[dawn]

Firstly, thanks to everyone for recommending Golden Arrow, they came in almost £1000 cheaper than Airpets, I'm going to cancel the Airpets booking, even though we've paid £50 deposit, still saves us nearly £950!!! I've been impressed with Golden Arrow so far, very speedy service, with quotes and telephone calls and VERY willing to answer all my dopey questions, which leads me to number 2.

What did you do with your crate? I asked Steve at Golden Arrow what most people did with theirs and he told me to put it on EBay! lol

I don't really want or need mine once we've got Hux through to Auckland. A friend of ours is collecting us at the airport, in our car and between the dog, luggage, 2 kids, 3 adults, I seriously don't think there's going to be any room.

Can we leave it at the airport? Do we have to pay them to keep it?

If anyone has any ideas for me or needs a 52"x24"x34" crate, I'd appreciate any thoughts.

Thanks

Dawn

[jubjub]

We left ours at the airport, not a problem (and no charge). I have heard of folks selling them on ebay, but we did not think of it, and would not have got it in the car anyway.

[Hannah-NL]

Depends on the crate I guess, we have Vari kennels for our Border Collies, they have already had them all their lives, they use them as beds, and when they go on a holiday their kennel goes with them and it's instant home for them ;)
The Vari kennels can be taken apart and you can put the top half upside down in the bottom half, so then you could put any luggage inside the crate, on even the dog itself.
Then if you get home you can either keep it or sell it...
Since we will probably be in rented accomodation until we settle in our own home, we think it's a good idea to be able to tell house owners that we have our pets in their kennels when we go away, so they cannot do any damage.
So we are of course going to keep ours, since it's our pets beds..even our cat has one, but he only goes in there when taken to the vet :exit

[dawn]

Ours will be custom made, from wood, I think I might ring the Airport live cargo dept and see if they'd mind us leaving it, because that's what we really want to do.

Sal, which airport did you fly into?

[Hannah-NL]

Oh I see, I can well imagine an airport not minding you leaving a wooden crate there, they might either reuse them, or use them in the woodburner ;)

[dawn]

I hope so, I'll give them a call and let you know what they say.

[woo]

Having a fight with the hubby about bringing the dogs over!
We have an old lab who will never manage to survive the journey and a young laso apso( I want her to come), We have a few questions and wonderd if you can help, Will we find it difficult to rent a house if we have a pet?
Is shipping a small dog mega expensive?
can you help pls?

[dawn]

As a guide, we have a German Shepherd and it's costing us £2500, this includes all tests and airfares. The airfare itself is £2255. But he's a big dog and it may well be cheaper for a small dog.

We're going with Golden Arrow, if you have can give them measurements for your dog, they'll give you a quote. 01588 680240

[gil]

Hi Woo,
GA have quoted us £1,577 for our Staffordshire, Airpets £1,732 and Air Supply Shipping gave a two-tier quote £1,100 if we did all the running around to get the tests done and £1,900 if they did it all. (She's medium sized, requiring a 32 x 22 x 22 inch crate .)
I asked our vet for her opinion of Macy doing the long-haul journey, and she said she thought she'd be fine.
We will be using GA when we (eventually) sell our house and can go.
Hope that helps,
Gil

[woo]

Thanks gil thats a big help, cheers.
hubby thinks that will be the size of crate that we will need, however he is still arguing over the price..what a nightmare!
I will ask the vet about the old guy ( the dog not hubby!) although it may be an option!!!
I really want to take them with us just having a battle with the main man!
Thanx again gil.

[woo]

Cheers Dawn
Im right on it.
Heres hoping he will agree x

[jubjub]

Woo have a search for a thread by veronica bringing her dogs, I think one of hers was a teenager, and he was OK, ours is 9 and he was fine.

Dawn, we flew into Auckland, shpped in his custom made wooden crate, even had his name on the top.

Our boy is a border collie cross and he cost £1550

[foolsgold99]

To be honest, I think if you leave them at the Airport, the guys that work there stick them on trademe and make a few dollars for themselves, good luck to them is what is say.

Be prepared for the paper chase when you get the dog, we turned up nice and early, got to the cargo depot, they let us see the dog, and take him for a quick walk, Dog then goes back in box (that's the sad bit).

They gave us some paperwork, which we had to take to customs (in the main terminal building, couple of miles away), who stamp it. We brought this back to Maf, at another part of the airport, they stamped it. We then took it back to Air NZ cargo to finally pick up the dog, took about an hour.

It was then a chaos journey home with a very excited dog in the car, take a dog treat with you, and give it to him in the car to try and distract him. Also other people advised not giving him all that much water in one go when you get him. He'll be sick in your car

oh yes, dogs get jet lag too, be prepared for some strange behaviour for the first week until he gets used to it.

[woo]

Thanks guys x
going in search of thread x
Lots to think about x
cheers x

[veronica]

hi, the thread is http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=110&highlight=brin+chippie and yep the old guy travelled much better than the young one. it was worth all the money we paid to get them here too.

[Park City Partner]

WOW! A custom made crate? Sounds expensive. The Vari Kennels are great and I have always used them as a house for my dogs (which are seeing eye dogs in training). For those with extra crates, I am sure that Guide Dogs school headquartered in Auckland could use donated crates...but not the wood ones...I'd ditch that at the airport too! Good luck with dog move. I will be moving do New Zealand dogless. Boo Hoo. My current dog will go back to Guide Dog school when I leave and I think it may be a while before I get another dog as I am going to have baby...that should keep me busy enough.

[woo]

Had a read veronica thank you so much for the info. I would really love to bring the old fella over, however my sister in law would keep him in Scotland, he is just to old and frail now, she will take care of him well. Its very sad but we have to be realistic.
We have seen a vari kennel on ebay and i was wondering if these are ok for the journey? going to try and get the wee one used to it before she has to stay in it for a day! PCP do you think that £20 is an ok price for a 2nd hand Vari ?

[StevieD]

Isn't it absolutely scandalous the prices they charge though?

[woo]

I was a bit shocked to say the least when i heard the price of taking Molly over, Hubby flipped because i dont think we thought of the price, we can get the kids over for less! Thats what I'll do ... leave the kids and take the dog!!!
mmm food for thought!

[curtis]

We brought our Japanese Spitz (Sheltie size) over from Heathrow to Christchurch (she went via LA & Auckland), we used Airpets near Heathrow and were very pleased with the service. They had her there in the kennels for two weeks before she flew & they gave her the final blood test etc.

Even though she was held up at Auckland for a few hours she arrived without any ill affects. At CHC we did all the paperwork before we saw & picked her up, so once she saw me I could take her home. Well I actually took her outside for a drink (I took her bowl & some water as Veronica had advised that she would be a bit dehidrated), we also gave her a little walk around before we put her in the car. In the UK she was not a very good traveller, but she was fine, not sick or anything in the car.

We have kept the crate, incase we end up doing the lifestyle thing & owning land, animals etc & need a crate to bring things home from the market. So, yes if you can be bothered i'm sure you would sell the crate on trademe.

Hope this is of some use.

Regards
Karen

[woo]

Thanx Curtis is that a picture you have of her? she is so lovely and probably loving her new live in N.Z. we have placed a bid for the Vari kennel, which is not that expensive, so its a start any way. Loooooong way to go!