Good Bloggie!

With The Westmister Kennel Club Dog Show on the horizon, many people are booking flights for themselves and their dog. Flying a pet can be complicated and frustrating, but a very helpful site called Petflight.com can help guide you through the process. (Which is fitting because the inspiration for the site is a former guide dog named Brent.) The website is full of advice, facts, links to airlines who fly pets, airline incident reports, and even list which airports provide relief stations for dogs and where they are located.

Of interest to French Bulldog fanciers is the article written specifically about flying brachycephalic (snub-nosed) dogs.

If you have a dog-enhanced flight coming up, certainly a site worth checking out.

Some of you may know by now, our Monty went to live on the West Coast. What you may not know is that he’s become…a biker! Not that kind of biker – a touring bike biker.

That's 24 pounds of Frenchie muscle in that basket, in case you are wondering how your Frenchie might fare.

One of his owners recently bought a special bike basket so he can share the road and the ride with her. He really seems to like it. They have taken a few mile-long rides and they plan to up the distance. Especially those trips with a lunch spot being the destination.

Want one of these baskets for your travel pal? You can order them from Cynthia’s Twigs. She has various bike baskets and accessories to go with them. Choose your basket liner and pooch cushion fabric, a harness to keep him or her from bailing and chasing the ice cream man, your bike rack, and some flowers to really do up your basket! (Note: no flowers on Monty’s basket. He’s a dapper dude. More into Pirates than flowers. In fact, he’s probably wondering if he can get that liner fabric in a Jolly Roger pattern.)

Links to site:
www.cynthiastwigs.com
Accessory page

In this photo you can see the basket harness.

Many thanks to Mark Peterson for permission to use his Monty and His Basket photos.

Many Frenchie owners and owner-wanna-be’s have seen these messages on French Bulldog websites, “Will ship for $XXX.XX” or “Absolutely no shipping!”

What’s the big deal with shipping? Why won’t some people put your new pooch on a plane and send it direct to your city? The Department of Transportation estimates two million animals travel by air each year.

A hint might be airline rules about not shipping snub-nosed dogs during the hot months, and another one might be the number of deaths, which really do happen each year. The number is small, but that number wouldn’t feel small if it was your pet.

The Department of Transportation tracks and publishes reports of airline animal deaths by month and airline. It’s called the Animal Airline Incident Report. The numbers represent more than dogs, but are certainly something to consider.

Below is a link to a very good article by Bill McGee, a writer for USA Today. His article includes the current statistics from DOT and lots of helpful hints about prepping a pet for flying.

What you need to know about flying with pets

Current Animal Airline Incident Reports are available from DOT: Air Travel Consumer Report.
(They are bundled with other reports, so expect a 40-50 page report.)

Trying to get your dog cross-country in a plane comes with many complications. Some airlines don’t accept dogs as passengers, some will only let them ride in the cargo hold area. For French Bulldogs, and other short-snouted breeds, add to that a (wise) temperature restriction for any cargo flights. They vary per airline, but once the ambient temperatures rise, no flights out or in until the weather cools off. (And personally, we can’t get too excited about flying a Frenchie in the cargo hold, no matter the temperature.)

Next month, there will be a new airline service who ONLY cater to pet passengers (or “pawsengers” as they call them.) The new company is PetAirways. They promise all pets fly in-cabin and never in cargo, accompanied by a Pet Attendant. They also offer an online tracking service so you can see exactly where your pet is during his/her journey. To see which airports they fly to/from click here.

Also coming online for pet passengers is Southwest Airlines. Their first date to accept pets begins this week: June 17, 2009. Click here to see their pet policy.

If anyone uses PetAirways or Southwest to fly a pet, let us know how it goes. We’d be curious what you think of them.

Happy and Safe Travels to you and your pet!

After you get a dog, an unexpected event is how much the dog(s) will influence what you drive. Want that cute little two-seater Mini Cooper? Get a Bullmastiff or a Great Dane and the minivan may not seem such a bad choice after all.

Fortunately with a French Bulldog, you can get a smaller car. (Though if you are into lots of Frenchie accessories, it can fill up fast.) With Frenchies, it’s the AC you have to test carefully, as some smaller cars don’t pump out cold air very fast.

There is actually a site offering comprehensive reviews of cars based on their dog-ability and dog-suitability. Visit http://dogcars.com and see if the car you’ve been drooling for lives up to your needs, and more importantly, your dog’s needs.

With our crew, the smaller the car, the better. Especially if you can pick it up in your mouth and carry it around the kitchen. See the clip below as an example.