FLYING WITH (LARGE) DOGS - CHECKLIST & INFO SWAP

[Rebster 0]

Have you considered having Honey fly out ahead of you? You are going to be dealing with an awful lot yourself upon your arrival. You will have to go through Immigration and have your Visa validated. This can take some time dependant upon the airport/staff.

You can send her ahead and have your fiance collect her on the other end. I did this in reverse when I moved to the UK. I sent my cat via BA Cargo a few days before I came over. I didn't use a shipping company (this was in 2005) and I filled out the paperwork when I took her to BA's Cargo office at the airport. On the forms I put my (then) fiance's information so that he was authorized to collect them for me. The BA office gave me the stickers to put on her crate. I then said goodbye to her and they took her away to be put in their Kennel until departure a couple of hours later.

Then when I arrived in the UK (and had to stand in line at Immigration) I knew she was already safely at his house. I was already stressed enough and appreciated not having to deal with everything on one day.

That said, I do understand that you might want to know she is on the same plane with you. Just a thought.

As a side note, I do need to interject that the 3-year rabies vaccine is available and widely used over here. The 1 year vaccine is in fact not that common in most states anymore. You should not have an issue with keeping jabs current on the pet passport. We have had no issue.

This is the link to the USDA website.

Good luck!

[RUSSandRACHEL 3]

Have you considered having Honey fly out ahead of you? You are going to be dealing with an awful lot yourself upon your arrival. You will have to go through Immigration and have your Visa validated. This can take some time dependant upon the airport/staff.

You can send her ahead and have your fiance collect her on the other end. I did this in reverse when I moved to the UK. I sent my cat via BA Cargo a few days before I came over. I didn't use a shipping company (this was in 2005) and I filled out the paperwork when I took her to BA's Cargo office at the airport. On the forms I put my (then) fiance's information so that he was authorized to collect them for me. The BA office gave me the stickers to put on her crate. I then said goodbye to her and they took her away to be put in their Kennel until departure a couple of hours later.

Then when I arrived in the UK (and had to stand in line at Immigration) I knew she was already safely at his house. I was already stressed enough and appreciated not having to deal with everything on one day.

That said, I do understand that you might want to know she is on the same plane with you. Just a thought.

As a side note, I do need to interject that the 3-year rabies vaccine is available and widely used over here. The 1 year vaccine is in fact not that common in most states anymore. You should not have an issue with keeping jabs current on the pet passport. We have had no issue.

This is the link to the USDA website.

Good luck!

Hi again Rebster! Yes I did think of that and thank you for your advice but there's two reasons why I dont think I can send her alone.

1 - I feel really anxious about sending my dog overseas (she has mild insulinoma which is controlled and she hasnt had any problems recently) but still, I feel I really need to be there on the plane with her for the journey just in case.

and 2 - I wont see my fiance for possibly 4 months by the time I get my interview date (we have spent only a few weeks apart since meeting 20 months ago )so I really want him to fly over and say goodbye to my family -I dont think they'll be attending the wedding- before we fly off to get married. Also, I get really stressed in situations like this at the best of times so I'd really appreciate his support being there with me when I do fly over. But saying that, he could go on ahead of me (whilst Im having my visa validated) to collect her so save her being crated up for any longer.

Oh and thanks for the rabies info. Very interesting!! Thanks also for all your advice! You've been a great help! Its really good to hear from people who've been through the same experiences. Talking to an anirline for info, is just not the same!