Anyone brought a dog from Italy to the US???

[arwen 8]

Hello there! Please, please can somebody help me? At the moment I am living in Italy and am happily moving to the USA (San Diego CA) round about the end of May. I will be taking my 11 year old dog with me. Now, I had it all worked out. I was going to fly to Atlanta where my boyfriend would be waiting for me. We were going to stay the night in a hotel, to give my old girl a rest from the cage and then resume our trip to CA the day after. I was going to fly her cargo. I did the usual round of telephone calls and to my horror ended up taking to a pet shipping company. We all know how much those thieves cost. It does not say anything anywhere on any of the Delta websites about having to do everything through a pet shipping company and yet it was the man I spoke to at Delta cargo who gave me this lady's number. He said that I can't deal with them directly...what's that supposed to mean? I just have that feeling that I'm about to be ripped off. I cannot afford to pay thousands for the dog...just moving there is going to cost me a fortune. I have looked on the internet for this company SM that's what the guy said it was called and there is no mention of it anywhere!! The lady is calling me back today with information about costs ect.... I am not happy to say the least.

Can anybody give me advice on what I should do as I'm starting to get myself into a bit of state already!

Is there any Italian on the forum who brought a dog over to the states or can give me any useful information regarding this matter. I know exactly what I need in order to bring her over, I'm just shocked about this pet shipping company business...

Thanks, Arwen

[scandal 951]

A friend of mine recently bought a Lagotto Romagnolo puppy (a very rare Italian breed) from an Italian breeder, and had the puppy brought to Chicago. So, I asked him your question. He in turn asked the Italian breeder, who has been shipping dogs to the US for many years. Here is her very detailed answer to your question. She also offered to speak with you directly about your needs in email so if you are interested, please PM me and I'll send you her email contact info.

Hello.

This is Sandra.

I don't know how big the dog is she is going to take with but everything the size of a German Shepherd or smaller normally can be taken with as checked oversize luggage. All you have to do is call Delta and tell them the crate size and weight of the dog and the flight you want to take. They then will check back if the plane is big enough for the dog and if there is any other dog already booked on that flight since they have a limited space on each plane. That's it, no need to ship the dog cargo. You just drop the dog about 3 hours before take off at the normal check in.

But Delta has a summer embargo so she would have to fly before May 15. or they wont take the dog with. Then the only solution really is Cargo and it is correct that Delta is not dealing with the costumer itself, she will have to go through a Pet Shipping company.

The second possibility would be to fly out of Frankfurt/Germany (that's where I ship all dogs out from) or Vienna/Austria. These 2 airports do have the largest animal traffic and the shipping companies there are very good and half as expensive as the ones in Italy. I pay about 500 Euro for a large crate from Frankfurt to Chicago, from Italy it would be 1200 Euro.

Or she would have to use another airline that does not have a summer embargo. United and American Airlines are good and so is Lufthansa. AllItalia is not bad either but more expensive. Continental does not accept any pets as checked luggage at all. So I would just try to find a flight with either Lufthansa or AA, if I am right they don't have embargo, but decide about taking pets with depending on the actual temperatures. I don't know where she is flying out from but end of May it's already pretty hot in Italy so flying out from Rome could be already a problem. She should at least try to get a flight as early in the morning as possible.

You can give her my email address if she needs any help, I am more than happy to help her out, I do ship dogs for more than 15 years now.

Greetings.

Sandra

[arwen 8]

A friend of mine recently bought a Lagotto Romagnolo puppy (a very rare Italian breed) from an Italian breeder, and had the puppy brought to Chicago. So, I asked him your question. He in turn asked the Italian breeder, who has been shipping dogs to the US for many years. Here is her very detailed answer to your question. She also offered to speak with you directly about your needs in email so if you are interested, please PM me and I'll send you her email contact info.

Thanks very much. I've sent you a pm!

[sheenaspapi 18]

I had purchased a Neopolitan Mastiff from Italy before. I don't know what the cost was since it was part of the($3500 dog/$350 ship I think) purchase price. The dog was shipped on American Airlines as cargo into Orlando, Florida. They called me when he arrived at the cargo facility and was cleared from quaratine.(spelling)

. There is alot of concern with shipping in hot weather. They have to prepare for the worst such as flight delays and an animal stuck in a aluminum tube isnt good.

I think the cargo guy is making cash on the side by referring customers to the animal shipping company.