Read This Before Moving With Your Dog
Mving with your pet can seem daunting, there are many things you can do with your dog to get him/her ready to travel. 2020 the pandemic dramatically changes most of our lifestyles and forces tons of people who live in the United States to spend our time mostly at home. After the company I work for announced WFH in March, I started to have this question in my head, if I don’t have to stay in the office, I am not necessarily limited to only having to work from home, I can be anywhere. Jennifer even told me about an idea that she can go on a trip with her laptop to stay in a cabin in the woods.
The eagerness of moving out from California floats to the surface again. We experienced countless wildfires that burned west coast cities, later turned San Francisco into an orange nightmare, after several of my health related events and bad allergies to pollution, I started to pay attention to my own health more seriously. Leaving LA became no longer a childish dream but something must be done with or without my company’s permission.
The location we could move to was found in the middle of May 2020. After three months of waiting for my company to give a green light allowing employees to work in a different state, on August 6th we decided we could no longer wait for the world to change for us, we have to go.
Before the lock down, me and Quentin actually had a plan to visit Boston in May. We pushed the vacation date to October 9th and later realized although we changed our flight, we never did buy a return ticket. So conveniently October 9th became the date we left California and moved to Massachusetts.
Before I keep rambling on our stories, here I list out things you will want to consider while planning on moving with your pets:
Table of Contents
If you would like to jump to a certain topic you can use these tags below to fast travel, but you might miss out a lot of information given in different sections :
If you just want to read our stories, you can click on this tag below:
- Travel
◍ Travel By Air
● Getting To The Airport
Maybe you are trying to catch the flight at odd hours, or maybe you are flying with your entire family or whatever reason no one can take you and your pet to the airport, what do you do?
I did my own research on this topic and found very little information online. Therefore I would like to provide solutions for people who are going to the airport by calling ride-hailing service. (The situation might change depending on where you are, this article is providing information in the U.S. in 2020.)
While there is no pet friendly ride service for Uber or Lyft in some cities, it doesn’t mean you can’t ride with your pets. Service animals are permitted to accompany any rider at all times, no questions asked. For none service animals, ridesharing companies usually leave the decision making in the driver’s hand. Simply contact the driver who accepted your ride with a text message or a call to ask if they are comfortable with pets in their car. Be a responsible pet owner to help keep the car clean, if possible keep your pet crated. By notifying in advance, we found our driver on the first try.
● Air Travel Method
If flying is your choice to move with your pet, under different circumstances a pet will be either allowed to stay in the cabinet with you or travel in the cargo space.
› Fly Your Pet With you In The Cabinet
» Your pet has to be small enough (Usually cats, or small dogs are maybe under 16lb and 15″ height from feet to shoulder.) and comfortable enough to fit in an airline approved travel kennel. The kennel has to be able to fit under the seat space. Usually extra $60-$250 dollars based on the airline, some airlines allow you to book tickets for pets online, some you have to call in to make reservations. The number of animals allowed in the cabinet on each aircraft is often limited, remember to secure a spot for your pet as early as possible to avoid surprises.
» Or, your pet is a certified service animal. Usually fly for free and no need to worry about limitations.
Emotional support animals will no longer consider animal companions used by travelers on commercial flights as “service animals.” starting 2021 Jan.
› Fly Your Pet With Cargo
» Your pet has to be in an airline approved travel kennel.
● Travel Carrier Options
› In Cabinet Soft Carriers
Soft carriers are best to use to fit different airline dimension requirements. Remember to always check those requirements with the airline you will be flying with, dimensions can usually be found on their websites. Below I listed some carrier options with the biggest possible bag size you could use under the seat, based on me and many other pet owner’s experiences:
The Sturdibag was a bit challenging for me to put it together when received, once it’s ready to go the bag is not collapsible (at least not as flat as I wish)unless you take out those metal arches. Aside all that, Sturdibag is very flexible to the point some pet owners did successfully fit an technically oversized XL Sturdibag under the seat by removing the foam core base.
