Long Airplane Flight with Puppy: How do we do this?

[stewartslucy]

I realize I will have to take them out to go thru security. But what happens at the gate? Do they check the dogs again?? And once on board, do the flight attendants know who is bringing a dog on board? Will they come & check on us?? Also, Northwest says they don't require a health certificate, but I'm trying to figure out whether I should get one anyway, just in case.

I am happy that my post was so helpful!

The gate agent may or may not check the dog. If they do, it is to make sure the carrier has the issued tag on it.
The biggest hurdle is the initial front ticket counter who will collect the $$ and make sure your carrier is approved for air travel. They will tag the carrier.

I have had the security checkpoint look for and verify the carrier is tagged.

And yes, the flight crew all know there is a pet carrier onboard. It is marked on the manifest given to us for our flight, along with any other of the flight information.

I just finished a domestic flying 3-day trip, ans saw lots of dogs in the airports! I have been having them onboard more and more too, with no problems reported!

P.S. If you plan on exiting the airport to take your dog out, MAKE SURE you have the ticket for your next flight and ID to get back in through security again.

[yorkiesmiles]

Thank you once again!! It is so helpful to hear from someone in the know! I'm just a bit anxious about this, because I don't want anything to go wrong and spoil our first trip away ever at the holidays. My mother would probably kill me if I didn't get myself and my daughter to her house for Christmas - plus she bought my ticket (not the dogs, but she can't wait to love on them, especially Bubba - who she would steal from me in a heartbeat!)

I'm just so concerned about flying with 2 in one bag, as the flight reservation gal highly discouraged me from doing so. I would gladly have placed them in separate carriers and had my daughter carry one of the dogs, if it wasn't so costly to fly with them. I'm sure you have heard all this before. It's just hard when they are taking up no more space than one of my carry-ons would take that I wouldn't be charged for. Also, I'm just having a hard time deciding what carrier to buy for the flight.

[stewartslucy]

My airline does not allow 2 dogs in one kennel,

and neither does NWA.

Check this out from their website

http://www.nwa.com/travel/animals/ca...ts.html#kennel

I would just go with 2 carriers, one for you, one for your daughter.

The only time they allow 2 is when they are puppies under 6 months of age.

I don't want you to show up at the airport un-prepared.

[bettyeanne]

Originally Posted by shelbell77

Make sure you are giving her lots of practice time in the carrier before the trip so she starts to get used to it!

That's a great tip that I had forgotten about! Before Toto's very first flight [almost 4 yrs. ago] I bought her carrier well in advance. I didn't make a big thing of it, just opened the zippered end and top and casually sat it in the den. You know how nosey Yorkies are ... she did a lot of sniffing and peeking inside but didn't dare get in it. After a couple of days I placed her very favorite toy in the very back end of it. After much stretching and trying to get to it without going in there, she just couldn't stand it any more and literally flew in, grabbed it and ran away from the carrier like her little little butt was on fire!! The next day I placed a Greenie [this was back in "the day" when we thought Greenie's were safe!] where the toy had been. It only took a few hours for her Greenie addiction to get the best of her. She ran in, grabbed it and just outside of the carrier ... devoured it! After that I just put her in it to run errands, visit my Mother, etc. and each time I would scoop her up I would say "kennel up"! From then on she viewed it as a good thing and always included things that she loved!! Now, when she sees me get out a suitcase to pack, she gets sooooo excited and runs and jumps in that carrier as happy as a clam!! I have found that if there is something happy connected to things that we try to teach them, they catch on very, very quickly!! BTW ... now that she recognizes that "kennel up" is going to be a fun thing, I simply have to sit her carrier, a bag, a blankie, etc. on the floor and she absolutely leaps right into or onto it!!!

[aquinn]

Originally Posted by bettyeanne

Great advice already, just wanted to add, be sure to tuck an extra blankie in the bottom of his carrier and I always put a little pair of jammies or at least a shirt on Toto. We have flown with her regularly since she was about a year old and it's just "old hat" to her now. Some of the people at the airport in B'ham. have seen her so often, they get excited when they see us there! When we leave the local airport here in Grand Junction for our "hop" over to Denver, we take an early flight and they do not warm the plane before we board. It's really cold on the floor so I want to make sure she is warm. Also, if you are really lucky and get nice flight attendents, they might let you hold the carrier on your lap during the flight. We have been fortunate and had several wink and say "dog?? What dog??" I really appreciate those who do that and if anyone should ever complain, I would swear that we just sneaked her out and the attendent didn't know it!! Most of them will at least let you take the carrier out long enough to check on him and give him a tiny sip of water. Also, it might be a good idea when you check on him, give him a little "pea sized" treat of Nutri-Cal.

Good luck and I hope you all have a wonderful vacation!!

Betty:

I am flying with Tucker on Sunday and would really appreciate some advice. I asked my vet's receptionist about Nutrical and she said she'd ask the vet. She said he said he didn't know anything about it. What is it and what is it for???

Thanks!!! Say hi to Toto for me

~April

[Mayas Mommy]

Originally Posted by puppy_Love08

We will be taking our first trip with our 14-week old puppy Logan. He will be 16 weeks old when we take the trip. He currently weighs 1.5 pounds. We are still crate training Logan, and that is going very well.

The first leg of our flight is one hour. No big deal. But we have a 3-hour layover at the airport. Then the final leg to our destination is 5 hours long.

Where will Logan go potty during our 3-hour layover and 5-hour flight? He'll have to eat and drink water during this time as that would be too long for him to go without food at his tiny size. That means more potty trips.

How do we do this???

