Well, we are getting closer and closer to the press reporting correctly about the pet travel industry. To date, this is the best article as it does include our 'pet hero' Cesar Milan...but even good ole Cesar Milan is misinformed on the basics of traveling with your pets via pet friendly airlines. Maybe Cesar needs to listen to the whispering dogs a bit closer, as many would tell him just how good it is to travel these days!
In short, the
article by Michelle Higgins of the NY Times reads as such:
TRAVELING with pets is an increasingly common affair, as many pet owners have decided that Fido deserves a summer vacation as much as they do, and shouldn'tt be left behind in a kennel while they are off lounging on a beach or taking in the mountain air.
The travel industry has been quick to cash in on this trend: many hotels now offer packages with pet beds and special room-service menus for four-legged companions.
But many pet owners still have concerns about hitting the road җ or, to be more specific, the sky. More than two million pets and other live animals are transported by air every year in the United States, according to the Department of Transportation. Though rare, incidents involving the loss, injury or death of animals do happen. During June, July and August of last year, 12 animals, mostly dogs, died, 3 were injured and 4 were lost during air travel.
For tips on traveling with your dog or leaving one behind when taking a vacation, I talked with Cesar Millan, a dog behaviorist and best-selling author, better known as National Geographic Channels Dog Whisperer. Mr. Millan, a native of Mexico, also owns the Dog Psychology Center in Los Angeles, which specializes in rehabilitating dogs with extreme behavior problems. When we spoke by phone, he was in Miami with two dogs җ Daddy and Coco who were going to travel to Minneapolis to film an episode of the show.
Q. How do you travel with your dogs?
A. Right now, Iגm fortunate to travel with two of them a pitbull and a Chihuahua. Theyגre not flying with me, but we have an R.V., which is much easier for them because theyre able to meet the land. I ask the driver: every four hours, make sure they experience where they are.
Q. Do you have any advice for people who canҒt take their pets cross-country by car?
A. My large personal dogs have never traveled on a plane. My small dogs have, and its easier because, you know, theyҒre next to us, right there under the seat, as they request on the airline. So it feels like theyre just doing a different activity. Of course, theyҒre going to feel the altitude, and so Im going to be right there to calm them down, just to make them feel relaxed. But until I get my own private plane, my large dogs will not fly.
Q. So you always have them take the R.V. and not a plane?
A. Yes, because itҒs not very controlled in the areas where they put the large dogs. I hope the airlines will get smart about it and learn that its business, because we do want to bring our dogs with us. But they have to be able to make sure the temperature is ideal, and ideally a human can be there just to provide some kind of comfort to dogs. I think it can be done җ its just a matter of whether the airlines are willing to do it.
Q. More hotels are trying to appeal to pet owners with special doggy beds and room service. Does it matter what kind of hotel you stay at?
A. They donҒt understand if it costs $1 or $300. They cant make the difference between BloomingdaleҒs and Kmart. What theyre going to know is what state of mind they were in when you offered that.
Q. Any tips for traveling by car?
A. Dogs are daytime animals, and my pack is so accustomed to do activities in the daytime that at least every four hours the driver stops and walks them, which is good for the driver and is good for my dogs. ItҒs important for a dog to know the land because in a way theyre migrating to another place. ItҒs important for them to see and to smell the environment. Wherever they are, its going to be a different temperature, a different scent and a different feeling. You want to be sure they know how to associate themselves with it in a more natural way.
Q. Is sedation an option?
A. Yeah, but again you have to condition the mind to see what the side effects are and what doses work and what medication works. It shouldnҒt make them lethargic. Its just for them to feel thoroughly relaxed. ItҒs like a glass of wine. It doesnt have to make you feel angry or frustrated. ItҒs just to relax you.
Q. How should you choose a kennel?
A. You want to find a place where they immediately know how to adopt a dog and to make a dog really not focused on the fact that you left but really focused on what is there for him. Its very important that professionals learn itҒs a big deal for a dog to detach himself from his pack, and so the new pack has to be just as good or better than the pack he just left.
Q. What about dogs that get nervous when traveling? Is there anything you can do to keep them calm?
A. If a dog is nervous at home, its more likely for him to get worse in different environments. You definitely have to work, before you go on the vacation, to start learning about how you can make your dog not nervous at home. Everything starts from home. A lot of people also get frustrated when theyҒre traveling, and the dog is trembling or whining or drooling. But thats not going to help the dog either. Your energy influences a lot, and once you recognize and become aware of the energy you share when your dog is under stress, then you realize, oh, O.K., I have to work on myself.
Q. Are some dogs more suited to travel than others?
A. Balanced dogs. ItҒs not the breed or the size. You cant generalize that the size or the breed will make it a better travel dog. A balanced dog is always going to be a perfect dog to be around; an unstable dog, regardless of the size, is not going to be comfortable to travel with. So itҒs a state of mind, not a breed or a size.