For our flight to Massachusetts with United Airlines we chose to go with a large size for TT.
Sherpa has a “guaranteed on board” program, with a number of airlines when using their approved carriers you won’t be refused boarding. If you are denied, they will reimburse you the cost of the flight and pet fee.
- Where to read more :
I bought a Sleepypod Air bag back in 2015. It didn’t take too long for me to realize its way too small for TT. The Sleepypod Air soon became his cat sister Sha-Sha’s carrier, it’s also the one we used to take her on to the flight. It has Mesh panels on three sides that you can check on your pet easily, fast collapsible, and a design that you can loop a seat belt through to secure the bag in a vehicle. 10/10 recommend.
› In Cargo Hard Carriers
If you are traveling with an airline that doesn’t allow in-cabin pets, or you are traveling with a larger dog, you will still need an airline approved container. I bought ours the first day TT came to my house as a stand by travel crate, mainly using it as his kennel for crate training purposes. Later also used it to restrain TT while he was recovering from an injury.
- Where to read more :
● Crate Training
I highly recommend purchasing a travel kennel/bag early so you will have at least a month of time to acclimate your pet to his new “cave”. What you’ll need are lots of yummy treats, a clicker or just verbal comments will do. Making the training session fun and short is the key. I listed some videos below you might find helpful. I trained TT successfully by following Kikopup methods while he was less than a year old.
● Seat Selection
A rule of thumb for seat selection is that the middle seats usually have more leg space. Seat sizes vary even in the same price range. For people who want to fly with their pet in the cabin, be sure to check out the website SeatGuru to make sure you get the most room possible.
Flying with another person is the easier way for you to acquire more space even on a window seat. The way we did it was to have Quentin in the middle while me and TT took the window seat so we can block any unnecessary contact TT might have with a stranger, just in case someone doesn’t feel comfortable sitting next to a dog.
- Where to read more :
● Find Pet Relief Area
Most of the airports have several designated pet relief areas, locations are pretty easy to find on each airport’s website. Or you can check the website here provided by Dog Jaunt with a collective list. Once you figure out the location, I highly recommend either print out the map and bring it or save it in your phone. To rely on airport spotty internet connections is no fun while you are trying to catch the flight but your pup really needs to pee also you have no idea where you are. We still ran into an issue that the information on the LAX website wasn’t up to date, and no one knew where the pet relief area is even though they work in the airport. I finally got direction from a janitor manager 30 minutes later.
- Where to read more :
● Prepare Documentation
It’s important to know that different airlines could have different rules when it comes to pet policy and what documentations are required. However, those requirements are not necessarily obvious on the flight booking page nor will the airline send it to your mailbox, but they are usually listed somewhere on the airline’s website if you do some research (You can google “X airline pet policy”). I encourage all pet owners to actively stay on top of preparing all required papers to eliminate any potential surprises at the check in desk.
Some airlines might require travelers to submit all the paperwork weeks before the departure date. Also don’t forget to have print outs with you while checking in at the airport. Below are more information by county or state you can find on the USDA website.
● Getting Through Security
When passing through security checks, you will have to take your pet out of the carrier. If for some reasons your dog is not suitable for this event, not able to walk or you are traveling with a cat, don’t forget you always have an option to ask TSA to run checks in an enclosed room privately, that’s what we did with Sha-Sha.
For regular procedure In the U.S., you will have to take your dog out of his carrier to walk through the metal detector while the dog’s carrier goes through the x-ray machine. In the meantime a TSA officer will give both of your hands an explosive trace detection swab to ensure there is no residue on them.
Being able to tell your dog to get back into the carrier quickly is useful, we all know how stressful it is to go through security checks, while you still need to put your belt and shoes back on, lines of people are waiting right behind you, the last thing you need is to deal with an uncooperative pup.
