International Nesties
Smudges*Mom
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Getting your pet to your international location
We are moving to the Frankfurt, Germany area in a few months. We have a 35 pound Boston Terrier who is coming with us. DH's military orders indicate that we will be flying commercially (I was hoping to get onto one of the military flights). Our plan is to fly directly from the DC area to Frankfurt (much kinder to the dog and those sitting near us and our toddler on the plane!). Germany does not have any quarantine and our dog will meet the necessary requirements to enter the country.
If you have shipped a dog (in cargo, he is too big to fit under the seat), what was your experience? Did you use a shipping agent? What advice can you share with me?
Honestly, the thought of putting our beloved dog in the cargo hold makes me feel a little bit sick. Thanks, in advance, for any help or advice.
If you have shipped a dog (in cargo, he is too big to fit under the seat), what was your experience? Did you use a shipping agent? What advice can you share with me?
Honestly, the thought of putting our beloved dog in the cargo hold makes me feel a little bit sick. Thanks, in advance, for any help or advice.
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
Re: Getting your pet to your international location
I don't have experience with a dog but I moved to London with my 2 cats and they were required to fly as cargo. I used a pet transport company which was hugely helpful (but also very expensive) and they had no problems. They fly in a temperature controlled area, which is dark and supposed to be better for most pets since they are basically in an area where they can be calm. I have also always heard that you should not use any sort of medicine to make them sleep as it can be fatal for them.
Good luck!
I am back in the US but spent 2 years in Frankfurt in Bockenheim. This is my vet practice and they all spoke English and were SO helpful as we had a few emergencies. http://www.dr-hoech.de/eng/eng_index.shtml
We could bring the dog everywhere, to most restaurants (although not Turkish or Thai), to the mall, coffee shops, the ubahn, everywhere. There are dog parks too, we found the majority of people do not have their dogs on leashes so be aware of that as its shocking at first and sometimes a dog just appears. There is an English movie theater but the quality of the seats SUCKS, we found at the end the main theaters do show some of the blockbusters in English and those theaters are much nicer.
Hey there! We are bringing our 3 dogs to Germany and two are going to have to fly cargo because of their size. I have done a ton of research and have found that Delta and American both are really great and a lot of zoos use them. Delta gives 40% off for those shipping pets because of military orders!
Have you done your EMFP paperwork and no-fee passport? I think last we chatted you had not yet. I am just curious because mine is taking forever and because of this Hs orders do not include me yet and have nothing about what type of flight (commercial or military).
That is interesting about American and Delta. Of course, United seems to be the one carrier that flies from Dulles to Frankfurt. We really want to avoid a layover, if we can. It would seem that departing from a major metropolitan area on the East Coast would provide more than one option. Well, I guess I'd feel better about our one option if it were Delta or American.
I am ready to get this show on the road.
My H received orders a while ago, but I was not on them. They did say that his move was accompanied, so that is good, I assume that means they are expecting me, but I was not specifically on them. Is this normal? This is our first PCS (H was NG before/while going through ROTC and commissioning) so I have no idea what is going on.
I have my no-fee already, it took almost no time, I think I had it within 2-3 weeks of submitting my paperwork. It is my EMFP paperwork that is taking forever! I turned it all in back in October. No one seems to be concerned though so I guess this is normal. My H's orders are for April, so we have some time, but I do not want to cut it to close.
I did not really do any research on United, perhaps they are good too! Most blogs I came across listed the other two though. That is odd that given where you live you can not find a direct flight on Delta or American. We live on the west coast but are not at major hub (Vegas) so I am trying to figure out if it would be better to drive to a bigger hub like LA or have a layover. I will certainly make sure that they fly direct from somewhere in the US to Frankfurt, I have read that your pets are subject to quarantine laws where ever you land, even if you do not get off.
Here are some informative blogs:
http://www.coyotecommunications.com/germany/basics.html
http://www.german-way.com/dogs.html
I am ready to get this show on the road too, I am just so anxious to get there and get this move over with!
This all makes my head spin. I love Smudge, but he is an added layer of challenges!
You're lucky you're flying to Frankfurt! Lufthansa is one of the best for shipping pets as cargo. I've used them before and that's who I will be using again.
http://lufthansa-cargo.com/en_de/mainnav/products/livetd/
Hey,
We moved our dog from the US to New Zealand and then from New Zealand to Australia. First thing is first. The area they put animals is not the standard cargo area where your bags go. It is a tempature and pressure controlled part of the cabin were live cargo can be kept safely.
Most pet transportation agencies work within a specific state. Just put in your states name along with the phrase international pet transportation agencies. Do this as soon as possible. Even though your dog may qualify for automatic entry without any quarantine, doesnt mean you wont have to do other test. When you contact an agency they will give you an outline of what tests need to be done and when.
Almost all airlines require you to use a pet transportation agency so prepare yourself for a big bill. You and your other half could probably fly first class on the amount you will pay for your pup's ticket.
It is a stressful process but you can do it and it will be well worth it to have the whole family together. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.
Best of luck to you!
My vet and the pet relocation company told us not to give our dog anything to sedate her. You might want to look into pet remedy or the like if smudges gets super anxious.
As pp's have said, you have one of the best situations for shipping a bet. Direct flight on a good airline into a country with super easy requirements. You would have no need for any kind of pet transport agency goign to Germany with just one pet.
Our two dogs have flown to German and Norway in cargo and did fine. We made sure their water was full, put a shirt of mine in with them that I had slept in/with a couple nights before. and checked in at the last possible time basically to keep them with us as long as possible (we did talk to the agents though first and they knew we were there but waiting for the sake of our dogs)...you should really have no problem.
I know why this makes you so nervous, I get nervous every time. But it is a climate controlled, relatively safe place for them to travel. Also, each time when I get to my gate I have asked a gate agent to have someone tell me when they can confirm the dogs are on. Each time a flight attendant has come up to me and told me they are on, or once it was even announced by the captain 'You will all be happy to know, Falcor and Enid are on board!' haha
My Blog
Nope, not enrolled already. I thought it was taking a long time! My H is at Fort Benning right now for some training and that is actually the base my paperwork went through, so he is going to go down to the office tomorrow to see what is taking so long!
So when you are on his orders does it just say accompanied or are you specifically listed? I wonder if its because our first PCS is overseas? I hear he has to have command sponsorship before I will be on them, and getting my EMFP paperwork all cleared is a step to getting command sponsorship.
Good to know about the number of pets per MAC flight! I will look into it.
Oooh, good to know! We are flying into Frankfurt as well! Thanks!
Yes, please do!