DIY flying dogs to Oz

[Bobths]

We just got our beloved French Bulldogs back from Mickleham quarantine yesterday - beyond happy!

Just wanted to share that it is entirely possible to organise and sort out flying your dogs over yourself. We were quoted $13k to use a pet carrier company and were obviously a bit blown away by the cost. We'd previously flown our older dog from Melbourne to the UK so we dug out the paperwork and found the name of the company that actually deals with the dogs whilst in transit (moving them between planes etc) JCS Pet Exports and gave them a call. They were super helpful and they gave us various quotes for shipping them over, from bare basics to everything included. They even let us re-use the crate that our older dog had originally flown over in.

We chose the package that included pre-flight vet checks and collection and transport from the in-laws near Manchester down to Heathrow. Everything else we did ourselves, we used the import timeline calculator from the www.agriculture.gov.au website, printed off the checklist  and liaised with our vet (luckily an official UK Government vet ie able to issue pet passports) regarding all the vaccinations and treatments. We applied for the import permit ourselves online and booked and organised their quarantine stay. We left the UK in early October and had family looking after the two dogs until they could fly at the end of November - my FIL took them to the later vet appointments and we settled the bills over the phone.

JCS Pet Exports were really good, sending us an update on the dogs once they'd arrived at Heathrow and confirming that they'd set off okay. 

The two dogs spent exactly 10 days in quarantine and we picked them up on Sunday   Obvs the cost of having the dogs flown over varies by breed/weight (only Qantas will fly French Bulldogs) and vet fees vary but in the end it was considerably less than $13k, I reckon more like $9/10k.