[nagdu] Report on my travels to Mexico with Loyal

[rhonda cruz]

 hi that's great news.
 yay!. sounds like a great trip..
On Mar 27, 2012, at 4:14 PM, Hannah Chadwick wrote:

> Ioana,
> Great to hear about your fantastic and successful trip with your dog!
> All the best, Hannah and Princess
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Ioana Gandrabur
> Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 3:44 PM
> To: NFBnet NAGDU NFBnet NAGDU Mailing List
> Subject: [nagdu] Report on my travels to Mexico with Loyal
> 
> Hello everyone,
> 
> Hope my message finds you well and spring is giving you a nice energy boost.
> Some time ago I received valuable insight from the list about traveling to
> Mexico with my guide dog and I thought I would give you an update on how it
> went.
> I found after some searching the official website of the Mexican embassy
> about importing pets. Meeting all their requirements made the control at the
> airport very smooth. Took about 20 minutes. 
> Here is the link for anyone interested:
> http://embamex.sre.gob.mx/canada_eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=artic
> le&id=3938&Itemid=41
> My biggest concern was that they officially do not allow you to bring your
> own food. I found out about stores that carry Loyal<s food but brought mine
> anyway and they made an exception. BUt they recommend that you bring the
> food in original packaging for even better chances of success.
> Now about the trip itself, I stayed in 3 hotels and went to many restaurants
> and never had an access issue. This might have something to do with the fact
> that I was traveling with an official team of the music festival organizers.
> I have to say that most room service people were scared of Loyal and very
> hesitant to come in the room when we were there, even when he was on leash.
> Loyal was incredible! Stayed through hours of judging an international
> competition pretty much without a sound. Best news for me was that he stayed
> backstage without wining when I performed my concerts. I hope it will stay
> that way and not that he was too tired to care. I think that the fact that I
> brought his mat everywhere I performed might have helped to make him feel
> safe.
> It is in any case good to know that he can deal with long days of teaching
> judging in competitions and ending with concerts where he has to be quiet
> and after concert late dinners. Poor dog did not get much walking but I made
> sure we played a bit but he was too tired even to play too much at the end
> of a long day.
> Guiding was outstanding on almost non-existent sidewalks at time. No
> relieving issues either although often there was just cement available. In
> time the other participants of the festival learned to trust his guiding and
> stopped freaking out at any potential difficulty like over-heads or stairs. 
> He ended up being the mascot of the festival and got quite some publicity
> even on tv. 
> 
> Flying went ok but given that I had 7 hours wait time I made sure I could
> relieve him twice and actually fed him since the trip took 20 hours.
> Well, hope this helps someone and thanks for following my story about our
> adventures.
> 
> Take care,
> 
> Ioana
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