Dogs relocating to NZ

sumse

Hi,

has anyone informations on bringing dogs to NZ?
We are thinking of moving over and at the moment we are checking informations. We do have 2 dogs which we wud like to bring with us.

Has anyone experience with the process and costs?

Thx in advance
Sumse

Daithio

I have never done it, but I'd really think it through, as I think it's pretty unfair on the dogs to be honest. My Aunt did it to the States from Bahrain and they had to be in quarantine for like 6 months. That's a pretty large proportion of their lives, and to be honest I think it was extremely selfish of her. The reality is that dogs will be happy as larry with new owners in a couple of weeks. Humans like to think that they have a special bond with their dogs, but all the dogs want is to be walked and fed, it doesn't really matter who does it.

I also had a friend who worked in cargo for a major airline who told me once that a lot of dogs don't survive the trip, especially long haul. So even if there are no quarantine issues you really should consider it carefully. If the dogs are old or nervous types I definitely wouldn't do it.

Good luck with it.

the dee

Hi Sumse, maybe you should ask this question on the Animals and Pets forum. I've seen a few threads there in the past about transporting animals long distances. The regulars there are more likely to have experience than us guys

The Sweeper

Daithio wrote: »

I have never done it, but I'd really think it through, as I think it's pretty unfair on the dogs to be honest. My Aunt did it to the States from Bahrain and they had to be in quarantine for like 6 months. That's a pretty large proportion of their lives, and to be honest I think it was extremely selfish of her. The reality is that dogs will be happy as larry with new owners in a couple of weeks. Humans like to think that they have a special bond with their dogs, but all the dogs want is to be walked and fed, it doesn't really matter who does it.

I also had a friend who worked in cargo for a major airline who told me once that a lot of dogs don't survive the trip, especially long haul. So even if there are no quarantine issues you really should consider it carefully. If the dogs are old or nervous types I definitely wouldn't do it.

Good luck with it.

With the pet passport system, your dog only has to be in quarantine for a few weeks after arrival in Aus/NZ. It's better to pay (through the nose mind) for a specific pet transport company than just have the dogs stuck in the hold of a commercial airline (esp because even with the 'heating' on in the cargo hold the temperatures are still near freezing.)

NZ_Bob

Bringing a dog to NZ is not that complicated, and there's no quarantine, provided you jump through a couple of hoops. There are a few links further down, shipping firms, import criteria and so on. First thing to do is talk to your vet about getting a pet passport, if you don't already have one. There are vaccinations required for certain things, such as rabies, and blood tests to make sure the vaccinations have worked. These have to be done a specific amount of time before the dog travels, so try and firm up your departure date as soon as you can.

We left our dog with my wife's folks for about 6 weeks after we left. We figured it would take time to get into our own place that had space for the dog. It actually proved to be tricky finding somewhere to rent that was dog-friendly in the areas we were looking at (close to the coast, near a good bus service) but if you're prepared to live anywhere in the city, it won't be such a big issue.

It can also be a very expensive journey for your four-legged friend. The costs are based on the size of the box the dog travels in, and there strict conditions about how much space the animal has to have. They must be able to turn around in the box, and be able to lie down without touching either end. So the bigger the dog you have, the bigger the box needs to be. For our hound, the cost for a one-way flight was about €3,000, and he's a basset- collie mixture, weighs in at about 25 Kgs. Worth every penny though, because we couldn't contemplate leaving at home, and life without him here would be very different.

When he arrived after his journey, (an overnight in London, then straight through to Wellington via LA and Auckland) he was absolutely fine. He's a very calm good-natured dog anyway, so we weren't expecting him to be a quivering wreck on arrival.
Just to give you some idea of how big Barney is in relation to the cost of shipping, a couple of photos
http://flickr.com/photos/cormacm/2156451712/in/set-72157603605729211/
&
http://flickr.com/photos/cormacm/2156443452/in/set-72157603605729211/

We used a firm called Multicargo for the transport - As far as I recall, Irene was the person we dealt with.
http://multicargo.ie/

Crates & boxes can be gotten either through the shipping firm, or from these guys
http://www.dogtrainingireland.ie
(They'll also be able to give you some good advice about getting your dog used to the crate)

This guide here indicates the sizing requirements for the box,
http://www.baworldcargo.com/products/How%20to%20measure%20your%20dog.pdf

and some other info on live animal transport
http://www.baworldcargo.com/products/liveanimals.shtml

Finally, and most importantly, the regulations for importing live animals to NZ are here
http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/imports/animals/standards/domaniic.uke.htm



If you need any more info, drop me a PM