Lazyweb: Pet Shipping
Brad's grandparents have a dog but due to various circumstances are no longer able to keep him. Brad and I are going to take him in when we're back from our trip.
He's currently in Washington State near Seattle. I'd rather drive with him but it will pretty much suck all of Brad's energy out even if he flies up and then drives down: the logistics there are pretty bad, in that he'd be taking a new dog who doesn't know him well on a three day car drive in a rental, so he'd have to find a car rental that accepts dogs and housing on the way that accepts dogs. I know that flying is very hard on dogs too, but balanced against a three day car drive with a new person... flying may be easier on him IF we can find a humane shipper.
What we need: Someone who will ship from Seattle (probably SEA-TAC) to SJX (best), SFO, or as a last resort Oakland.
The container the dog is kept in must be fully pressurized and heated. (I've heard nightmares about dogs in baggage compartments.)
Human supervision to take care of any problems that crop up.
We are okay with a solution that involves flying one of us up there and back with Jack too, if that would somehow make it easier on him than sending him.
The dog, Jack, is an 85 lb German Shepherd/Lab mix and friendly and good with people, but probably has never travelled in this way before. He's taken car rides and travels okay in the car, though isn't as happy about them as Moose is. That's another strike against throwing him into a three day car ride; we'd rather ease him into more frequent car travel with small local trips.
Has anyone shipped a dog or cat and can they recommend a shipper? I do not want Jack's first experience with us to be a nightmare for him; he's going to be stressed out enough just adjusting to the situation, and he's recently gone through three moves and several kennel stays; I'd like to get him into as stable a situation as possible.
Jack isn't super well socialized with dogs (he was brought up as an only dog and didn't have a lot of opportunities for socialization), but he's demonstrated the ability to live with a cat, and when he does socialize with other dogs he's not aggressive and he exhibits no dominant tendencies. He's very well trained and rather active. He's seven years old and went into a rescue situation after his first owner couldn't keep him any more. I'm pretty confident that Moose will get on fine with him, as he's been fine when we watch my mother's dog, and because the kennel often pairs him with unsocialized "new" dogs when they come in, because he's not aggressive or particularly dominant himself, and his calmness tends to spread to them. The major thing I was worried about was Moose stealing his food, but fortunately he eats his dinner quickly, though he's not food oriented in the way that Moose is. (When we watch Phoebe, we have to lock her in a room with me and her food, and she basically just picks at it.)
He's currently in Washington State near Seattle. I'd rather drive with him but it will pretty much suck all of Brad's energy out even if he flies up and then drives down: the logistics there are pretty bad, in that he'd be taking a new dog who doesn't know him well on a three day car drive in a rental, so he'd have to find a car rental that accepts dogs and housing on the way that accepts dogs. I know that flying is very hard on dogs too, but balanced against a three day car drive with a new person... flying may be easier on him IF we can find a humane shipper.
What we need: Someone who will ship from Seattle (probably SEA-TAC) to SJX (best), SFO, or as a last resort Oakland.
The container the dog is kept in must be fully pressurized and heated. (I've heard nightmares about dogs in baggage compartments.)
Human supervision to take care of any problems that crop up.
We are okay with a solution that involves flying one of us up there and back with Jack too, if that would somehow make it easier on him than sending him.
The dog, Jack, is an 85 lb German Shepherd/Lab mix and friendly and good with people, but probably has never travelled in this way before. He's taken car rides and travels okay in the car, though isn't as happy about them as Moose is. That's another strike against throwing him into a three day car ride; we'd rather ease him into more frequent car travel with small local trips.
Has anyone shipped a dog or cat and can they recommend a shipper? I do not want Jack's first experience with us to be a nightmare for him; he's going to be stressed out enough just adjusting to the situation, and he's recently gone through three moves and several kennel stays; I'd like to get him into as stable a situation as possible.
Jack isn't super well socialized with dogs (he was brought up as an only dog and didn't have a lot of opportunities for socialization), but he's demonstrated the ability to live with a cat, and when he does socialize with other dogs he's not aggressive and he exhibits no dominant tendencies. He's very well trained and rather active. He's seven years old and went into a rescue situation after his first owner couldn't keep him any more. I'm pretty confident that Moose will get on fine with him, as he's been fine when we watch my mother's dog, and because the kennel often pairs him with unsocialized "new" dogs when they come in, because he's not aggressive or particularly dominant himself, and his calmness tends to spread to them. The major thing I was worried about was Moose stealing his food, but fortunately he eats his dinner quickly, though he's not food oriented in the way that Moose is. (When we watch Phoebe, we have to lock her in a room with me and her food, and she basically just picks at it.)