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Has anyone gone on vacation with their Dobes?

2K views 24 replies 12 participants last post by  rodentraiser 
#1 ·
Hey It's me again lol ummmm My hubby and I are going to Florida to visit family in September. We currently reside in Montana and are flying there. We're going to be there for almost a month and I don't want to leave comet with a friend for that long. But it seems like our only option right now. =(

We are taking United, but then switch airlines in between cities, to and from Florida. I tried to call the airline and asked how in the world that would work if we were taking our 95 pound doberman... but I couldn't get to someone who wasn't automatic .... or from india lol Also... I looked up travel prices for a dog and just with United it was $250 friggin dollars ONE WAY!!!

My husband's and my tickets together BOTH WAYS was only $700. So taking Comet with us at that price would be more than half of our tickts combined. >=( But like I said... I don't know how the prices go if we are switching airlines.... anyone ever have this problem or can give me some advice on what to do? lol
 
#7 ·
Well I have never flew with Ruger, but we have taken him to Florida (we live in Ohio) and we drove, now we left our house at about 9:30pm (when Ruger usually goes to sleep) and he slept in the car until about 7:00am, when we stopped in Georgia and found a flea market to walk him around, by then he was pooped from the sun/walking/excitment, so we continued on only stopping when Ruger woke up, we walked and he fell back asleep.

When we were ready to come home (we had gone on a week long camping trip in different places throughout Florida) he was so pooped from the week that we only needed to stop a few times. I was very nervous about the trip, and how he would react i kept thinking it wasn't going to be a good idea, and stressing over it, but it was awesome and I hope we can make it a yearly trip!

Good luck!
 
#8 ·
Comet was never very good in the car as a puppy. It didn't matter if we were in the car for ten seconds or 15 minutes, he would cry, slobber, throw up... the works. I'm not even all that sure when that whole thing changed. But one day when he was a little older, I took him for a nice little drive in the passenger seat of my corolla and he did fine.

Since then the longest drive he's been on with absolutely no problems, and while he was awake BTW lol was 8 hours and we stopped every hour the first 4 hours to let him run around but the last, he was so exhausted we only stopped once because he fell asleep lol
 
#11 ·
mmmmmmmmmm, am I missing something that went on before???
Two boys is a no, no. Have you been thru that conversation?
 
#13 ·
Okay... So I was unaware about the whole Male Dobes aren't fond of other male dogs, especially other male Dobes.... but comet plays with TONS of other male dogs EVERYDAY. Since he was a puppy in fact. When we went to the breeders house he even had a good time with her male Dobe. It was the female one that was aggressive. I can't imagine Comet EVER hurting another dog... but I suppose that might not be the a new puppy huh? Well crap... lol I can't do female dogs.
 
#14 ·
Well for one, Comet is only a year old. I wouldn't expect him to have full on male-male aggression quite yet. My dog is much the same, he plays great for short periods with other male dogs. But when it comes to living with one, I don't think I would ever take that risk. Besides, opposite sexed pairs always have the best relationships IMO. Check out the doberman education archive on male-male aggression if you haven't already. Hope this helps
 
#19 ·
Males and female make wonderful companions. The usual kind of marriage, with the wife ruling the husband. I love watching the relationships between the animals that live together, really interesting. They play and sleep together.
You would just need to have your boy neutered before her first heat, or her spayed before her first heat or both. A female doberman can come into heat from six months to a little over a year of age.
I actually have always prefered female dogs, tho I have a male this time. I usually get a better bond with them for some reason. A certain female to female understanding. I can't really explain it. I love my males too, but there is just a slight difference for me.
 
#18 ·
Why can't you do a female dog? SO many on here will attest to how wonderful the ladies are. I would think the only problem leaving a male/female together once adult and trained would be during her heat if you didn't get her spayed, or got her spayed after her first heat....

Re: flying it sounds like you have that resolved, but I thought I'd share my experience anyway. I flew Frankie once when she was a puppy from Seattle to Maine and I swore I'd never do it again unless it was an absolute must. It was very stressful for me, I can't imagine how it was for her.

