Airport Tips

Puppy Paperwork...Freight & Customs

Just as you would with any airline passenger, call to check on your flight's arrival time. You can also check with James. Wear old clothes to the airport...Your baby may be wet or dirty.

You will pick up your puppy at the airline's Freight or Cargo terminals. Sometimes this can be a building quite some ways from the normal passenger terminals. There is generally a delay of about an hour between when the plane lands and when you can pick up your puppy. You must also fill out paperwork in the Freight area before you can claim your puppy, Take some ID with you.

A consignment of our puppies arrives at LAX. Our babies have captured many hearts on their travels.  A number of Qantas and Customs staff members have  Tegan puppies themselves!

If you are picking up your puppy yourself from LAX airport you can clear puppy from Customs yourself if you wish. If your puppy is being on forwarded to you, then Pacpets will handle customs which is all included in the price quoted to you  for travel and the Comfort Stop at Pacpets. (Pacific Pets)   James from Pacific Pets will clear your puppy through Customs for you. If you are meeting your puppy at other airports throughout America, then James will be in touch with you to confirm arrival times and flight details of the domestic flight. You may like to call your own international airport for directions to the section where you will receive your puppy. PLEASE NOTE: Puppies are not permitted to arrive on week ends nor during holiday periods when airport staff are extra busy.  We want only the highest level of attention and service for our babies. U.S. Travel Options 1. Pick up from LAX Airport yourself. Cheaper, as you then don't need the services of the Comfort Stop. Although you may have to balance this against flying or driving to LAX from wherever you live and the time and possible stress of passing your puppy through Customs. 2.  Pick up your puppy from Pacpets close by the airport.  Dearer, but all the hard work has been done. Your new baby has cleared Customs and has been rested and refreshed at the Comfort Stop in readiness for your arrival. 3. Pick up at other destinations throughout the States.   Costs a little more.   Pacpet meets your puppy and clears her/him through Customs, then takes your puppy back to the Comfort Stop ten minutes away, where puppy gets the chance to rest, relax, be cleaned up if necessary, have the crate cleaned up, have a good feed and drink and a sleep before being taken back to the airport and put onto the first available flight to you. IMPORTANT NOTE: ONCE YOUR PUPPY HAS LEFT AUSTRALIA, WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS RELATING TO TRAVEL TIMES ETC. ENQUIRIES SHOULD BE MADE DIRECTLY TO PACIFIC PETS LA OR TO YOUR APPROPRIATE AIRLINE IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY. In order to ensure the health and safety of your puppy while traveling, the airlines we sanction have strict requirements and regulations for live animal travel. If the weather is too hot or too cold, or there are flight delays, your puppy may stay safely at the Comfort Stop in LAX until the weather clears. Feedback is fantastic and you can be sure that if there does have to be a longer layover, your puppy will be getting the best possible care whilst waiting for the first available flight on to you.

Puppy Time at Last!!!!!

Your puppy will be in the Freight building,  Your first task is to reassure your puppy that you are his and he is yours and everything is fine. We have a call signature that even when our babies grow up, many will remember and respond to, From a very early age we call our babies Yuppie Yuppie Yuppie!! So through vanity to the wind and call your puppy........... this will make your puppy feel secure loved and ready to step out and meet his/her new family. If your puppy is a little reserved kneel down give your baby a tickle on the chest and call again, Then lift him out, if needed wrap him in a towel and give him lots or reassuring yuppies and cuddles. Loretta meeting "Teddy" arriving at Dallas Texas airport having flown from Australia to LAX & on to Texas

Once you've made friends with your new family member, Find out if the freight terminals will let you use the restroom for a quick puppy clean up. Most puppies will not poop in their crates, but it sometimes happens. Most people report that their puppy was wet and dirty from the newspaper. Then it is off to find a quiet grassy spot to rest a while and re-enforce the bond with your puppy. Put his leash on and his extended leash so he can walk around and find a spot to relieve himself, if you have a lengthy drive home now is the chance for a small snack and a drink of bottled water and some more potty time.

If you do not want to put your puppy in the crate for the car ride home then the safest place for a small animal is ON THE FLOOR of front Passenger side. Just spread some paper down and give your baby his chew bone, with in a few minutes he will settle down. [make sure the heater or Air conditioner is not venting to the floor!]