Ok, well I just did this 2 weeks ago. Going from Germany to the US and it was a PAIN in the BUTT. Paperwork was a joke . I had to buy an ASDP Airline Approved Cage so we could take her in the Cabin with us. I had a Peepad in there and Food and Water on me ..... I took her to the Restroom ever 3 hr. (we had an 13 hr. Flight) and the Ladies were not nice .... we had her out for a bit sitting on my Husbands Lap so she would not have been cramped to long .... they said we cant take her out. So she curled up and was upset.

Do your Research .... I had to have all kinds of Papers but then it was an Inernationaler Flight. Call the Airport ....

[aquinn]

[quote=bettyeanne;1527425] The next day I placed a Greenie [this was back in "the day" when we thought Greenie's were safe!] QUOTE]

What do you mean about greenies no being safe? I haven't heard this. I give Tucker Greenies all the time.

[RONLYNN]

Originally Posted by puppy_Love08

I want to bring the Nutri-Cal but it's in a 4.5 oz. tube, and the airlines allow only 2 oz. of liquid/gels in a container. If I put some Nutri-Cal in another container, it won't be labeled, and that could cause problems (been there, done that). Do they make travel-size tubes of Nutri-Cal?

It doesn't matter how much of is in the Nutri-cal tube...just tell them it is medicine for the dog. I flew with Teddi and took it and told them and they were fine with it. Just make sure to tell them.

[Sugar's Mom]

Originally Posted by puppy_Love08

I want to bring the Nutri-Cal but it's in a 4.5 oz. tube, and the airlines allow only 2 oz. of liquid/gels in a container. If I put some Nutri-Cal in another container, it won't be labeled, and that could cause problems (been there, done that). Do they make travel-size tubes of Nutri-Cal?

i put some in an empty film cannister once and dropped it into my purse. Went right thru.

[4doggiemama]

My worst fears came true the last time I flew to MS from KS. They lost my luggage that had the kibble in it. I wanted to have it in my carry-on but they refused. The airline eventually found my bag and delivered it, but............... Haven't figured out how to solve that problem for the next time. Joanne

[yorkieaddict]

Great Tips! We are flying next month with Pinky and getting her use to the kennel already. I am going to put some cute doggie panties on her with a panty liner. These will come in handy since we are visiting my In-laws in their home I do not want her to have any accidents in their home.

[yorkiesmiles]

Originally Posted by 4doggiemama

My worst fears came true the last time I flew to MS from KS. They lost my luggage that had the kibble in it. I wanted to have it in my carry-on but they refused. The airline eventually found my bag and delivered it, but............... Haven't figured out how to solve that problem for the next time. Joanne

wow, which airline did you fly? I just flew Northwest with my 2 and I carried on a couple sample bags of Evo - just in case. (which we did end up with an unplanned overnight in Memphis at a Marriott - curtsy of NWA) The rest of the food I packed. I kept enough in the carry-on so that if the luggage was lost we would at least have enough to get thru a day in case we couldn't get to a pet store to buy replacements.

The sample bags were unopened & just packed in my laptop bag. I never took them out when we went thru security - which we got to do 1 extra time because of the missed connection in Memphis. Not once did anyone ask about what was in the bags, or ask for them to be taken out of my laptop bag. I wonder what they looked like as they were scanned.

How did they even know you had the food? I would recommend sealed sample bags, I would think that would be harder for them to fuss about then perhaps a bit of food in a baggie.

[bettyeanne]

[quote=aquinn;1678449]

Originally Posted by bettyeanne

The next day I placed a Greenie [this was back in "the day" when we thought Greenie's were safe!] QUOTE]

What do you mean about greenies no being safe? I haven't heard this. I give Tucker Greenies all the time.

If you type "Greenies" in search, there are lots of threads discussing them. Toto was addicted to them and I, like some others, thought it was still OK to give them. She always got one of the teenies after her dinner. One night she began choking and Patrick almost killed us getting to an ER with her! I already had it dislodged and she was breathing fine by the time we got there but we had her checked anyway. This is one of the threads:

its true about the greenies

I suppose it's a matter of choice, but I had no qualms about dumping the box of 100 that I had just gotten for her. It was one of the scariest things I have ever had happen. She cried for days and had "withdrawals".

[bettyeanne]

Originally Posted by aquinn

Betty:

I am flying with Tucker on Sunday and would really appreciate some advice. I asked my vet's receptionist about Nutrical and she said she'd ask the vet. She said he said he didn't know anything about it. What is it and what is it for???

Thanks!!! Say hi to Toto for me

~April

Nutri-Cal is a "high octane" dietary suppliment that is great to give them when they aren't eating, which is why I keep it on hand for Toto all the time. They burn so many calories because they are such high energy dogs and they are prone to hypoglycemia. When we fly with Toto, she is so "tied up in knots" that she won't eat and she has held her pee for 12-16 hours ... she just absolutely won't go. We encounter so many delays and it's really upsetting for me but our vet says since it's not often that it happens that it won't hurt her. She loves Nutri-Cal and will lick it off our finger when she won't touch anything else. We are flying home for a short visit next Thursday and I'm already dreading it!

Toto sends puppy kisses ... and wants to get together again at Trish's for a "Yorkie fest"!! Have a safe trip!

[RONLYNN]

Originally Posted by 4doggiemama

My worst fears came true the last time I flew to MS from KS. They lost my luggage that had the kibble in it. I wanted to have it in my carry-on but they refused. The airline eventually found my bag and delivered it, but............... Haven't figured out how to solve that problem for the next time. Joanne

I don't know why they refused. I had a little carry on bag that had Teddi's nutra-cal, her dog food, some other meds and I just had to tell them I had it and they looked through it and gave it back...we didn't have a problem at all. I would never have put it in my luggage for the very reason you said...what if they lost it. I don't know why they would have made you check it??