Plane ride.. good or bad?

[Elizabeth]

At some point before 2009 is over, my husband and I are probably going to take a weeks vacation.. possibly to California. I have heard of people taking their dogs on planes, and/or shipping them on the plane. I know Sophie would LOVE LOVE LOVE running on the beach in California, but I am terrified of her being "shipped" in a kennel to get there. So.. we are probably going to have a close friend babysit her while we are gone. She knows him, and has spent alot of time with him, I am thinking this may ultimately be better for her. She does fine with a 3 1/2 to 4 hour car ride, but a plane ride is a whole other topic. Is it just me? I am sad to leave her for that time, but I don't know if it's a good idea to take her on a plane ride since we really don't have to..

Anyone else have experience with this?

[Adina P]

Elizabeth, I'm going to respond to bump this up so it doesn't get lost, but I have no experience here.

[Elizabeth]

That's exactly my thoughts- I couldnt' imagine putting her through that. I have read posts in previous discussions about people who have dogs that are frequent travelers- it amost sounded like they were allowed to bring thier dog on the plane, but everywhere I've looked the dog has to be less than 20 pounds to go in the cabin. We've talked about taking a road trip out there too, but even a car ride for that long (even with frequent stops) seems like it would be really stressful. I guess the only sand she'll see is the sand by a MN lake!

[Stella]

I'd be interested to hear from anyone that has travelled with their dog on a plane. I can't imagine expecting my dog to travel cargo and not come out of it scarred in some way! I imagine it would be such a stressful experience for them. My family are all in England and I would love to take the dogs over there with me to visit, but I think unless I was going for at least a couple of months I wouldn't want to put them through it. One thought I did have was to try and get them on a livestock flight, perhaps with some horses being shipped, that way at least there would be a groom with the horses that might keep an eye on the dogs too? It would be much nicer if they could travel in the cabin, it is not fair that small dogs get to do so many things that big dogs aren't allowed to, even though many small dogs are much worse behaved than big dogs!!

[Michele, Biscuit & Mo]

Hey Elizabeth - I know how you feel about wanting to take Sophie on vacation with you. You love her and want her to have fun, too! And I bet she'd love running on the beach. But shipping her in the cargo hold of a plane (roundtrip!) is a very high price to pay for that. No matter how careful the airline folks are (and they're usually not), flying in a plane is a traumatic experience. It would be very stressful on you guys, too - worrying about her. Remember - it's supposed to be vacation! Sounds like you have a great situation with your neighbor/dogsitter. It will be much better for her in the long run. And you'll know she's in good hands.

[Abby and Raya]

Hi Elizabeth,
I thought I would reply to your message since I have a lot of experience flying with Raya. I live in MD and my parents are in MN and we come to visit them in MN twice a year. We fly on Northwest and Raya flies in cargo. I have only flown on Northwest with her and the airline has been great most of the time. You will need to "know what you are doing" as some of the employees at the counter do not know, but the people who transport and care for the dogs in the airport, epecially in Mpls, are knowledgeable. The people in DC on the other hand need some help. The 3 pieces of advice I'd give you are: 1-book a non-stop flight if at all possible, 2-don't take her if you will be gone for less than 5 days, too stressful, 3-it's pricey, but well worth it to have Raya with me!
Let me know if you need any info.
Raya and I will be flying to MN on Saturday!

[Elizabeth]

Before I even posted this, I had pretty much decided it'd be too much for her. But I really wanted to hear what other people did in regards to traveling with thier dogs. If you are in MN and want to set up a play date- let me know-- depending on where you will be of course ;)