Puppies fly direct to Hawaii (a much shorter flight) and to Europe.  There is no quarantine  to these countries or to the United States, and you simply pick up your new baby from the airport and take straight home with you.

The puppies will be in the Freight warehouse if you're not picking up at Pacpets.  Your first  and enjoyable task is to make friends and reassure your puppy that you are his and he is yours and everything is fine.

•  Crouch down next to the crate and talk to your puppy in a soft, reassuring voice. Many of the pups will respond to "Yuppie Yuppie Yuppie!!" Let him smell and lick your fingers through the crate door. Once they have had a good lick and sniff, quietly open the door and begin to give your puppy a little scratch and cuddle. Some puppies will instinctively shrink back to the rear of their crates...it's their safe den. Others will bound out already with tails wagging.
   

• Just coax him/her out gently...and then scoop him up and take him out of his crate, cuddle and kiss him, exclaim how wonderful he is (this is where a towel may come in handy...a dirty or wet puppy can be wrapped up in a towel until you have a chance to remedy the situation!). Some puppies are a little reticent about coming out of their crate, and others tumble out with wagging tails. Whichever way it is, it will not be very long before your new puppy is confident and as overjoyed to meet you as you are to meet him/her.

• Put your puppy's collar and leash on right away!!

•  Once you've made friends with your puppy, it's time to take stock of the situation. Some of the freight terminals will let you use the restroom for a quick puppy clean up. Most puppies will not poop in their crates, but it sometimes happens. Some people report that their puppy was wet and dirty from the newspaper. You can wipe the worst of this off with hypoallergenic baby wipes or maybe a quick rinse in the restroom sink.
  

• This is a good time to do a quick crate cleanup - especially if you have a long drive home and will want puppy to sleep in his crate part of the way. For short trips, puppy will be much happier snuggled on someone's lap (as if you're likely to put him down anyway!).

•  Before you climb in the car, try to find a grassy area (preferably one where it looks like other dogs don't wander...remember your puppy is not yet fully vaccinated...especially avoid any dog poop). Let your puppy wander about at leisure to relieve himself if necessary (ONLY with collar and leash on). This could take awhile. Puppies (and dogs) are so particular about exactly what is the right spot! It's quite annoying at times. If there isn't any grass, the Newspaper comes in handy. All the puppies have been paper trained for toilet so that no matter where you are, if you spread newspaper on the ground, that will give puppy a signal that he is allowed to pee or poop there.

•  When he/she has relieved himself you're ready to go home. If you have a long drive ahead, though, take a moment to offer a very small meal (about a saucer full) of cooked chicken and cooked rice (bland and not likely to upset his travel tummy). Then give him another ten minutes or so to relieve himself as food in his tummy may trigger a poop that wasn't quite ready to come before.

• On your drive home, you should find that he will go off to sleep. If he becomes very restless AFTER he has settled down and had a snooze, he may want to do potty again, or may be needing reassurance that you are still 'his people'.

•  For a very long ride home (six or seven hours...for example, Los Angeles to Northern California), you may need to offer another very small feed of the cooked chicken and rice. The very small meals are to restore the glycogen levels in the blood (puppies drop quicker than adult dogs) but should not be enough to make him car sick.

So if you live overseas and you are expecting a puppy from Australia, we hope that this has answered any questions you may have been wondering about. All that is left now is to stay excited (try-ee.... to relax!) And have fun!

Many have already gone before yours on this journey, and all will be well.

Home! Finally Your Home!

When you arrive home take your baby straight to the place where you would like him to go potty, [Remember to reassure him with yuppie yuppie then his name,] After another small meal and more potty time, put him away to sleep in his NEW wire crate with a water dish that can not tip over. [boiled/bottled water only] for a couple of hours with a radio playing softly. 

After a feed sleep another snack and play time with you out side he/she will be ready to make his/her introductions to his new family and home.

If he needs a bath go ahead and wash him in a mild dog/puppy shampoo,
Rub him/her well with a towel then use a hair drier [even in summer] till he is fully dry.
 

And remember though we may be oceans apart, We are just a call away if you are worried or need help.........

HAPPY DOODLING !!!!!!

 Angela

and The Tegan Australian Labradoodle Team.