Pet Move of the Month: Sam and Gretchen’s Move to Saudi Arabia
Incredible Experiences: Dog Transport to Saudi Arabia
This month's featured pet move puts the spotlight on two Weimaraners, Sam and Gretchen, who moved from Texas to Saudi Arabia when the family relocated due to a work transfer.
It was the first big pet move for them, and so they decided to enlist our help to assist with a smooth transition.
Read on to find out more about dog life in Dammam, and join us in wishing these sweet pups all the best in their new home!
What were some of your initial concerns?
Our initial concerns were around the safety of our dogs from the time they left our house in Texas to Saudi Arabia. We wondered if they would be able to handle a trip that long, would they get hungry, scared, lost or stolen, etc.??
What surprised you about the pet travel process to Saudi Arabia?
From our perspective it was a pretty easy process. We would caution people to be very patient with the Saudi side of things. It moves kind of slow over here, so things might not get done until the very last minute. Just be ready!
How did Sam and Gretchen handle the transition?
They actually handled the whole transition much better than we expected. They did really good on the flight over from Houston, TX, even though I was a nervous mom!
The other big issue we thought would be challenging is the fact that we really don’t have much grassy areas in our compound and no dog parks. Our dogs were used to a very large, fenced-in yard and lots of freedom to run whenever they wanted. Now they are on a leash at all times, go for walks every day, and are just fine with that. We really think they just love that we are all living together again!
Is Saudi Arabia a pet friendly place to be?
I think in general Saudis prefer cats to dogs. On our compound most of the people are Americans and Europeans except for the compound maintenance and security staff. We have big dogs, and everyone is pretty much afraid of them. Most people are really intrigued by our dogs, probably due to their size, but once they get comfortable with seeing the dogs around they are better.
We have not had them off our compound yet except to go to the vet/boarding facility. In our area, it is hard to locate vets, boarding, pet stores and supplies. All of this is about an hour away from us.
What advice do you have for people who might be planning a pet move?
Trust PetRelocation staff to handle everything, they all did an outstanding job for us! We had the dogs picked up at our home, driven an hour to the airport, flown from Houston to Amsterdam and on to Dammam KSA, then delivered to our home about an hour from the airport.
Our dogs came out of their crates just as happy, healthy and safe as they could be. PetRelocation and KLM really did a great job handling our dogs. We have already recommend them to others and we would certainly use them again.
What made you decide to hire PetRelocation to assist you?
We liked the way the staff talked to us -- like our dogs were their dogs. And we have to say that not only did they talk that way, they performed that way too. They answered all our questions and made us feel more comfortable about our dogs' long journey.