Air Transporting Dog - Help Need Advice..!

[Steve Mc]

AIR TRANSPORTING PET DOG - HELP ADVICE NEEDED..!!

I will be traveling from USA to HK with my mid-sized family dog. I've checked-out most of the many "Pet Mover" services available.

Has anyone tryied setting this up themselves..? It seems to me that once you have all the paperwork in order, and know the airline rules you could save some money by doing this task yourself.

I'm split between hiring a professional and attempting to do this myself. Any suggestions, advice, stories, and/or specific 'Pet Mover' Company recommendations..?

Thank You Very Very Much..! Regards, Steve

[Reena2]

Just moved our lab a few months ago from US to HK. We used PetRelocation.com and they were excellent, but be prepared for some sticker shock no matter which service you use. They handled everything w/ door to door delivery, including getting us the kennel. Knew which airlines were more pet friendly, experienced sending pets to HK from US, etc. I would suggest using some sort of service because there are so many details and if you don't cross all the t's your paper work will get rejected. They were also able to push our paperwork through the USDA much faster. They contracted w/ a local HK company (I think it was Export a Pet) to get the HK permit, get the dog through customs and delivery to our door. If you use an HK company for all the transport stuff it will be cheaper, but I used a US outfit because they were easier to contact time zone wise and understood the US side of getting the dog out of the country. Our dog arrived safe and sound and I won't worry so much on the return trip a few years from now. Export a Pet and Ferndale Kennels in HK are ones you may want to check out. They both have websites. I am sure other expats can give you other recommendations.

Best of Luck!

[carang]

you can try George at International Pet Travel here in HK. We do dog boarding and have dealt with George on many occasions. He really likes the animals and is always helpful!

they have a website: http://www.internationalpettravel.com

good luck!

[cjjlee]

If you decide to go the agency route, we recently used Mark at Wish You Were Here:
www.wishyouwereherehk.com
a few months ago, and they made it really easy.

[BEL]

Hi Steve,

I think you can do it all yourself as long as you make sure you have all the necessary vet checks and paperwork / permits etc. The risk is that if you miss something, then your little pet might end up in quarantine.

We moved our Cocker Spaniel from Australia to HK in April and I used a company for the export from Aus and the import side of HK (I also used Mark at wish you were here for the HK import and recommend him).

My main concern was being at the HK airport and there being a problem with some documents and/or delays of some kind and my dog getting upset because he was still in his cage and wanted to get out (and our dog can get quite distressed in the cage, especially if he can see us). I didn't want to have to deal with the emotional stress of making sure he got through. Instead I preferred to have him delivered to my home in Hong Kong and he had then had a chance to calm down a bit after his flight too.

Best of luck with whatever option you go with - hope your dog arrives safe and sound.

[hello_there]

AIR TRANSPORTING PET DOG - HELP ADVICE NEEDED..!!


Has anyone tryied setting this up themselves..? It seems to me that once you have all the paperwork in order, and know the airline rules you could save some money by doing this task yourself.

Hi. I did this myself from the states, for a couple dogs, except that I hired an agent in HK to do the HK import paperwork (which was pretty cheap). The agent in HK also provided a pretty nice little checklist of all the import requirements that I would have to meet. It was not that difficult. If you don't want to hire an agent at all the paperwork for the HK import permit is pretty easy really. (Although I would use an agent for this again just to save the time.) Its kind of a pain to run around to the USDA to get the stamp, but you would have to do the work to meet most of the other requirements (vet checks/ certificates, etc.) anyway. Be sure to check out the rabies situation in your county early. If there are ANY cases of rabies in the wild your vet will likely want to contact the state vet board to make sure they can sign off on the import certificate and it can take some time for an answer.

The flight itself is quite expensive. We used Cathay (booked the flight ourselves with their cargo department) and had a good experience with them. Not sure about other airlines, but it might be worth asking if anyone has had a problem with one.

There are some other posts on here that I think provide a pretty detailed description of the process. If you can't find them or have any other questions send me a PM.

Good luck.