Q. Is there anything else travelers should keep in mind?
A. Once you arrive at your destination, make sure you go for a long walk before you go inside the hotel or the condominium or wherever youre going because that will give a dog a better understanding of where they are and what the surroundings are, and that the same rules and boundaries or limitations that you might have had in L.A. exist in Florida. That will make him feel so comfortable, so at home, and enjoy his new adventure.
(end of Article)
* Now, don't get me wrong as I am the biggest fan of Cesar Milan and how he is teaching us all about living with & amongst our dogs! However, he is just like most of the public when it comes to the misinformation surrounding the safe relocation of live animals on airplanes & the affects of Sedation when doing so.
With regards to pressurization:
When working with pet moving companies like
ours, we work with airlines that only have pressurized & climate controlled cargo holds.
In fact, an aircraft is somewhat like a balloon. It is impossible to inflate part of a balloon and not the rest, right? So how do you suppose they would pressurize part of the aircraft and not the rest? They can't. It defies the laws of physics. The air in the cargo holds and in the passenger cabin is the same. In fact, an airline will not accept a pet that has fouled its carrier for just that reason -- they don't want passengers complaining about the odor.
The air is circulated throughout the entire plane - so most airlines only allow a minimum number of pets on board, as the potential for their smell to carry through the cabin is very possible.
All of these cargo holds are insulated, climate controlled, pressurized and they even have slightly dimmed lights. This allows the animal to travel in comfort, just as we do sitting above in the cabin.
If you think about it from the pet's perspective, they do not know they are flying in a plane. To them, they are being placed into a special 'room' that may shake a bit on take off and landing - but other than that, the pets are simply waiting for that individual who put them there, to come and open that door so they can enjoy their new location. Little do they know, that its not the same location they left from! :-)
Most, or almost all, of the stress a pet will experience when flying - is the waiting period on the tarmac before/after its flight. Since pets are last to be loaded & first to be removed, many airlines will send all the 'cargo' to the plane at once. As the pet waits its turn to be loaded/unloaded, it must sit on the tarmac until its their turn.
It is this wait, that can cause the most stress to a pet. When working with pet shipping companies like ours, PetRelocation.com, we work with the airlines on loading/unloading the pets separately from the rest of the cargo. This basically means that the pets will never sit on the tarmac, as the airlines will shuttle them to/from the plane when its time for them to load/unload - rather than sending them with the general cargo.
With Regards to Sedation:
Picture two children going to summer camp. The parents of one are happy and excited to see their child taking off on a wonderful new adventure. The parents of the other are fussing and fidgeting, just certain that their child will not like it and reassuring him/her that they can call to come home whenever they want. Which child is going to have fun? Which one will see camp as the adventure?
When clients ask if they should get tranquilizers from their veterinarian we simply respond, "If you have tranquilizers and feel you need them, you should take them, but don't give them to your pet!" The truth is, of the "horror stories" you hear, the majority can be directly attributed to the use of tranquilizers.
If we could shout just one thing from the rooftop of every airport to be heard by pet owners all over the world, it would be "Don't tranquilize your pet! In fact, most professional pet shippers will refuse to handle a shipment should the owner demand that their pet be given tranquilizers. Why?
Because:
- Tranquilizers suppress the respiratory system, which makes it hard for a pet to cope with the changes in altitude and temperature. This is particularly true in "pug nosed" breeds.
- Aircraft are pressurized to an altitude of 8,000 feet or higher. No studies have been done to determine the effect of tranquilizers at such high altitudes.
- A pet may react differently to the same drug, in the same dose, depending on its state of excitement.
- Pets are more resilient and adaptable than most people give them credit for, and when properly handled, are no more traumatized by traveling by air than by taking a ride in a car.
A pet that has been acclimated to an airline carrier or "crate" will have little concern when flying. The greatest fear for a pet that has not been trained to accept the enclosure as his special place is the fear of the confinement itself. By simply feeding and sleeping the pet in its crate for a week or so before the trip, you will make the trip much more enjoyable.
What it all comes down to is this: Thousands of animals are shipped by air every year, but the only ones you hear about are the ones that went wrong - for whatever reason. The truth is, horror sells! Traveling by air is just as safe for your pet as it is for you. Is that to say nothing can happen? No, that's unrealistic. But a healthy pet, traveling on a well-planned itinerary, is as safe as walking with you in the park.
So what's the trick? Use a professional. You don't expect the same results from a "home perm" that you'd get from one that's professionally done, would you? Would you expect to frame a house, lay a brick wall or build a bridge if you weren't trained for that task? Of course not. Shipping regulations can be complex, especially when traveling overseas. Airline ticket agents are trained to sell tickets, not ship pets.
Feel free to visit our website to learn more about us and how we, as professionals, will work on moving your pets.
www.petrelocation.com
