(upbeat music)
- Hello hello, welcome back to another video.
Today's video is actually a request
from one of my friends
who is picking up a brand new puppy this week,
super exciting, look at how cute
this adorable pup is.
She is a standard American Eskimo,
so yes eskie just like Kokoro,
my friends are going to go pick her up
from another state from where they live,
so they're gonna have to fly
and fly back with the puppy.
We've gone through the process of flying with our dogs,
both Kokoro and Chibi,
and also picking up Kibo when he was just nine weeks old.
So I thought I would make a video and talk about the process
in case any of you are preparing
to pick up a puppy of your own.
When you're booking your flight
you want to double check the requirements
for flying with pets with that specific airline.
So some airlines do have minimum age requirements
for puppies to fly.
I flew with Alaska when we picked up Kibo
and they did not have a minimum age requirement.
But you want to be careful
because sometimes people are picking up puppies
when they're nine, ten weeks old
and there might be a minimum age requirement
of say 12 weeks old.
I'm not sure exactly the details
so just double check with the airline
that you're planning on flying with
before you actually make that reservation.
The first thing you want to do
after you book your flight to pick up the puppy
is call your airline and let them know
that you are going to be flying with a pet
on the leg that's returning.
Each airline is a little bit different
but you are going to have to pay a pet fee
for flying your puppy.
A lot of them do have a maximum number of pets allowed
per flight,
so I always call right away
after I make the booking
to make sure that no time is wasted
and that I'm going to be able to fly with my dog
on the flight that I want to.
Once you've called the airline
and told them that you're gonna flying with a dog,
there's nothing you really need to do with the airline
until the day of the flight.
In the meantime,
you can start preparing all the things that you'll need
to fly and pick up your puppy.
So you'll need a carrier
that is going to fit them,
and make sure you check with your breeder
what the size and weight of your puppy
will approximately be,
but the safest bet is just to go
with the largest carrier that is allowed to fly,
and you want to make sure that your carrier is approved
by the airlines,
and will fit underneath the seat in front of you
but will still comfortably fit your puppy.
When we flew with Kibo,
we flew with this Roverland carrier
that we have used with Kokoro and Chibi
as adults as well.
Kibo is a really large breed dog
so he was definitely nearing that maximum size
that a puppy could be to fly,
so also make sure you work that out with your breeder
to make sure that your puppy is going to fit
in the carrier
when you're gonna go pick them up
to fly back in cabin.
You don't wanna be stuck with a situation
where you get to the airport
and the gate agent says that your puppy is too big
and they can't fly in cabin.
The rule with most airlines
is that the animal must be able
to stand up fully and turn around comfortably
inside the carrier.
So make sure that the size requirements
are being fulfilled
so that you don't get turned away.
In addition to preparing the carrier,
you also want to bring some things
to make the actually flight or time at the airport
a little bit more enjoyable for your new puppy.
You can ask the breeder to give you
a blanket or a toy
that smells like mom or smells like the breeder's house
to just help the puppy feel a little bit more comfortable.
I also really like flying
with this type of water bottle for dogs,
it's basically a portable water bottle plus bowl
all in one,
and what's nice about it
is that when you squeeze the water bottle,
the water comes out of the top
into this little bowl portion
and your dog can drink from it.
But if it doesn't finish all the water,
all you have to do is let go of the water bottle
and the rest of the remaining water
will sort of drain back in.
So it's a little bit more convenient
than flying with a water bottle and a separate
collapsible travel bowl
where if your dog doesn't drink all the water
what do you do with the leftover water
when you're on the plane?
Another really nice thing to bring along for your flight
is a really high value long lasting chew,
something like a bully stick
that will get the puppy nice and occupied
if they're feeling a little bit antsy
or they need something to do
while they're in their carrier.
Pee pads are also something
that are really nice to bring,
especially if your breeder
has already started pee pad training the puppy
or potty training the puppy.
What ended up happening with us
when we picked up Kibo
was we were at the airport right on time
and our flight ended up
getting delayed by a couple of hours.
So prior to bringing him to the airport,
we had pottied him and really emptied out his system
but we ended up waiting inside for a really long time,
and as you know, little puppies
can't really hold their bladders for that long
so we ended up going to the airport pet relief station
which is most of the time not really the cleanest place,
and for a young unvaccinated puppy,
it can be actually quite dangerous
for them to go to somewhere
where there's been a lot of urine from other dogs.
You don't know if they're vaccinated,
or what their health status is.
So we ended up bringing him to that area
and just laying down a whole bunch of pee pads
so that he could try to potty indoors.
