of the process. They deal with the pre-flight medical requirements and tell you exactly what you need to do when, ensure that the animals are fit to fly, take them to the airport, get them on the plane, etc etc. There is the added complication of quarantine now, which we didn't have. We used Golden Arrow to bring over our Newfoundland, Golden Retriever and cat, with Air New Zealand from London to Auckland. They would have flown them on to our final destination for us, but the Newfoundland's crate was too tall for the cargo hold of the onward flight, so we had to drive to Auckland to collect them.
Do get lots of quotes, Golden Arrow were the cheapest for us at the time but definitely seemed to offer the best service and experience.
And google the regulations from MAF regarding pet importation. Some breeds are not allowed in, but couldn't tell you which ones.
And be prepared for a very large bill!

[Hagabel]

Air NZ shipped our large lab from the US but I would go with a company too.

[BenScoobert]

Do not attempt to ship dogs to New Zealand yourself! The opportunities for things to go wrong are many, and if you haven't followed the procedure properly, your animals just won't get in, or be flown in the first place.
It is expensive to use a pet shipper, yes, but they have extensive experience of this and know all the ins and outs of the process. They deal with the pre-flight medical requirements and tell you exactly what you need to do when, ensure that the animals are fit to fly, take them to the airport, get them on the plane, etc etc. There is the added complication of quarantine now, which we didn't have. We used Golden Arrow to bring over our Newfoundland, Golden Retriever and cat, with Air New Zealand from London to Auckland. They would have flown them on to our final destination for us, but the Newfoundland's crate was too tall for the cargo hold of the onward flight, so we had to drive to Auckland to collect them.
Do get lots of quotes, Golden Arrow were the cheapest for us at the time but definitely seemed to offer the best service and experience.
And google the regulations from MAF regarding pet importation. Some breeds are not allowed in, but couldn't tell you which ones.
And be prepared for a very large bill!

Do you recall how much it cost?

[JandM]

There aren't many recent threads on this, but there are lots of ads from pet shippers down the RH side of this page - their web pages will give you an idea. http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sclie...w=1112&bih=768

[nickydwuk]

In 2008 for 2 rottweilwers and a border terrier - including tests etc... it cost £6820 with Golden Arrow.