November 2009

Traveling with your pet this holidayPlan ahead before you travel with pets this holiday season. season?  You're not alone - a recent survey by AAA found that more than 75% of people would rather travel with their pets than their spouses!

However the holiday season, always a hectic and busy time, can get a bit hairier when there are pets involved.  Here are some tips on how to keep your pet travel running smoothly from Turkey Day to Auld Lang Syne.

Know before you go

Many airports have shortened customs hours or close completely during the holidays. If you are planning on traveling internationally with your pet during the holiday season, make sure you know in advance what days and times your pets can enter. We recently posted Costa Rica's holiday hours at San Juan International Airport, as well as Australia's pet quarantine hours during the holiday season.  How can you be sure you have the necessary airport information prior to your trip?  Well, if you have an iPhone, there's an app for that!  Otherwise, check out IATA, which provides up to date customs and airport information for domestic and international travelers.

A new study is being reported by China Daily that 50% of new expats to China leave early due to a difficult transition.

China Transition Institute (CTI) president David Israel-Rosen said most foreigners are unprepared for what life will be like when they arrive in China.
"It is moving from the West to the East," he said. "It is not like moving from Chicago to Denver."

Mary-Alice Pomputius, from DogJaunt, has a guest blog up at Will My Dog Hate Me? that details some great training tips for preparing a pet for travel.  If you've never worked on vocal commands to help your dog travel more easily, now's the time to start!

We moved "Sunflower" from Tuckerton, New Jersey to Sutton Upon Derwent in the United Kingdom recently and got a great testimonial from Sunflower's family.  We love getting emails like this one.  There's nothing better than hearing how much our services mean to people and their families.  After all, it's why we do what we do!

Here's an unexpected benefit of Twitter: helping find homes for pets!  At the end of October, a former client of ours named Meaghan found a Chow puppy abandoned in the bushes in Shenzhen, China.  We had moved Meaghan's dog Namie to Shenzhen when she took a teaching job in China teaching 8th graders.  When Meaghan unable to keep the puppy permanently because she already had another dog, she reached out to us

We were so busy here last Friday that we almost forgot to mention the award we won on Thursday night. If you follow us on Twitter then you already know this, but PetRelocation.com was named by the Austin Business Journal as one of the 2009 "Fast 50" companies -- a list of the fastest growing, privately owned companies in Austin.  We attended the awards ceremony in Austin along with the co-founders, Kevin and Angie O'Brien.  We were honored to be ranked 11th overall with 175% growth over the last 3 years.

If you've moved with your pet recently, you might be in need of a finding a new veterinarian.  While Yellow Pages and Google can help you narrow down some local options, it usually helps to get a vet's verdict straight from the horse's mouth.  Fortunately, there are plenty of word-of-mouth avenues to help you find a new veterinarian who is guaranteed to be woof-worthy.  Here are some places to hunt down the locals who are in the know:

If you're thinking of moving or traveling with your pets to Germany, Continental Airlines just announced their new non-stop flights frmo Houston to Frankfurt.  As a result, we're now able to offer pet-friendly bookings on both Lufthansa and Continental going direct to Frankfurt.  It's not too late for some Oktoberfest!