And thankfully with Kibo he went right away,
our breeder had pee pad trained him
and he didn't end up having to touch any of the surfaces
in that area, and he was still able to potty.
Once you've prepared everything for the flight,
pack up everything for your puppy.
The carrier, the water bottle, blanket, pee pads,
chews, anything to keep them nice and calm and happy
while they're at the airport,
and you just need to fly with that
over to pick up your puppy.
On the day of picking up your puppy,
if you can, spend some time at the breeder's house.
Get to know the puppy,
and start to try and acclimate them with the carrier
before you leave.
If you can allow some extra time
so that the dog can really adjust to you
and you're not just showing up taking the puppy
and leaving,
that'll really just help with the situation
of making your puppy feel more comfortable.
We ended up spending a couple of hours
at our breeder's house
meetings Kibo's mom, his dad,
just playing with him and putting him inside the carrier
making sure that he was really happy and comfortable
before we left for the airport.
One other thing to remember
is to ask your breeder for a couple bags
of the existing food that your puppy is eating.
You can use this as treats for him
while you're at the airport,
but you also wanna make sure
that you're just giving him the same type of food
that he has been eating at the breeders
so they don't get an upset stomach.
If you just bring your own food or treats
and just start feeding your puppy at the airport,
they could get an upset stomach
and end up having a bad poop situation that you don't want.
Before you get to the airport,
try and make a quick stop somewhere where there's grass
where the dog can walk around a little bit,
potty, get everything out of their system,
and then try to tire them out a little bit
before you actually get to the airport.
Once you get to the airport with your puppy,
they have to stay inside the carrier at all times
according to airport regulations.
So make sure you put your puppy in the carrier,
fully zip it.
The first thing you wanna do
is go physically check in with the agent
before you go through security.
Most of the time the airlines
won't give you a boarding pass
even if you check in online
if you are flying with a dog.
They need to check that the puppy
is within the correct size,
the carrier is within the correct size,
and then they'll physically print you your boarding pass
when you check in with them.
So you have to go there to the counter,
pay for the pet fee,
and then make sure that you can pass
all of the sizing regulations
before you get your boarding pass.
Once you get your boarding pass
you want to make your way through security.
You have to take your puppy out of the carrier
for when you go through TSA,
put the carrier and everything associated with your dog
on the X-ray belt so it can be scanned
but you wanna actually just carry your puppy
and walk through the metal detector with him.
Make sure that there's no metal
on collars or leashes or anything like that
when you are walking through security,
and then once you pass through that area
and get the carrier,
you wanna put your puppy right back in.
That's pretty much the hardest part
is just managing all those items
and carrying your puppy and making it through security,
but once you're through, you are golden,
and we just made our way to our gate
and actually did a little bit of training with Kibo.
An airport is actually a really good place
to socialize your puppy,
there's a lot of weird random sounds and strangers
and people,
and a lot of people will probably want to come by
and pet your puppy,
so we ended up just opening the top of our carrier
and letting him look around.
We gave him lots of treats for being quiet,
not barking, being a good boy,
and then he was just there sitting at the gate
getting some training and socialization
before we got on the plane.
When it's time to board,
you have to make sure to zip up the top
of the carrier again,
and the agent that's actually at your gate
might do another double check of your puppy,
so just make sure that they're being quiet
and fully relaxed inside the carrier
as you're boarding the plane.
Once you get onto the plane and find your seat,
you want to put the carrier
underneath the seat in front of you.
Depending on the airlines,
some airlines might be a little bit more lax
about letting the dog stick their head out
or get a little bit more space.
We were lucky that we were able
to do that on Alaska, on our flight with Kibo.
So we kind of just zipped open the top
and gave him lots of treats for being a good boy.
Not all airlines or flight attendants will allow this.
Technically the rule is that
the carrier has to be closed
for the entire duration of the flight,
so you wanna go in expecting that that will be the case.
Puppies generally tend to do very well
on their flights home when they're really really young,
they're just cute little blobs,
and thankfully the air pressure on a flight
doesn't really affect the dog's ears
like it does for us.
So they should be able to stay relatively calm and happy,
with all the things that you have prepared for the flight.
All right I think that's pretty much it.
For those of you who are going
to pick up a new puppy, congratulations,
it's super exciting.
And make sure you enjoy this very very fun time
of your puppy's life.
Hope this was helpful
for those of you who are about
to go pick up a puppy,
and if you have any questions
feel free to leave them in the comments section below,
otherwise I will see you guys next time.
(upbeat music)