anyone brought their dog to florida??

[blueeyes]

has anyone brought their dog to florida??
we would like to bring our two dogs for a 6 month stay on the gulf coast.
we would appreciate any first hand experience or even a few 2 pennorth of advice.[8D]

[blott]

The only people I know of who have taken dogs to Florida are those who are staying there permanently.

As far as I remember, airlines won't take dogs after April or before October. It also costs an awful lot of money to send them by air, I seem to remember amounts of £000s mentioned (£600 perhaps?).

You also need to study carefully the importation or health regulations into Florida and back into the UK again.

If you don't own your accommodation, then you'd obviously need to find somewhere to stay that was happy to accept pets.

I guess the other question you need to ask yourself is would your dogs be happy going on a long plane journey twice and also with the climate in Florida.

Here's a thread that might help but it's from 2006 so the prices are probably out of date. http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums/topic_31219.asp

[Frosty]

We brought our dog over in Nov 2006.

We used a company called Animal Airlines http://www.animalairlines.co.uk/

They were very helpfull and took care of everything for us.

As i remember it cost about 800 gbp

You can get a free quote just by filling in the form online, it costs more the bigger the dog is.

We just made sure we had an animal passport in case we need to go home with her one day.

My advice, leave the dogs in the UK, if its only 6 months, leave them with friends or family.

Xena (the dog) seemed different after the flight, she is now easily stressed when we take her in the car, especially when we slow down and brake etc. I put it down to the sensation of been in a plane hold in the dark, bouncing around with turbulence etc, it must have an effect.

Thats my 2 cents.

DM me if you need more info, i can put you in touch with the people at sanford who handled the crate when she arrived, if you need more help.

[blueeyes]

many thanks frosty and blott for your comments and advice.
we do own a home on the gulf coast and would prefer having the dogs with us. the alternative would be to leave them in kennels, which they do seem to like! cost wise it's also expensive, but the dogs are part of the family group.
we don't have anyone that would take both dogs under their wing as dogsitters.
frosty, do you know any other folk who have flown their dogs transatlantic?
your comment about your dog seeming different is a concern.
cheers!