Dog Air Travel - Tips for Traveling by Airplane With Your Lovable Dog

Please note it is your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of any information, opinion or advice contained in the content below.

By John Hinkley

Luckily for dog owners, these animals travel by air better than cats. If the dog is accustomed to car travel, then air travel shouldn’t be a problem at all. Use the following dog air travel tips for safe and pleasant airplane travel with your best furry friend.

Certify Your Dogs Health before Air Travel

Not only is dog air travel better for your dog if the dog is healthy, but it’s actually the law. Federal law requires that a dog has been certified within 10 days of the trip to be healthy, vaccinated, and free from contagious diseases. This is a very important for any pet travel, large or small.

Avoid Excessive Temperatures

Ensure the safety of your dog during air travel by never flying with your dog while temperatures are over 85 degrees or under 35 degrees, on either end of the flight. Many airliners put “heat embargos” and/or “cold embargos” on dog air travel during the summer and winter months respectively. This means that the airliners prohibit dog air travel during these times. This shouldn’t be seen as a problem, because the airlines do it to prevent disease or death, and guarantee a safe flight for your dog.

Overseas Dog Air Travel May Involve Quarantine

For international dog air travel, keep in mind that some isolated countries, such as New Zealand and England, quarantine animals arriving by air. Before traveling and booking reservations, familiarize yourself with the laws, requirements, and procedures of your particular destination. Unless your flight is non-stop, remember that you may have to deal with regulations in multiple places.

Don’t Tranquilize Your Dog During Air Travel

Although tranquilization may seem like a good idea during canine air travel, it isn’t. Tranquilizers are the leading cause of death or sickness of dogs during air travel. A dog can’t receive immediate or professional medical care during air travel, so unnecessary medications do more harm than good. In fact, many airliners reject tranquilized pets as a safety precaution.

Obedience During Dog Air Travel

Training your dog before airline travel is the best way to ensure a good flight. Unfortunately, even short air travel means hours of separation between owners and their dogs (except for service dogs). Your medium to large size dog will be confined to a shipping crate for the entire flight.

You can help relinquish the strain and discomfort on your dog by preparing him for dog air travel beforehand. Do this by getting your dog used to being inside a travel crate for extended periods of time. Also, make sure your dog works well with strangers, namely in busy, frantic, or uncomfortable environments. This will do wonders for traveling with your large furry companion.

Looking for more information regarding travel with your dog by land or air. Visit us our dog air travel section at largedogbreeds.com for more breed specific information on your large canine companion.

Free Newsletter

Sign up for the free Daily newsletter, filled with tips and ideas on dogs, cats, puppies, kittens, birds, fish, exotic pets, pet nutrition, pet health, aging pets, small animal pets and more. Your email address will be kept confidential and won't be shared. Easily unsubscribe at any time.

If you enjoy the free information available on this site, you're sure to enjoy the free newsletter as well:

Site Search Tags:

Share and Enjoy:

February 21 2008 10:47 pm | Dog & Puppy and On vacation

One Response to “Dog Air Travel - Tips for Traveling by Airplane With Your Lovable Dog”

CindyS on 22 Feb 2008 at 6:35 am #

I’ve nominated you for the Bloggers of the World Award. I hope you will accept and pass it on.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS

Fine Pet Care .com

Dog, Cat, Horse, Bird, Fish, Small & Exotic Pet Care