Dog - Aus to UK

[Safin]

Hi, I am trying to find out various options for shipping the dog back to the uk. One quote from dogtainers states their fee includes

 

• Domestic Freight Charges
  
• Veterinary Charges: Final Vet Inspection, Frontline Treatment
  
• AQIS Export Paperwork and Health Certificate
  
• Lodgement at Brisbane International Airport
  
• Purchase of Airline Approved Transport Crate
  
• International Freight Charges (Brisbane - Sydney - Dubai - London)
  
• Customs / Veterinary Clearance & Fees and Airport Terminal Fees at London Heathrow
  

 

 

But they can't break that down at all to me. I am considering doing it myself. Now obviously I need to speak to airline but dogtainers charge $30/kg so I can work from that for now. Presumably that includes the crate. I can speak to an AQIS vet for their charges, easy. What I can't work out is how to find out about fees at Heathrow? Anyone? Scarely enough they didn't know what a third country certificate was..so one us us is misinformed (may be me I know)

[BobPetairUK]

Dear Safin. the landing charges at LHR are around £400 if that is any help.

 

Be cautious about doing it yourself (i know i am bound to say that:)) you will save about 10% of the total bill and have absolutely no backup/help at a time when you are already charging round sorting out many things. People think that pet shippers charge loads (which we do!) but it is because other people are charging us loads.

 

Best of luck and maybe try Petcarriers for another quote - they are a good bunch too.

[Supercad]

Hi Bob

im in the same boat as Safin but i have 2 dogs going back. would you mind telling us the cheaper airports to fly into? also that 10% is that the fall service as described above?

[Safin]

That was one of the things I was trying to establish - how much difference using a company made as opposed to doing it myself. $300 (10% of $3000) isn't so bad. Just for example what sort of problems could I run up against myself that a company wouldn't have a problem doing? The paperwork sounds easy enough

 

I'm being told that I have a choice of using a wooden crate that apparently I need a truck to collect (from a location 3.5hrs away) or a plastic crate that although lighter and presumably externally a bit smaller is actually more expensive??? What would one of these wooden crates look like?

 

How do the dogs fair not being able to walk about for more than 24hrs? And what about toileting - they hate to dirty their beds so do they go and get upset or hold on and if so does that cause them trouble?

[Supercad]

getting your hands on a plastic one for a mid size dog is the trick...if there is only 10% in it i wouldn't bother doing it myself, but i just cant see it being only 10% iv seen some very low flight quotes from some people.

Edited July 5, 2013 by Supercad

[BobPetairUK]

Guys

Be careful trying to save the cost on a crate. The expensive part of the process is what the airlines charge to put the crates on the plane not the actual cost of the crate. The cost the airlines charge is based on the volume of the crate, so a wooden one may be better as it will be more suited to your dog rather than a plastic one which only comes in 6 set sizes.

Pets from Australia have to come into Heathrow, so cant come in somewhere cheaper I am afraid - UK government rules.

Just make sure that you get all the costs if you are going to do it yourself - vet costs (make sure your vet knows what they are doing), airline costs, landing costs, crate, transport to airport and just properly price it up.

What can go wrong? Often not much actually goes wrong, but what happens if you are booked to fly out at the same time as your pet and you get to the airport and you are missing a document and your pet cant join you - that is when you need the backup. You are right, it is not that difficult from a vet point of view, but that is if you know what you are doing.

Ref the flight for your dog, they cope much better than we do. We collect pets from Heathrow all the time and they come bouncing out of the reception centre there. Some dogs need a few days of spoiling afterwards, but generally they cope just fine.

 

I think that if you do it yourself and it all goes fine then you will think it is easy. My point is that the extra you pay to use a pet shipper will be less than you expect and you will get a stack more help and backup at a time in your lives when you already have a million and one things to do. However, i also guess that i may be a bit biased Also worth noting that we cant actually fly pets back into UK, so there is no ulterior motive for my advice in this case.

 

Bob