Traveling with 2 Yorkies in one bag
 

Hi there! Fiance and I jumped the gun and fell in love with our 2 Yorkies before we had our honeymoon planned. So we have a 3 week trip and decided to bring them with us. We are flying Delta and they said as long as 2 dogs fit in one bag, they can be charged as one. We have a 7 lb boy and a 3.5 lb girl. The girl is tiny - no concerns at all. But will it be too tight of a squeeze for the both of them in one bag under a seat? Ultimately if we had to be charged for 2 bags then we must ($500 each dog carrier roundtrip!), but I want to know if it is completely impossible to do so. Our boy Yorkie is about 13" to the top of his head if he stands straight up. Also, I know people say it is against regulation to take them out, but realistically, a lof of other people have said it depends on the flight attendants. So we plan on putting them on our laps with a blanket over them through most of the flight - it is a LONG flight.

Our flight is 3 hours to Atlanta where the seat height is 14", width 12" and the flight to Italy is 9 hours and the seat height is 18" and width 14". We also have a 2.5 hour layover between the 2 flights so we plan to let them get out and get some exercise before the 2nd flight.

Could we fit the two of them in one Sherpa bag? I know they fit fine in a large Sherpa bag - and it is soft-sided so we could conceivably "squish" it in the shorter seat for the first leg of the flight.

Would appreciate your own experiences so we can figure out what is best for our babies on the trip.

HA! I posted asking the same thing not long ago.
I did buy a Sherpa in Large last night and fit my two pretty good.
We are flying FL to WV...

Going to Italy, must be nice, enjoy your honeymoon! Can you have them in cabin going overseas? Do they have to go through quarantine? :cool:

I have the Petsfly carrier and I can out 3 in it but it is tight. 2 fit nicely.

Yes, they are flying in cabin with us - under the seat. We made reservations for the 2 of them in 1 bag with Delta for the whole trip. If for some reason they would not be allowed to fly in cabin - we would NEVER let them fly through checked baggage. Too risky!

So you had 2 Yorkies in a large Sherpa bag and you were able to fly with no problems? Thanks for your experience :-)

There is no quarantine required for Italy, just the usual steps - Must be microchipped with the 15 digit microchip, FORM 998 pet health certificate listing all their shots, rabies shots, etc. The form has to apparently be stamped by our local USDA office as well.

I'm curious also about the regulations of quarrantine...are there any for Europe (Italy)?

I have not flown with my girls but, if I did...I'd probably go with what Patti was describing. The biggest carrier you can fit under your seat for your babies maximum comfort...just in case you fly with the flight attendent from hell...kwim?

Good Luck & Have a wonderful time in Italy!:p

I just bought the large size last night. I have a med size I used when i just had 1 yorkie....I haven't used it yet, I will at the end of the month.
Happy Travels!!

No quarantine for Italy, just make sure you have all of your documentation on hand...they usually check at the start point, but not at the end, but you may get pulled off to the side for a forms check. Are you going to have to get them vet checked for the way back? I know there are time restrictions, Rizzo and Fatso are going to have to be checked for Leptospirosis before I'll be able to take them back to the states...or anywhere for that matter. It's highly infectious and can be transmitted so easily so ensure that your pups don't drink or play in any water that you don't provide for them. Again I don't know if there are time constraints that you've already discussed with your vet, but you may need another vet check to get your papers signed off before going back to the States.

Which one do you have that would fit 2? Are they airline approved??

I have this one and it works great for two of mine with a combine weight of 14 pounds. Sherpa Sherpa Double Sided 2-Dog Carrier - TheUncommonDog.com

Yorkiedaze - you used this bag for 2 Yorkies on the plane and it fit fine under the seat?

My girls fit fine in our travel carrier.....they total about 11 pounds together... just make sure your carrier is regulation size and you should be fine! My bag is a bit larger...but still fit within their size specification. Have a FUN trip!!!

My first yorkiie was 15-16 pounds and we used a large sherpa bag to fly with her. Technically I don't think the large meets Delta's regulations but no one ever bothered us about it in ten years of travel. It swished down fine. Delta has their own sherpa bag. (it is on the Sherpa website) It is a little bigger than the medium one but smaller than the large. You may want to consider that. I bought the medium one for my current yorkie. She is 9 pounds and there is plenty of room for her in there. Your two are only a little bigger than my one. Is there a store near you where you could try out bags with similar dimensions to the sherpa?

I don't fly but if I did I could only imagine flying with Gracie...I'd be willing to bet she'd whine sooo loud under the seat even the flight attendant from Hell would be begging me to take her out and hold her! lol I'm sure the other passengers would take a vote for her on my lap too! Maybe take up a collection to bribe the attendant!