I was nervous anyway (sometimes researching obsessively gives you TOO much information LOL) and I waited and waited on the plane prior to takeoff for my dog "ticket." (You get one when your dog has been boarded on the plane.) I finally asked the attendant about it and she left.... came scurrying back saying "they put your dog on a different plane..." I almost lost it but then she continued "she will get to Chicago before you, on a different flight." Wow. I can't believe she didn't say that part first.

Anyway, then when I got to Chicago, we had a long (6-hour) layover due to a flight cancellation. They couldn't FIND Frankie until an airline person saw me pacing while waiting for someone else to track her down (an hour after my request) and asked me if I needed help. I mentioned that they were looking for my dog, a 6 month old puppy. She said "does she happen to have blue eyes? We've been loving on her through the crate for a while now." PHEW! I then had to buy her a McDonald's burger patty because I didn't have kibble on me, thinking she wouldn't need it during the flight... but these things happen. Ugh.

Anyway... We left for a month a few years ago and paid a friend to stay at our place with the critters. He got a house to himself and our dogs (and parrot) got to stay at home in comfort. Worked out great for us - I'm sure your boy will be fine. I only had a 3 page help sheet for the house sitter. ;)
 
#24 ·
There is a new airline--PET AIRWAYS that just started...Pets are the only ones that fly in the plane itself-no cargo...They just started-the start up cities are few but you can check with them..I know they will be adding cities.
I did look at that. the problem is, you have to be near New york to fly them out. an dI'm all the way in Montana haha
 
#25 · (Edited)
$250? WOW!

I flew round trip with my dog three times but that was back in the 80s. It was only $25 each way and that beat out a 2 week boarding fee all hollow. I flew Western Airlines, (now defunct) and we had a plane change on every flight either at Denver or at Salt Lake City.

Now I have no idea if they still do this or if all airlines do this, but when a live animal was scheduled for flight, they made sure all dry ice and other stuff was not in the cargo with him. The cargo hold was heated, so no worries there, although the air was dry. The pilot was told whenever there was an animal on board. And the dog was always last on, first off.

Because of that, when we switched planes, I could get to the new plane before the dog got there and I watched out the window to make sure he was loaded. The one time the passengers loaded and I hadn't seen him, I told the person at the desk, she called and made sure he was on his way over. They let me not board till the last minute until I could be sure he was on board.

The longest layover we had was 3 hours and I was allowed to go to where the luggage was and get my dog out of his crate. I couldn't leave with him, but I put my coat on the ground and he curled up on it and slept while I read - when it was time for him to go, I just put him back in the crate and they took it.

And I think most of the people really cared about the animals. Once I was watching while his crate was waiting to be loaded and I could see the guy there loading suitcases - he would walk over every couple of minutes and talk to my dog (who was probably barking to get attention!)

I was half and half between wanting to lock the crate and not - I ended up not locking it. I figured I watched as close as I could between flights and I figured I could always call him back if he got out as opposed to maybe having to get him out of the crate for any reason and not being able to do so. I also made sure his collar was off, but then he was tattooed (they didn't have microchipping in those days!).

Now we flew in and out of San Jose and San Francisco airports in the Bay Area and I was visiting my parents in Rapid City all three times. In Rapid City, I could just walk off with the dog, but then, how many people got off in Rapid City? But in San Francisco and San Jose, they checked the dog in like baggage - that is, they put a ticket stub on the crate door and you better believe they checked that against my ticket before they would allow me to take him when I got home again. That made me feel a lot better.

I also put all the info on him on a large sheet of paper and taped that to the top of his crate - date, airline, flight numbers, times, destinations, phone numbers (plural!), my name, my address to where I was going and dog's name (if he got out, I wanted someone to be able to call him back).

I never fed him the morning of the flight (for some reason we always got early morning flights) and I usually flew between February and April, never in summer.

Anyway, I never had a problem and I never saw any sign that my dog was apprehensive about flying and like I said, we flew three round trip flights. But again, this was over 20 years ago and things may have changed a lot since then. I'd drive to the airport and talk to the gate agents and desk people to see what they say. Make sure they all say the same thing and there's no conflicting info.

Hope this helps!
 
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