Puppy air transport safe?

[Roy]

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking about getting a 9 week old goldendoodle from a breeder in Indianapolis and I'm located in San Francisco. The breeder will ship the pup in a dog crate using Delta Airlines I believe. Is it 100% safe to ship pups through air? I just want to be sure it's safe to do.

Thank you!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Jolene, I didn't realize you had such a harrowing experience with Sassy.  Gordie is also one of those dogs who simply cannot be crated w/o a panic attack.  At the groomers our dogs are put into a little office cubicle because of Gordie.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Thank you for sharing this.  Can you imagine what would have happened if you hadn't gone to pick her up and just had her shipped from the breeder. 

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Oh Jolene, what a frightening experience.  But how fortunate that you were concerned enough to stop by the vet and change your plans for Sassy.  

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Personally, I would never ship a dog anywhere. I have seen what they do to luggage.

[Roy]

Thank you for the replies!

If we do go with this breeder, the pup would be going home in early April. I checked the flight length from Indianapolis to SF and it's roughly 4hr and 30min. The weather in Indy around that time should be 61 degrees and over here it'll probably be 65 degrees. I'm going to double check what service the breeder will use.

I would be more than willing to fly over to Indy to pick the pup up if transporting him isn't safe. It's an extra $300-$400 compared to him flying alone but its well worth it like you guys mentioned. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

APril and a relatively short flight sound great.

[Wendy and Myla]

I know a lot of people have to fly their pups but honestly, for me, an extra $300-400. on the price of the puppy would be worth it to be able to have your puppy by your feet on the flight instead of wherever they put them!   It's bonding time :) and you absolutely know what he is feeling instead of guessing what happened on that flight! 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I totally agree.

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

Libby was flown from Washington to California and everything was fine.  She was in a small travel crate and when they handed her to me and I looked at her beautiful eyes and sweet little face, she had my heart.  The flight took about 90 mins.   We took her out immediately and she rode home on my lap.  She was great!

[Lynda Kamrath]

Well, I prefer Continental Airlines and they fly into San Francisco.  They do all the seeing eye dogs and they (the dogs)  are adults.  I have had all my pups shipped by air and no problems.  However, I wouldn't do it in summer because of the heat.  Nothing is 100%, but I have had no problems shipping my pups.  Glad you found a goldendoodle pup.  BTW, there is a great park just out of the San Francisco Airport and you can go directly there and take your pup out of his crate and get some good bonding time right off the bat.  I'll try to post a photo of Harpo when he arrived at San Francisco.  It kind of cut off Harpo in the posting, but you get the idea.

[Lynda Kamrath]

My niece lives in Indianapolis and flies out here frequently.  Maybe we can work something out with her.  She is a college student and excellent with dogs.  This is a photo of her with Harpo giving him chopstick lessons.

[F, Calla & Luca]

How cute.