Actually, of all the puppies we’ve shipped over the years, we have never had a single disappointing incident, and have had 100% customer satisfaction. That’s not an exaggeration and we are proud of that record. But our statistics are for Golden Retriever puppies, not other breeds. Other breeds may or may not do as well as Goldens during travel. So let’s discuss some misconceptions that are commonly held by some people:Rumor: Live animal cargo are shipped in an area of an aircraft where it’s noisy and scary.
Reality: Live animal cargo flying on pet-friendly airlines are kept in a holding area of the plane that is no noisier than the passenger cabin, and often times is the passenger cabin.
Rumor: Live animal cargo are shipped in the luggage compartment of an aircraft where it’s cold or hot.
Reality: Live animal cargo flying on pet-friendly airlines are kept in a temperature controlled area of the plane just the same as the passenger cabin, and often times is the passenger cabin.
Rumor: Live animal cargo are shipped in a cargo holding area of the plane that is not pressurized.
Reality: Live animal cargo flying on pet-friendly airlines are kept in a pressurized area of the plane just the same as the passenger cabin, and often times is the passenger cabin.
Rumor: It is safer to have my puppy ground-shipped rather than fly them by airline.
Reality: Unless you are planning to drive and pick up your puppy in person, it is far safer, faster, and more comfortable to ship a puppy by airlines than it is over a long distance by truck.
Rumor: A puppy should probably be sedated or tranquilized prior to travel or shipping.
Reality: It is not safe to tranquilize pets before traveling or shipping because a tranquilizer suppresses the respiratory system. A dog’s respiratory system is the primary means it uses to regulate its body temperature. If traveling by air, when the dog lands at its destination or a stop-over city, the different temperature or air pressure caused by that city’s altitude can be challenging to a sedated dog.
The only product we recommend for traveling by car is something for motion sickness such as dimenhydrinate (Dramamine® – 50mg tablets) and administered at a dosage of 2.5mg per pound every 8 hours. Example: a 12 pound puppy would get 30mg of dimenhydrinate or approximately ½ tablet of a 50mg tablet formula. Avoid the “Non-Drowsy Naturals” tablet formula because it contains too much ginger (“All Day Less Drowsy” is OK). This should be given one hour before travel, with food. Motion sickness is rarely experienced during air travel and a motion sickness treatment such as Dramamine® is therefore not needed.
You might be thinking, “Yes but the cost of travel by airline is too expensive, and so we prefer to just drive.” Well, if driving is your thing then that might be a good choice. But consider the actual costs: Let’s say you live eight hours away, or 500 miles one-way. That is a 1000 miles round trip. If you have a car that averages 25 miles per gallon on the highway with an average cost of $2.80 per gallon of gas, That’s about 112 dollars just in gas. Add to that your road trip meals for you and a travel companion, wear and tear on your car, and 16 to 18 hours of total travel time. You might want to re-think that preference. We ship by airline to just about any major city in the lower 48 states for around $270 and you get to keep the airline approved travel crate. Not a bad alternative to consider.
At this point, we’d like to share a past experience with shipping one of our puppies by airlines. We were shipping to a customer and the flight was scheduled to arrive around 1:30 pm. However, due to inclement weather, the connecting flight was delayed by 8 hours. We were in touch with the airlines who took the puppy on potty breaks, walked it for exercise, gave it water, and fed the puppy dog food which we attached to its travel crate. Our customer had also been keeping track, received notice that the flight was delayed, and did not wait all that time in the airport. Instead, went later once they got word that the puppy was on its final flight to their city. After arriving, the puppy was happy, healthy and glad to see its new owner. The customer was very happy with the whole process in spite of the delay. Though these kinds of experiences don’t happen often, when they do our customers remain happy and are satisfied with the whole process. This is why we are comfortable with air travel for our babies. We want our babies to go to good homes, and we want their travel experience to be pleasant. This is what we have come to trust and have confidence in with the pet-friendly airlines we choose.
About the only point one can make that necessitates traveling to our facility (or trying to find another breeder closer to them) is the feeling that they really need to see the puppy in person and meet the parents. That is a great point which we cannot argue with. In fact we encourage this if at all possible. But we again want to point out that Emery-n-Denise’s Golden PuppiesTM have never (that means ever) had a dissatisfied out-of-state customer who had their puppy shipped by air and purchased it only from the dozen or so photographs and videos we sent to them. How is that possible? It has everything to do with the Golden Retriever breed itself, and the temperament and health of our specific dogs. They are just incredible. We cannot say you will experience the same satisfaction with any breeder out there, but we are different and we do things right because we love Golden Retrievers.
We hope this article has helped you to develop your thoughts about shipping and travel for a Golden Retriever and as always, thank you for considering Emery-n-Denise’s Golden PuppiesTM.
We are exclusively a Golden Retriever Breeder of AKC pure bred Golden Retrievers and we have Golden Retriever Puppies for sale in Michigan and Minnesota.
* Photo credit taken by Roman Fleysher.
