Dogs Worldwide

Air travel is not any easier for your dog, than it is for some humans. Thousands of dogs go from point A to Point B on airplanes every year and never have a problem.

But this is not always the case, just as some customers experience the fear of flying, our dogs may tend to have a fear of being caged on a plane. We, as pet owners, share a responsibility, in trying to make air travel as comfortable for our dogs as possible. How can this be done?

You, the dog owner, have the opportunity to get to know your dog. You are the one who understands what his dislikes or likes are. You know their temper, and how they will react to different circumstances. You must allow all this knowledge to come into play. Just like we are all different, our dogs are different as well. It has been estimated that some 20% of dogs suffer from some form of anxiety associated with separation situations. These dogs may not be best suited for Air travel.

There have been recorded incidents, where dogs on planes, suffering from anxiety brought on by separation, have attempted to chew their way out of cages. Obviously this resulted in injuries for the dog, a bad situation all the way around. How could this have been avoided? What can a dog owner do to eliminate these episodes of anxiety?

The best way for you, as the dogs owner, to reduce anxiety, and perhaps yours as well, it to prepare and condition your dog for his journey into air travel. You can accomplish this very easily by keeping the travel carrier around the house. Choose random moments, that you can get the dog used to resting in his travel carrier. Perhaps, if you are going out, allow him to ride with you in the carrier. If you mange to get him to spend enough time in the carrier he will begin to become accustomed to it. When it comes time to fly into the wild blue yonder, your dog will be better prepared to deal with the anxiety.

If traveling with your dog, it is always suggested that you try to take a direct flight. On many occasions, this cannot be avoided, and this is when mishaps seem to take place. Multi-transfer flights seem to lead to more unfortunate situations, where the dogs wind up in the middle of nowhere, never to see their owner again. Don’t allow this to happen to you and your dog. After all, dogs are men’s best friends right? Here’s what you do.

Always make sure your dog has proper ID permanently attached to him in some way. Ensure that all your contact information is on it. Some dog owners have even resorted to microchips and tattoos. It may seem a little eccentric, but not if you love your dog, and want to avoid stress and anxiety. For many, their dogs are family. They share a great deal of their lives together. You can replace your luggage; it’s hard to replace a good friend.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 08:00 and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.