◍ Travel By Car
If your pet is not familiar with car travel, consider to start early with some shorter trips. TT is trained to go potty on command, it became an extremely useful skill during numeros road trips.
The purchase of Sleepypod Air pet carrier I mentioned above was partially for the security of car travel for TT. It comes with a design that you can loop a seatbelt through to secure your pet in the vehicle. After accepting the reality that TT is too big to comfortably fit into the carrier, it became his cat sister Sha-Sha’s travel bag.
I bought TT a doggy seat belt from EzyDog while he was little. Just like seat belts for people, it’s equally important to have your dog wearing a dog seat belt that is designed to keep him safe like any passenger.
- Where to read more :
- Veterinarian Visits
There are two common documents required by most of the airlines for domestic pet traveling, a health certificate(Certificate of Veterinary Inspection) and a proof of up to date rabies vaccination. Be sure to ask your vet and schedule an appointment prior traveling.
◍ Up To Date Vaccinations
A vaccination record is not only a document that you will need to fly with your pet, sometimes a hotel will also ask for it. CDC requires that dogs over 12 weeks old be vaccinated against rabies. If this is your dog’s first rabies vaccination, it must be made at least 21 days before departure to be considered valid.
Even if you are not flying, having a shot record is also important while moving to a new location. When taking your pet to his new vet, a shot record will be the first document they might ask from you.
◍ Health Certificate
Most of the airlines and destinations require a health certificate, which must be issued by a veterinarian within 10 days of travel, and the certificate it’s only valid for 30 days after the vet signs it. Always check with your airline and destination for their requirements because not every state requires one. Also some vets might not be able to provide health certificates for international use.
◍ Calming Aids
Never sedate your pet prior to an air travel, most of the vet will agree with this as that can lead to breathing complications in the aircraft. Yet you can consider using a calming aid if this is your pet’s first time traveling, he is an anxious dog or you are traveling with a cat. Walking through airports and being trapped in an incredibly loud aircraft could be extremely stressful for your pet. You can get calming aids from your vet 10 days prior. (Just do this at the same time you request a health certificate, convenient!) The purpose of acquiring it early is that you can test it on your pet to know how he reacts to the medicine.
A Thundershirt can be very helpful for some dogs but we’ve never tried it, there are also tons of calming supplements you can find online or in pet stores including CBD oil. We never give TT or Sha-Sha CBD, and none of the stores bought calming product work for us in the past so we went with the vet solution. Always check with your vet before using any supplements!
◍ Find A New Vet
Since this article is talking about moving with your pet, another thing you want to do early is to find a new vet, especially those who provide 24hr emergency services first. You could ask for a referral from your original veterinarian or simply find them on the google maps. I like to tag important locations for future quick access.
- Order Pet Supplies Prior
Another thing you can consider to do is to order and time the delivery for pet supplies before you arrive at the new home. Of course if you are moving to a driving distance home or if the situation allows, these could be planned out and arranged in person or by friends and families. We were moving in the middle of Covid from California to Massachusetts, we also followed the state law to quarantine ourselves 14 days after landing, so to have pet supplies readied at the new home was important.
◍ Pet Bed
I purchased our first Snoozer Cozy Cave back in 2015, TT and Sha-Sha shared it for 5 years and we sometimes even brought it on to road trips. After 5 years of wear and tares it doesn’t make sense to keep the bed anymore. We got rid of some bigger furniture while moving and the old Snoozer was one of them. I ordered a new bed but different style to the new house considering TT and Sha-Sha don’t use the “cave” like most dogs do, they just lay on top of the arch. Our new large Overstuffed Sofa in Sicilly Bone color is perfect.
◍ Litter And Litter Box
Sharing my life with Sha-Sha for 6 years didn’t make me a cat expert, I am still in the process of figuring out the best solution when it comes to the type of the litter and the style of the litter box. Having an opportunity to start fresh, also with Sha-Sha being an extremely flexible cat, I am still experimenting with different combinations and preparing to tailor make one for her. I ordered disposable litter boxes prior to my flight.
