Would you take your dog to Australia?

Re: Would you take your dog to Australia?

Caro Laithwaite VN — Fri, 27 May 2011 08:15:52 GMT

We had lots of poisonous back home mostly snakes but a lot of them but didnt keep dogs on a lead because of that in fact we very rarely used leads back home.

In tenerife lot of op poison our dogs there didnt go off the lead much it wasnt cause of that though was their lousy recall l didnt want to loose them. . l think coming from a "safe" country people see to much worry in things get on with life snakes and spiders and other nasty's tend to avoid things that are to big for them unless edible size. Course a black mamba will just track and attack as you are in his territory but you dont have those thereWhich seeing the average persons attitude to ticks in uk is just as well really!!

Re: Would you take your dog to Australia?

chanel clydesdale — Fri, 27 May 2011 02:10:14 GMT

hey, speaking of experience with me literally just moved yesterday i can relate to your extremely hard decision. I have a 2yr old bouncy boisterous collie and I was worried about wether i should bring him along with me as its only a 2year post also. I have looked into all the pros and cons of taking him and leaving him and i have decided to work in the middle.....luckily enough i have been able to leave him with my parents for a while and during this time I can assess wether it will become a more permanent job or not. I am then going to bring him across if i like it here. its an extremely hard decision to make and a very individual one, the reason i am hesitating also is because my dog has previous illnesses under his insurance, this would no longer be covered on his return and also because of the heat im not so sure he would cope. I hope you come to a decision that suits you both but i can understand that it isnt easy.

Re: Would you take your dog to Australia?

Carol Chalmers — Wed, 25 May 2011 20:20:32 GMT

I would take your doggy with you if i was you. If i ever move abroad then i am taking my cat with me.

Re: Would you take your dog to Australia?

ginny — Wed, 25 May 2011 18:44:27 GMT

I didn't think of the spiders and snakes! Plus he's a chesapeake, double coated, bred for swimming in icy lakes not really western Australain heat,

Thank you for your replies. Have a lot of thinking to do!

Re: Would you take your dog to Australia?

chip munk — Wed, 25 May 2011 11:16:53 GMT

Hi I was in a similar situation 3 years ago. We were moving abroad for 18months to 2 years and I looked into foster homes for my 2 dogs as I thought the stress of the flight etc would be too much for them. I changed my mind and sorted out their export. When I met up with them 1 week later they looked so well!!! They coped really well with the flight. I did use their plastic travel crates as beds so they would get used to them before the flight. My other concern was how they would cope with the heat but again they have both coped better than me and my husband. Our tour was extended so we have been stationed abroad for 3 years and I've just booked their return flights....they are 12 and 15 now. I suppose the only sad thing is I havent been able to let them off the lead because of the vipers, toxic caterpillars and O.P poisonings....but I'm so glad I changed my mind and brought them with me. I have also managed to adopt 3 cyprus cats along the way and again their crates are set up in the house and they get fed in them and sleep there aswell. Looking forward to having all my furkids back at home....until the next posting and we have to do it all again x

Re: Would you take your dog to Australia?

Caro Laithwaite VN — Wed, 25 May 2011 10:16:37 GMT

My 3 did the full 6 months no they don't get walked they are not allowed out of their kennel and run. Mine came through fine and l know Tony brought a lot of single dogs back that also did well. In fact one came back 2 weeks after my lot from my kennels l ran so l visited her as well while l did mine and she was fine a big Berdino (mastiff type but slimmer not as heavy) total sweetie. Very energetic normally but just snoozed or barked when needed.

They settle down very quickly to the kennels and l used to visit a lot once the think it was one week non visit period is passed. Although you are not allowed to touch/go in with any but yours they are all "seeable" out in their runs. It was rare to see any that suffered to badly from being confined ok they didn't love it but as l say they settled down and enjoyed their visits and after running a rescue kennels l was pretty good at spotting stress.

