Pet travel lessons learned from one couple’s DIY pet move
While we know our door-to-door pet travel services are top-notch, we also recognize that they sometimes aren't be the best solution for everyone. A huge factor when deciding whether or not to a pet relocation service is your anticipated budget, along with time constraints and individual travel logistics. We often equate the process of moving your pets with building a deck. With the right supplies, information, planning and, yes, heavy lifting, anyone can build a deck. However, most people don't have the time or resources to handle building a deck from scratch. While it can cost more to hire a contractor to build a deck, ultimately you'll save yourself some struggle along the way.
But what if you simply can't afford pet travel services? With a "Can-do!" attitude, moving your pet on your own is a possibility. We read a post over at Wild Dingo today about a couple who moved their two dogs, Juno and Loki, from San Francisco to Geneva, Switzerland. Their experience offered several lessons to be learned about how to move pets on your own, so we thought we'd recap them here:
- Training, Training, Training. While regular readers of our blog know how important it is to crate train their pets prior to travel, the Wild Dingo blog really drives the point home. In San Francisco, to "escape the hustle and bustle of the airport" the dogs happily hopped into their crates. They credited this with the crate "games" they'd played in advance. Another more touchy situation came when, while going through customs clearance, one of their dogs slipped out of his collar. Because their pets had been obedience trained, a simple "Come!" command sent their dog trotting back over to them.
- Ask for help. In Mr. and Mrs. Wild Dingo's case, they enlisted the help of a couple of friends to drive the van with the dogs in it to the airport, while the pet owners followed behind in a rental car. "Sure, they look a little unprofessional, but for the price of a few beers and a sushi lunch, you just can't go wrong," they wrote on their blog. If you can't find a friend to help, there are always a lot of local pet relocation and pet taxi services who will arrange the origin (delivery to the airport) services for you. Check out IPATA.com for a full listing.
- Don't forget to have fun. We've written a lot about how pets can pick up on your stress levels, which can often cause your pets unnecessary anxiety. For Mr. and Mrs. Wild Dingo, their whole post recapping their pets' travel exudes a definite sense of confidence and calm, even in some particularly hairy situations! In most of the pictures, Mrs. Wild Dingo is seen smiling and, despite a stressful situation, you can tell they were enjoying observing their pets' reactions to traveling. This kind of attitude can make a world of difference in a pet's mental state.
We give the Dingo family an A+ for their excellent travel preparation and a fun recap to go with it! With the right kind of attitude, even international pet moving doesn't always have to be stressful!