pet travel

Last year, we were ranked as one of Inc. Magazine's fastest growing privately owned companies in America.  We're hoping to make the list again this year, and our entry caught the eye of the editors who featured PetRelocation.com as their "Applicant of the Week" this week. Reporter Josh Spiro discussed the rise of pet travel trends with our CEO Kevin O'Brien.

From the write-up:

Kevin O’Brien’s profession might not be the oldest, but it’s up there. “The animal transportation industry has been around since transportation,” he says laughing. That said transporting pets is a much more nascent field, having only taken off in the past five to 10 years. While the company focuses on transporting dogs and cats for corporate employees who relocate for work, its motto is “any pet, anywhere, any time” and so far it hasn’t had to turn down a job.

Last year, Pet Relocation was ranked No. 777 on the Inc. 5000 list and this year, according to O’Brien “we hope to break the 500 barrier.” With a prime domain name and a growing number of people “starting to accept the idea of live animal relocation,” business has never been better.

Read more of the article here.

Today we released the second "webisode" in our video series Pup in the Air!  We're following a Chihuahua and his travels from New York City to Tokyo, Japan.  Check it out below and then head over to Pup in the Air to watch all of the videos of Mocha's international pet travels!

Airports have come a long way with regards to pet-friendly areas.  Here are the top 10 pet-friendly airportsPet friendly airports like JFK are perfect for travelers with pets! that have improved their pet features over the last year.  Have you traveled to any of these airports and visited their pet areas?  Email us a picture or post one on our Facebook page of you and your pet!

Missing from this list is John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City.  Their Pet Relief Area that we recently visited was quite spacious and even offered benches for pets and owners to stay a while.

1. Atlanta: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) The 1,000-square-foot fully-fenced Poochie Park includes flowers, grass, rocks, and benches to set the scene for dogs to sniff around, get a bit of exercise, and do their business. Being the world's busiest airport, it has seen its fair share of pets pass through and wanted to better cater to their four-legged passengers.

One of our specialists was recently lucky enough to get to visit the American Airlines Pet Relief Area at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport (check out our previous post on the topic - American Airlines Opens New "Pet Relief" Area at JFK Airport) and chat a bit with the American Airlines staff.  Cara, one of our International Pet Relocation Specialists, was transporting a very small Chihuahua named Mocha from New York to Tokyo. 

Pet friendly travel at the Pet Relief area: John, Cara, Mocha, Joseph and Liz from American Airlines

The American Airlines Facilities Manager, Joseph Daly, took some time to talk with us about the new facility.  We got tons of great video footage that we'll be releasing soon in a special miniseries on traveling with pets.  In the meantime, here some interesting facts we picked up:

Bruno, our favorite Staffordshire Terrier, with Harry, a Chihuahua we moved to Tokyo!Our friends over at the TakePaws blog have been discussing pet travel codes of conduct this week, talking about the best ways to make sure your dog isn't a canus non grata at the next pet hotel you stay at.  We love their tips, particularly the one stressing the importance of training in advance.  As we frequently mention, crate training is one of the most important things you can do before flying your pet, as it can reduce his or her stress levels immensely.

The only thing we would add to the list is that it's important that people with "aggressive" breeds to know in advance whether they will have trouble traveling with their pets. While we love Pits and Rotties (in fact, we have a beloved Staffordshire Terrier named Bruno who hangs out here at our offices), many people are concerned about aggressive breeds.  Check with the airline, the hotel and the city/country you are traveling to if you have a pet who might be considered dangerous. Sometimes, the results might surprise you. 

For example, Switzerland bans all pets with cropped ears/tails as this is typically seen as a sign of an "aggressive" breed.  The only way to import a pet with cropped ears or a docked tail is if the pet owner can establish that they are moving to Switzerland, not simply traveling.  This prevents travelers from nearby countries within the EU stopping in Switzerland with aggressive breeds, which is frowned upon by the local communities.

Have you experienced some "lessons learned" when traveling with pets?  Let us know in the comments section.

If you are planning to travel with pets within the US, you'll need a domestic health certificate from your local veterinarian. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has issued the template below for domestic pet travel use. Feel free to download and print out the form below to take to your veterinarian.

Health Certificate for US Pet Travel

An article in the New York Times this week features a feathery situation in the airport security line.  Joe Sharkey, a Times reporter, was faced with flying his two parrots, Rosie (an African Grey) and Petey (a blue-and-gold Macaw) from Newark to Phoenix.  A difficult task under the best of circumstances, Sharkey found himself receiving a long, hard look from the TSA before boarding with Rosie, who would be flying with him in-cabin.  Then the time came for Rosie to be inspected by the TSA, which required looking under her wings for explosives:

My wife and I had never before flown with our two parrots, but this time they had to come along on our nonstop flight to Phoenix. Rosie could fly in the cabin.  ... We were very anxious at the checkpoint. My wife solved the problem, though. One of Rosie’s tricks is to spread her wings and lower her beak if you ask her to imitate an eagle.

“Rosie, do an eagle,” my wife said. Inside her cage with the screener’s face framed in the open door, the bird promptly spread her wings wide. The screener had his look under the wings and lowered his wand. Merriment ensued all around — but it had to look pretty silly.

Flying with pets has always been somewhat difficult but tighter security restrictions are making pet travel, particularly in-cabin, even more stressful.

Almost a year ago, we reported a confusing pet travel directive issued by the TSA that made it impossible for pets originating from outside the US to be shipped unaccompanied or as manifest cargo without going through a "Regulated Agent" or "IATA-Approved" shipper.  Breeders who were used to sending their pets to Canada and then arranging to ship them back through other breeders suddenly found themselves in a tight spot, with their show dogs and breeding stock stuck across the border.  It also meant that someone living in a more remote city/country where there might not be a freight forwarder or registered agent who is capable and/or willing to book pets as cargo would have to either travel with their pet back to the US or leave the pet behind. 

If you're thinking about traveling by air with a pet sometime soon, this video can help simplify the process for you. The video mentions using a "USDA-approved" travel crate however there is no such thing. The United States Department of Agriculture doesn't oversee travel crates. The USDA is in charge of monitoring the import and export paperwork and ensuring the health requirements are fulfilled.

Instead, crates must be compatible with IATA's Live Animal Regulations.The regulation depends on the type of species you are flying.

Nevertheless, this is a nice video for someone who wants a quick overview of air travel for pets.

Costa Rica's major port of entry in San Juan (SJO) will not be accepting live animals as manifest (unaccompanied) cargo from December 18, 2009 through January 4, 2010.

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