Carol607. Thanks for your experience! We are leaning towards the large Sherpa bag with wheels. I know technically it probably is too big but I would rather put them in the large Sherpa as opposed to the medium Sherpa. We did try to squeeze them in the medium and it seemed impossible. Our boy is way too tall! Granted, they don't need to be standing up either - but I am concerned about the "standing up and turning around" rule. I guess I just have so much anxiety because 3 weeks is too long to leave them alone (no one to watch over them and kennel would be torture for them). I don't want to get caught with having the wrong bag at the airport the morning we leave.

Sherpa makes a carrier that is designed to fit 2 small dogs with a removeable separator.
Collapsible soft dog crates
Sherpa AKC 2 Dog carrier

Hope this helps! Congratualtions and enjoy your honeymoon!

Wow, this is great info for me when I travel in the future...is there anyway that I can bookmark this thread on my account??


congratz on your honeymoon and have a wonderful and safe trip! Be sure to let us know how it went when you return =) How big are you babies? I would like to know so I can pick the right carrier in the future.

Hi -- I have the Large sherpa bag, and it is definitely roomy enough for my two babies -- both are about 5lbs. I've tried many different bags, and the Sherpa is definitely the way to go. You do have to squish the top a bit, but I haven't had any problems. The airlines don't generally check to see if they can move around, and my dogs actually just curl up together and sleep the whole time. Be forewarned though that some airlines have strange rules where only two liter mates under 6 months can be in the same carrier. I've generally found that the only airline that gives me a hard time is American for some reason. To avoid the scrutiny of them being able to move around in the bag, I usually just hold one and put one in the bag when I check in. The other thing you could do to avoid the hassle is have your husband hold one dog while you check in and vice versa. The only proof you need at security is your paid receipt, which doesn't specify one dog or two. Good luck!

Post trip with 2 Yorkies
 

Hi everyone! Just wanted to fill everyone in on our travel experience.

Documents before traveling abroad:

I ordered documents from this site: Pet Immigration Forms Pet Passports Rules Instructions for international pet travel to download forms necessary to travel to the EU. Follow the instructions carefully! The current guidelines are that your dog has to have a 1 digit microchip BEFORE his/her rabies shot, meaning if your little baby got rabies shots before the microchipping, you have to do it again. I discovered this technicality almost too late, as it has to happen at least 30 days before travel and I was at day 32 but we did manage to get them their 2nd rabies shot before the deadline. Yikes! You also need a health certificate which airlines look at before you board the plane on the US and a USDA stamped health certificate. This whole process you can find through the website above and/or at your local USDA office. I was really nervous about this whole process and worried that we were somehow not going to be able to bring our babies along with us, but it all turned out smoothly and we only got asked once for the forms upon leaving the US, and honestly, I think the agent barely glanced at them.

However, on our departure from Italy, the agent did ask for the "pet passport" which was just the EU travel form, which the Pet Travel Store provides (to be filled out by your Vet). So they do actually check!

The carrier:
Again because I was so nervous, we bought 2 bags - the medium Delta approved Sherpa carrier, and the large Sherpa (not Delta approved) with wheels. Because we had 2 Yorkies (1 10 lb, 1 lb) we preferred to give them as much space as possible and a medium Sherpa was just too small. We checked them in the large case and brought the medium one in case they complained about the size. What a relief it was that they barely glanced at it! We flew from MSP to ATL and from ATL to Milan without a problem with the large Sherpa carrier. Super comfy and spacious for both of them. Unfortunately our little girl chewed the zipper and we had to do a makeshift sewing job to keep them from crawling out of the bag on the way back home from Italy! This only happened because we left the flap open on the top to let them hang out with us in the waiting area, and our little beaver took that as an opportunity to destroy her carrier.

The flight:
During takeoff and landing, they were perfectly fine. When it was "night" time we snuck them out of the bag and put them in our laps with the blanket over them. No one even noticed. The flight attendants didn't even know. Neither one of them went potty from Minneapolis to Atlanta and from there to Milan - almost 12 hours traveling. And they slept the whole flight. When we finally exited customs, my husband placed down a potty pad in a quiet corner and they both dutifully relieved themselves. On our flight back, our boy didn't go at all, but the little girl seemed agitated, so I carried her in blanket to the restroom on board the plane. I put down napkins on the floor and told her to potty... unbelievably, she went on command. Amazing! And then back to sleep for the rest of the flight.

Medication:
We asked our vet for meds but felt a uncomfortable giving them prescription meds. He told us to give them some children's medication and that might calm them down. We never found a need to use anything.

In conclusion, I hope our experience helps anyone who is at all nervous or full of doubt about bringing your Yorkie babies on a long trip with you. Our experience was a relief and it was such a wonderful time, being able to enjoy long daily walks through old European villages with our Yorkies. Both Italy and France were extremely dog friendly countries and most restaurants welcome your dog friends at the dinner table.