Shipping Dogs – Flying versus Transport, what is the pros and cons

We have flown many dogs and puppies to get them around the country but recently had a new experience of private transporting a dog. This is my experiences with both using flying a dog through the airlines and having a dog transported.

For us to fly a dog it is a two-hour drive to the Mpls airport. If you fly a dog through cargo it is somewhat easier than flying a dog through special services on the regular airline. Either way you will need to get the dog to the airport. There are courier services that can do this for a fee. You will need the required breed size crate for the dog and then get the dog through the airport. You can rent dollies to pull the crate through the airport but that is additional expense. You will need to have a medical vet health check and your paperwork in order for the airport, more expense. Generally, when the dog arrives whoever is picking up the dog will have travel time and deal with the congestion of traffic and the airport. For me this meant another hour drive to the airport to pick up the dog. This is all stressful on man and dog. If you are shipping the dog in the winter, there are some airlines that will not fly the dog out of the northern states in winter months. My daughter is well versed in this so she has it down to a science; even so it is time consuming.

Recently while out of town I needed to have a dog shipped to me and had heard about transport services and began to research this option. I was surprised that there were quite a few companies that do this and the prices widely varied. The prices ranged from 300 to almost 3000 dollars for the 1500-mile journey. There are companies who transport multiple dogs at a time and have a US route. This is the least expensive but it takes longer as they have many stops delivering the dogs. Being in January some services would not travel the northern states during the winter.

I am pleased to report my experiences with Andy and Teri Farrell, the persons whom transported the dog for me, were nothing but excellent. Being my first transport experience, it was an unknown thing for me so kind of scary and not sure of exactly what to expect. This couple had high reviews on the internet, were experienced commercial drivers and for me a plus as they personally own German Shepherd dogs, so I trusted they could handle the dog. You could not have asked for better people who were concerned for the dog’s welfare. We scheduled the pickup date; they sent me an email the day before reminding me of their pick up date and time. They arrived as scheduled – a Tuesday morning 10 am. Picked up the dog, a large bag of dog food, a box of the dogs’ equipment and a walker that I needed to train the dog with. The dog was their only passenger so they transported her in their car rather than using one of their trucks. They drove straight through and the dog was delivered at my door early Wednesday afternoon. That is GREAT door to door SERVICE. During the trip every few hours they would send me an email and photos of the dog as to her condition and the progress as to where they were located. The dog quickly bonded to them and when they left she was looking for them.