Attention wise they got as much as any dog in a busy kennel gets, the vet visits weekly unless needed sooner and if the pet needs to go to the vet there is a ton of paperwork the kennel needs to do but that's their problem.

Don't forget a month is often a normal amount as people do go away for up to a couple of months holiday but a month isnt to long.

Re: Would you take your dog to Australia?

Steph Phillips — Wed, 25 May 2011 08:23:20 GMT

I'd worry like mad leaving my pooch in quarentine for a month .. but that said, I'd worry about her if she was home too!!

If someone I trusted was able to look after her, I'd leave her.. if not - then yes I'd take her with me. I suppose a month flies by!

Does anyone know what quarentine is like? I imagine it being like a dog borstal kennels! do they get regular excercise and attention?

Re: Would you take your dog to Australia?

Caro Laithwaite VN — Wed, 25 May 2011 07:42:02 GMT

Sedation should NEVER EVER be used in ANY animal travelling by air. It drops their blood pressure and the altitude also drops their blood pressure it is the biggest cause of pet death in animals that fly.

Also as the animal is not supervised it can actually have the opposite effect to sedation and send them hyper as they are unable to understand whats going on with the sedation & there is no one there to supervise and help. Apart from that an animal should never be left unsupervised that has been sedated.

Having sent l would guess at least 200 animals by air l am speaking from exp. and not google. I have an idea it is not permitted to send them sedated from UK as "airline" had several animals pulled in various episodes that had been sedated.

If an animal gets stressed they need to deal with it as best they can and l have sent animals that are so terrified one would literally run from her own shadow. She got to Germany fine and soon settled down.

Re: Would you take your dog to Australia?

Siobhan Steven — Wed, 25 May 2011 04:21:53 GMT

I would bring him over. Animals tend to cope well with the trip, assuming they have no underlying problems and arn't bracycephelic! Most times sedation isn't even used, and companies are very experienced with the procedure.

Re: Would you take your dog to Australia?

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 24 May 2011 23:57:36 GMT

we've done quite a few exports to Aus recently.

You can find all the info you need at:

http://daff.gov.au/aqis/cat-dogs

With me it would depend on whether there is someone I trust to look after my dogs here - if there was, I'd leave them. If not, there wouldn't be an option - they'd have to come. My older dog would hate the quarantine though so I would do a lot of worrying!

Re: Would you take your dog to Australia?

Chippet — Tue, 24 May 2011 22:36:31 GMT

I personally wouldn;t, but simply because i know my dog wouldn't deal with it as shes very anxious. I would also be concerned for during the flight and would worry about not seeing her during that time, unless you can arrnage to?

If you think he would deal with the flight and the change, then i'd probably say go for it.

Re: Would you take your dog to Australia?

ginny — Tue, 24 May 2011 22:26:17 GMT

Thank you for your replies. My husband is a kiwi and so can work freely in Australia. He is out there now (since March) and originally was only going for a year but the job is likely to last longer.

He wants us to fly out and join him til the job ends or at least for a year. He says we can afford to take the dog but i'm not sure if its fair to travel him all that way for a year or two at the most. I haven't looked into working there just living there for a while.

I think he will be ok with quarantine but realise its a complicated system over there. I still need to ring Defra to get details!

Originally we were staying here due to animal and school committments but this has to change as the job is longer now. People I know seem to think i am mad not to go but i have to decide about Wylie first.

Re: Would you take your dog to Australia?

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:32:37 GMT

1) can you afford it? It is an expensive exercise.

2) how will he cope with a month in quarantine?

Re: Would you take your dog to Australia?

Steph Worsley — Tue, 24 May 2011 18:10:23 GMT

Like Caro has said, I prob would IF I knew I could cover all potential costs and that he would be ok with the travel and change in conditions etc

Re: Would you take your dog to Australia?

Caro Laithwaite VN — Tue, 24 May 2011 17:59:13 GMT

I would do it if l knew l had the out and back fare paid for him and have an idea of what was happening when l got out there work where he would go during the day covered for any vets fees assuming insured in uk.