[nagdu] what do you do with your dog when you go away?

Fri Jan 21 13:13:52 UTC 2011

It was Gary Steves, I think.

CL

On Jan 20, 2011, at 4:53 PM, Lyn Gwizdak wrote:

> Good topic!
> 
> Personally, I wouldn't bring my dog on a vacation to any of these countries for these very reasons and the hassle.  But that is me and I certainly don't want to comment on other people's choices in bringing their dogs or not. Ginger, we may have the same grad in mind who traveled to Australia - they did tell me about that extreme expense!
> 
> I forgot who brought this up in the first place.  I remember him talking about playing blind hockey on one of his trips - was it you, Mike Townsend? To me, I think it very reasonable in leaving your dog home and comfortable rather than trying to figure out what to do with the dog in a strange place while you do your not-so-dog-friendly activities.
> 
> I think it is the best for each traveling person to do as he or she sees as the best option for them and their own dogs - there's no right or wrong way to handle internatinal travel with or without your dog.  What ever choice you all make, have a great and safe time in your travels!
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Lyn and Landon
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ginger Kutsch" <gingerKutsch at yahoo.com>
> To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 5:06 PM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] what do you do with your dog when you go away?
> 
> 
>> Mark,
>> 
>> Good question. Several things need to be considered when making a
>> decision about international travel with your guide dog. Even if
>> import regulations allow entry, there are also importation costs,
>> access and safety issues, the health/temperament  of the dog and
>> planned activities  on the trip to think about.
>> 
>> For instance, when traveling to Germany, an international health
>> certificate is required. The certificate must be acquired within
>> a certain time frame and includes a trip to your vet to have your
>> dog examined and the certificate filled out. This can cost up to
>> as high as $200 depending on what your vet charges. The
>> certificate must then be signed by your state's USDA Vet. There
>> is a fee for this plus mailing costs - generally overnight costs
>> to the USDA office and back home to you. The health certificate
>> must be translated into German so there may be an extra fee for
>> that as well - not sure on how that works. Some countries are
>> more expensive than others. One of our grads who traveled to
>> Australia reported the cost for the dog to be about $1,000 after
>> all procedures were met.
>> 
>> There are also access laws to consider. Here in the US, we often
>> take our access rights for granted. Many  countries do not
>> provide all the protections we have and some countries have no
>> access laws at all. It is especially important to think about
>> potential access problems when traveling for business.
>> 
>> Safety issues may include potential disease, water problems, and
>> even other dogs. When my husband and I traveled to Nassau, we had
>> to keep to the more heavily populated areas because of the number
>> of aggressive dog packs on the island.
>> 
>> Anyway, all that aside, many guide dog teams successfully travel
>> all over the world with no problems. There are very few places
>> where a guide dog from the US or Canada cannot go. Since I first
>> started working with The Seeing Eye in 2003, one of the biggest
>> changes I've noticed is the increase in international travel
>> including cruises. Last year we developed an international travel
>> mentor program where grads who have traveled to various countries
>> share their experiences, upon request,  with those grads planning
>> to make trips to the same location.
>> 
>> HTH,
>> 
>> Ginger
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>> On Behalf Of Mark J. Cadigan
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 2:24 PM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog
>> Users
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] what do you do with your dog when you go
>> away?
>> 
>> If you get the proper paperwork, why would you not be able to
>> take your dog on these trips?
>> 
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "GARY STEEVES" <rainshadowmusic at shaw.ca>
>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog
>> Users"
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 2:19 PM
>> Subject: [nagdu] what do you do with your dog when you go away?
>> 
>> 
>>> Hello Everyone:
>>> 
>>> As many of you may recall, I'm a fairly new dog guide handler.
>> Over the
>>> next several months I must go away almost once a month. Bonn
>> germany for 5
>>> days in February, Turkey in end of march for 8 or 9 days,
>> Montreal at the
>>> end of april for 4 days and then a holiday to hawaii in May for
>> 10 days.
>>> 
>>> I'm curious what others do with their dogs when they can't take
>> them with
>>> them?
>>> 
>>> I have several options for many of these trips. The first one
>> is that
>>> bogart stays at home and will just have to be at home alone
>> while Susan,
>>> my girlfriend is at work. Her thought is that although he will
>> be stressed
>>> with me gone and being at home alone for 8.5 hours, it will be
>> in his
>>> familiar surroundings with his toys, our guinea pigs and my
>> smells (and
>>> Susan of course0).
>>> 
>>> Second option is my supervisor at work has offered to take him
>> for any/all
>>> of these trips. She has two dogs at home and her husband stays
>> home all
>>> day. He takes them out for a couple of walks a day and they
>> have a back
>>> yard. Bogart really likes her which could be both good or bad.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> We have another friend who also have two dogs, a whipet and an
>> older lab,
>>> with a back yard and  robert works from home most days.
>>> 
>>> The last option which I am looking into now is if the local
>> guide dog
>>> school, who my dog is not from, would offer any kenneling
>> services (for a
>>> fee of course) or access to any of their puppy raisers who
>> would be
>>> intersted in looking after bogart for some of these trips for a
>> fee as
>>> well. My thought is this option, if possible, would best keep
>> bogart's
>>> training at a reasonable  level. :)
>>> 
>>> Do any of you have thoughts on what you think would be best.
>> I've left a
>>> message for my trainers at my school as well to bounce these
>> options off
>>> her too but the more thoughts I have I think the more I can
>> look at pros
>>> and cons.
>>> 
>>> Thanks
>>> Gary
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>> 
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>> 
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