Transfering HUGE dog by plane. Few questions?

[ellion86r]

Hi all,

I will be transfering my grown up newfoundland dog from Cyprus to Belgium. Unfortunately we were not able to find a big enough cage at the worldwide market so we just had to order an iron custom made carrier.

The dimensions are as following: 1m x 1m x 1.40. So I was wondering if those dimensions will be a problem for the airline?

Furthermore, I am concerned about sedatives for the dog. Vets say it is highly unrecommended to use any but on the other hand if we don't, the dog will be barking like a crazy one. And I am not really sure if the airline will accept such an animal onboard?

Please help me out,
Im desperate

Thanx!

[fernytickles]

For both your questions, you are probably better talking directly to the airline and the vet(s). Also, there are companies who specialise in transporting animals, don't know their names, but I'm sure you can find them through google. I may be wrong, but I think some of the airlines prefer you to arrange the transport - crate etc - through those companies.

Be aware that the dog will be sitting in the crate on the ramp at the airport for potentially quite a long time. If the weather is warm that day, the temperature in the crate will be warmer, so you might want to think about flying at night.

Also have you thought about the option of taking a car, on the ferry and driving to Belguim? A lot less stressful for the dog, tho' of course it will take longer.

[Rainboe]

You are right to go for a custom cage. When the loaders opened the hold of our 747 once, they took one look at the dog and sent for us immediately. When I went down to see, there was a super-large size cage, totally demolished and lying flat. On top of the baggage was lying an immensely proud looking and pleased Irish Wolfhound-type thing, so big it appeared to be the size of a horse. It was actually smiling.
The recommendations are excellent. Be sure it has enough water for the trip. In my experience, the loaders are often dog lovers themselves and take care of them very well.

[Llademos]

Firslty, go here to check the container is big enough. Then, as fernytickles says, call the airlines that operate on the route (or close enough) to see how much it will cost. It won't be cheap!

I understand driving Cyprus-Europe is quite pleasant, though I've never heard it done with a dog.
Ll

[fernytickles]

When my mother lived in Crete, a number of her friends drove to their summer bases in northern Europe with their dogs rather than flying.

[Dushan]

About 20 years ago we took our Old English Sheep Dog (125lbs) on summer vacation with us. He was in a large cage, although not as big as the one you describe. It was a 10hr flight in a DC-10. He was sedated. The problem was leg two of the trip (a 45 min flight in a DC-9). The cage was too big for the cargo hold, so we colapsed it and the captain allowed me to take the dog into the cabin and use the last row of seats.

[CR2]

Ellion86r

If you are having something custom made, make sure that it is IATA LAR compliant!

Take a look at this for example.

www.iata.org/NR/rdonlyres/0B9E3905-BCED-4AD2-9EAE-213E08D6E886/0/LAR_33rd_CR1.p
df

You will have to check with your airline to see if something that big will fit into the baggage hold. I see the height as being somewhat critical.

[AircraftOperations]

I believe a firm based at Brussels called Skyfast do a lot of animal work and might be able to help you. Think their website is skyfast.be

[ellion86r]

Thats been a while. We transfered the animal with Cyprus Airways. Wasnt a big deal. The custom carrier we had was good enough, solid, airy, all according to IATA standards. Cops were very interested in it though. Were cheking it for ages (maybe we had drugs there... or diamonds!). I was stupid enough and lost the freaking sedatives But the animal was ok. Didnt really mind spending almost 3 hours in the luggage area. He was a bit tired, but that was it.

Thank you all for answering