More On Traveling With Pets, at 30,000 Feet

New article in NYT describes how BA is no longer accepting pets as excess baggage, requiring owners to us a freight transport service instead. This is a major blow to anyone, like myself, who travels abroad with their pets. We have been using Lufthansa, but

"According to Ross Gays, European director of WorldCare Pet Transport (www.worldcarepet.com) in London: “Other airlines may start to require pets to travel only through cargo systems, via a pet travel agent, not checked in as before by the accompanying owner as excess baggage.”


Story description:
Q & A
More on Traveling With Pets, at 30,000 Feet
By ROGER COLLIS
Published: April 1, 2007
A reader would like to bring his Labrador from London to Nice and is concerned about getting caught in the “pet travel racket within Europe.”


I guess this is interesting since more hotels in the States are becoming pet friendly, while international airlines are not. There used to be a time, that with an extra fee, BA would walk and water your dog for you.

When I got on to the BA World Cargo site for live animals There's no indication what-so-ever of them not shipping domestic pets.

"Live Animals

British Airways World Cargo has many years' experience in transporting live animals. Our personnel handle animal shipments everyday and pride themselves in taking as much care of them as you would yourself.

Most animals can be transported by air. The only limitation is the size of the cargo hold. Larger animals, such as horses and cattle, can be carried on one of our freighter services. However, on our passenger services, due to the size of the cargo hold, we carry smaller animals such as cats, dogs, birds, reptiles and tropical fish.

For more information on the transportation of large animals on our freighter network, contact your local British Airways World Cargo office. Further information can also be found on the International Air Transport Association(IATA) website at www.iata.org/whatwedo/live_animals and on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) website at www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/index.htm.

The UK animal transporter authorisation (reference UK/REIGA/T2/00003654) permits British Airways to carry livestock.

View our Animal Transportation Authorisation (opens a new window, pdf, 107Kb)."

Either BA has not updated its website or there's some other confusion in this article. Later on the BA website, they state that you must use a specialized pet transport service if the pet is being transported seperately.

We use Lufthansa and started using them when we were living in Baku, Azerbaijan. BA, which owns and operates British Mediterranean, the subsidiary that services Baku claimed that we could only fly our dog straight through from Baku to NYC on BA, and that British Mediterranean was not considered a part of their fleet. Tell that to the BA webpages that link to it. I thought the argument was a bunch of bull and was disappointed as we were pretty much, dedicated BA fliers. Now, we're dedicated Lufthansa fliers and I hope they continue to take pets at excess bagagge. Once we had to physically transfer our dog from one airline (and terminal) to another once in Philadelphia. It was in 1997 when BA and American were going through divorce proceedings. It's a pain, but something I would do again, if I had to.

I would just wanted to know, where these specialized pet carrier companies originated. Could it possibly be ex-UK quarantine operators, who are now loosing money, due to the new UK, European and American pet import agreements? If so, they really due know how to operate a racket. So I looked them up. Two of the pet transport services mentioned in the NYT article are also quarantine agents.

These are:
Air Pets Oceanic, airpets.com, mentioned in the NYT article is a UK quarantine kennel, as well. "Flying pets everywhere and pet boarding." The same with PAS Livestock Limited.


Another article previously published in the NYT mentions Ross Gays' company. And for those of you new to transporting pets, it ain't cheap - see article below.

Q & A

Home From France, With Seven Pets in Tow
By ROGER COLLIS
Published: March 4, 2007
A reader would like to find the safest way to transport his cats and dogs from France to the United States.

Awesome Daughter's Puppy

I promised Awesome Daughter I would do a blog on her puppy.

AD got her puppy in December right before Christmas. We went to check it out in November, during Thanksgiving break. And the breeders checked us out too. We had 1 English Springer Spaniel before. He had a show coat, like AD's puppy and our current one "Doggie" has a sporting coat. We didn't even get to pick out the pup. We went up, played with all the pups out in a field and the breeders decided. They picked which ones they thought were show quality, which ones were not and which ones would go to which owners. I guess their experts at psychology too, using reasons like, "well, he's shy and would be better off with so and so." Suffice it to say, we got what they believe to be one of the losers, although no Springer (unless inbred, is a loser.) AD'S Puppy fooled them - totally!

