Tonight, we will look at a scenario that we have dealt with quite a few times. Someone sees a dog and after numerous communications decides that it is the dog for them but they are in the UK (Scotland this time), they want the dog asap and they don’t want hours and hours of driving through at least one country, in this case 2.
So we all know that you can have a dog transported and that we can do TRACES to allow it to enter the UK legally but that takes time and is very dependent on transporters schedules.
This weekend I spent a lot of time speaking to transporters as we had a reservation for a dog for Scotland but the adopter, being a teacher, has set holidays and really wanted to get to know the dog whilst off. But, if you are from Scotland you have almost two full days driving here and then back again and for a single person to do that with a doggy that they really don’t know is risky for all sorts of reasons. Whats more the dog had just had his rabies so could only travel mid school holidays which in reality meant a one week window!
So, we explored all the possibilities that we could think of:
Fly here and hire a car…nope you cant take a car hire out of the country. One way car hire through France and then the UK…nope you need a car to go through Eurotunnel / ferry.
Could we fly the dog to Scotland…not unless it went via Gatwick…hmmm….not sure I would trust the airlines with that transfer and thats before you think of the stress for the dog as it would have to go as cargo.
Could the new adopter fly here and go back with the dog by train….not advisable with a dog that you don’t really know then how do you get through the tunnel/cross the channel?
We did come up with a work around solution that the adopter will fly here, spend several days getting to know the dog here, fly back on the same day that the dog leaves with the transporter ( thank you once again to Linda from For The Love Of Dogs and Cats) and will be ready to greet the dog who she will have gotten to know the previous week in France!! She will be back to class the next day but mum and dad have not long retired, live 5 mins away and are on hand for doggy settling in duties!
This seemed a good solution as it ensured both owner and doggy would travel safely and also have time to get to know each other!
Phew…..now you will just have to wait to hear who the lucky boy to leave is!!!