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Flying with a puppy...

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flight puppy
4K views 15 replies 7 participants last post by  queryne 
#1 ·
After waiting for a about a year we are finally getting our first Hav!
More excited than I can even express! The little guys comes home later this month..
My question is this...we're going to fly him home, flight is about 1 1/2 hrs. anyone have any tips we need to keep in mind about flying with a puppy??

Thanks.

Corinne
 
#2 ·
All I can say is it was much easier than I was afraid it might be with Kodi. Our breeder supplied us with a HUGE pee pad, and we had a small, soft-sided Sherpa bag, and extra cloth towel and lots of paper towels along in case of accidents.

We had a two hour drive to the airport, and another hour drive from the airport once we got home. He did get sick once in the carrier on the way to the airport, so the paper towels and the extra cloth towel for the bottom of the carrier came in handy.

We spread the big pee pad out for him to pee a couple of times, without him coming in contact with the ground or the floor in the airport. He dutifully peed each time, and never had an accident in his carrier.

He cried a tiny bit in the car, just before he got sick, which is understandable, and basically slept the rest of the time. We held him a bit in the airport while we were waiting, but he slept the whole way in the plane.

When we got home, he was chipper and happy, ready to meet the rest of the family, have a little play time, then a little supper before falling back asleep and sleeping through the night. He was an easy puppy!:)
 
#3 ·
Karen... You're a godsend!! By the way, I'm picking up my guy from Tom and Pam of Starborn! So I'll be making the same 2 hour drive and then 1 1/2 hour flight! If you have any suggestions on the Sherpa bag, I'm looking for a good one. Excellent advice, thank you so much. This is exactly what I was looking for!

By the way, our guy is "Leo " on the new puppy page!!
 
#7 ·
The good thing dealing with Pam and Tom is that they are so experienced they'll help you every step of the way, and their puppies are so well socialized that they take things in stride. I had the opportunity to sit with Tom and watch him supervising "play time" with the puppies last week. Most of them were already going to the potties independently, but when someone got caught with an urge too far away from the box, Tom knew it before the pup did themselves, scooped them up and deposited them in the right place before they had a chance to make a mistake.

Is Leo the little guy who is white except for the black head? I took lots of puppy pix while we were there. I'll try to get some up on the forum, but I've been B U S Y since we got home, and haven't even been able to move the photos from my laptop over onto my main computer!!!
 
#4 · (Edited)
Pam says she has a Sherpa bag you can borrow, and ship back, but Walmart has them for 15 or 16 dollars and it might cost that much to ship one back.

She'll fix you up with everything you need for the trip back. I've never heard of one not sleeping all the way home on a plane-must be something about the vibration. Some stewardesses say that puppies are invisible to them, which is code for "it's okay to take the puppy out if I get to pet it".

Pam says that different airlines have different fees for carrying a dog on, so it might be worth checking that when comparing ticket prices.
 
#6 ·
Pam says she has a Sherpa bag you can borrow, and ship back, but Walmart has them for 15 or 16 dollars and it might cost that much to ship one back.

She'll fix you up with everything you need for the trip back. I've never heard of one not sleeping all the way home on a plane-must be something about the vibration. Some stewardesses say that puppies are invisible to them, which is code for "it's okay to take the puppy out if I get to pet it".

Pam says that different airlines have different fees for carrying a dog on, so it might be worth checking that when comparing ticket prices.
Yes, and MAKE SURE you reserve space for the puppy ahead of time, as they only allow a certain number of dogs per flight. It's not usually an issue, but you don't want to get caught out.
 
#5 ·
Tom, great to know.. We initially thought we'd drive but now flying seems like a better bet! I will take you up on that bag by the way.. I've already found an airline so I think we've got that all sorted out. Not sure why I thought flying would be harder than it is!
 
#9 ·
Karen... I know it! Those Starborn puppies are really something special!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! Leo and Breeze are both have white bodies and black heads.. Not sure which one you may have seen but it could have been him! They are both so precious!!!

As for my experience with Pam and Tom.. it has been absolutely heavenly.. they are truly a pleasure to deal with!

Tammy, thank you! Dont you worry, i'll be sure to get those pics up on the forum as soon as I can! Karen, when things calm down... we'd LOVE to see your pics!
:biggrin1:
 
#10 ·
Oh, I got to. Not only SEE all of them, but got crawled over by them, had them untying my shoe laces, chewing my sleeves... In other words, I had a BALL playing with 11 adorable puppies at once. I know there were two that looked a lot alike... Even Tom couldn't tell them apart without having Frolic check them out and tell him which one was hers!:). One was very cute and kept carrying one of the food bowls around in his mouth after dinner. It was pretty funny!
 
#12 ·
We flew home with all 3 of ours. Apolo from Ariona, Lacey and Blaze from North Carolina. No problem with any of them. We aldo flew to California when Apolo was 6 months old. He was great, and the person sitting next to me didn't even realize we had a dog until the end of the flight. When we came home with puppies, we had our ugo dog in the back of our SUV so as soon as we got to the car, they could potty.
 
#13 ·
I do have an amusing flight story, though. A couple of years ago, I was flying home from Germany, and an announcement came over the loud speakers telling us that if anyone saw a small dog, he had escaped his carrier and was loose in the plane. There were several minutes of people shuffling around and looking under their seats before the little guy was found and returned to custody!:) I think everyone was amused, and it gave us all a chance to move around and stretch a bit!:pound:
 
#14 ·
I flew with my Desilu when she was 10 weeks old, and then again when she was four months. She was an absolute angel for the three hour flights. Never made a peep and the people sitting next to me were amazed that their had been a puppy under the seat the entire time! She pretty much slept in her pink carry-on (bought on Amazon). I'm surprised I don't see more dogs flying nowadays, especially our velco havanese. Easiest thing, and great company.

Good luck!
 
#15 ·
I saw on the news recently about a cat that escaped its carrier on a plane just before takeoff. It managed to wedge itself into some critical space and delayed the flight by several hours until they could capture it again. Owner got a major fine for the inconvenience
 
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