Springers are amazing dogs. They have human eyes and behave like people. They're mild tempered, with a bit of hunting instinct, making them, somewhat unpredictable around animals other than other dogs. They're well meaning, even if they do shake the shit out of that bunny (and kill it) or decide to watch a bird hop around right in front of their nose, and doing nothing about it. They like to go after stuff that moves, except for cars.

Our current Doggie broke two leashes our first week in Abu Dhabi chasing feral cats and jumping over the American Ambassador's villa walls to do so. I was worried one of the guards standing outside with an AK-47 might decide to shoot her (it's legal), but they just watched. Apparently the Bahraini who supervised them was a dog lover himself. She saw the cats, bolted and that was it for the leashes - nice thick leather braided ones too. We ended up using rope until we could drive to the ACE Hardware store in Dubai to buy a retractable leash.

Springers are pretty much on the lazy side, (unless they're used for hunting) once they become inbedded with your pack, they will keep you company during good and bad times (and hog up the bed). Our old dog was an expert at that. Our current dog, appears to be deaf (but can hear plastic food bags opening) and seems to sleep constantly, except when she smells food. We have a very "selective" Springer, who's on her own little schedule. Who's the 'real' boss here, huh?

Anyway, so here's a short photo blog of AD's new pup. It's a sad, sad tale, cause Awesome Daughter should've given him to Vagabondblogger and Boss Man, but she's selfish and has now made puppy totally devoted to her. We're jealous, but we also don't want to rile Doggie, who's an old demanding bitch. Doggie taught little pup a few lessons when he was at our house for awhile, like "don't sniff my butt," - see below.

Maybe Awesome Daughter should be called "Alpha Dog" instead. I also think Awesome Daughter should get her own fucking blog!



Show Dog Pose - at the breeder's. One of their little tests for the possible winning dog.























Doggie and AD's pup - togetherness (for now, at least.) Doggie tore a ligament in her right leg one day, barking at the postman. She had 2 surgeries and is all back to normal now. The scar on her leg is from the ligament surgery and the plastic collar is to keep her from chewing the shit out of her leg.






















Squatter! - on Vagabondblogger's Doggie's bed (He's new to the pack):





















Sniffing - (smells good down there?)




























Exercise




















Wiped Out:




























Just neutered



Just had his surgery, nipping any possible heirs in the bud. It's a new regulation with the American Kennel Club. You buy a purebred dog and have to sign a release stating you will either neuter or spay them. If you decide to show them, you must get permission from the breeder, since show dogs have to be breedable. If you just want to breed your dog, you again have to get permission from the breeder - they have to "approve" of the mate. It all starts to sound like an arranged marriage. Granted all this has taken place to put puppy mills and backyard breeders out of business, or make it impossible for a puppy mill dog to become a show dog. (Yeah, let's all thumb our noses at those purebreds without the proper papers. Little bastards!) But, I think maybe the AKC has gone a wee bit over the line on all of this. On the other hand, I do not like seeing Springers for sale at the local pet shop, so I guess I have to take the good with the bad. One thing's for sure, the price of purebred dogs, from a "reputable" breeder, has gone through the ceiling!

Some Links:
No Pet Left Behind
By WENDY KNIGHT
Published: March 30, 2007
Several luxury condominiums and private residence clubs now offer luxury pet services and amenities that rival those meant for humans.

The American Kennel Club.

The Westminster Kennel Club - watch videos of the most recent dog show, where an English Springer Spaniel won Best In Show!

Testing 1,2,3 - Red & White Bay Window Van - Revised (Does this work?) - And Revised Again!

I'm more or less fairly new at all the stuff that goes into putting together a blog. One of my readers said they could not see the photos and then later found out that flickr.com is blocked in their country. So I'm trying to figure out how to remain compliant with my flickr agreement in such a way that everyone can view the photos.

Please let me know if you experience any problems or if this is better.

This is a van I spotted making a delivery one day when I didn't have my camera on me. I knew it would return sooner or later and just made sure I had my camera with me today. It coincidentally drove up as I was walking down the street (not at all at the same time of day I had seen before.) So I got lucky.

Enjoy.



Red & White VW Van
























Side View