◍ Scratching Post
Instead of buying a new scratching post, me and Quentin made one for Sha-Sha a day after arrival. Offering a place your kitty can scratch in order to establish a good habit right from the beginning is important. When training good behaviors we want to eliminate the possibility for your cat to make mistakes. To correct unwanted behaviors is way difficult later on. We want to encourage instead of correcting. Check out this four quadrants of operant conditioning illustrator Lili Chin made below to find out why we love positive reinforcement:
◍ Pet Food
Being a homemade pet food household, we ended up using freeze dried pet food for a month while moving. I ordered it in LA (old house) so I could not only clean out the fridge but also focus on packing. We brought the rest of the bag of food with us onto the flight to Boston. Freeze dried pet foods are light weight and don’t have a strong smell so they are easy to travel with.
- Update That Address
Now we arrived at our new home, what’s next? There’s one thing we need to take care of for our pets, that is to update current address.
◍ Pet Insurance
If you’ve signed your pet up for pet insurance, you might be surprised to learn that the price can change if you move to a new address. In our case, moving from Santa Monica California to a suburban town in Massachusetts reduced TT’s insurance by $30.
◍ Microchip
One study showed that without a microchip, only 20% of missing dogs reunite with their owners. With a microchip, this increases to 50%. On the other hand, less than 2% of cats without microchips are returned.
Also, some pets found with a microchip were unable to find their way home because either the microchip wasn’t registered, or the owner information was incorrect. So don’t forget to keep your information in the database up to date. Using petmicrochiplookup.org to search by chip number can help you find out where your information is stored. If you can’t remember the number off the top of your head, you could try to look for it on previous vet visit invoices, or by taking your pet to a veterinarian where they can scan it for free.
- Where to find it :
◍ Pet license
Don’t forget to check city rules. For example, all dogs in Santa Monica are required to be licensed. We had to terminate the registration after moving away. The town we move to also required all dogs to be licensed.
- Hello New Vet
Finally, one last thing to consider is to pay your new vet a visit. This is not something urgent but it did help us to understand more about tick prevention. Back in southern California, we never experienced any tick pressure in any season. The first week we moved to Massachusetts in the middle of October, TT faced a serious attack. Even if we always kept him on flea and tick medication, we still found ticks on TT every single day. I learned this from our new vet that the northeastern US has the highest risk of exposure to Lyme disease in dogs and a Lyme vaccination is always recommended for them here.
Iot’s strange to see a place I called home for 6 years turned completely empty one day. I gave TT my old comforter to sleep on and also invited him and Sha-Sha to jump on to the bed before I recycled it. I will never forget the joy I saw on their tiny faces, nor will I forget about California.
Our direct flight tickets with United were cancelled and got shifted around because of the pressure of losing customers most airlines suffered during Covid, the flight we were on had only 6 people in the entire aircraft, so it makes sense they needed to do some arrangements. Later on in September all the direct flights from LA to Boston were canceled by all airlines. We took the red-eye flight from LAX to Newark as a transition point. It’s annoying to have a 2 hours long layover while dealing with jetlag, but on the other hand, TT got a pee break. We landed at Boston Logan international airport at 10 in the morning the next day.
We moved to Massachusetts on a beautiful day. I couldn’t comprehend how New England could be so gorgeous in fall.
On October 13th we went to a drive through Covid test location to make sure we didn’t pick up anything bad while traveling. This was my second time doing a Covid test in 2020 because of how sick I was back in LA that I was required to take one at a clinic. The drive through test was definitely nicer than the one I had to do in LA that the sample was collected from deeper in my nasal. Anyway, both tests came back negative.
Here we are starting a new chapter, and there’re more to come.
arap
Really appreciate helping us out find the right home in the Coachella Valley. Ian Zalar