[nagdu] London with a dog

Thu Mar 28 21:21:17 UTC 2013

Hi Tracy:

To be honest everything worked out really well. My first concern was how much it would cost to take Bogart. The rules changed on Jan 1 2012 so no longer was the expensive tyber rabies blood test needed to be done. This was a hassle for two reasons. First was the cost of about $250. Secondly, was that it had to be done 6 months before your departure date. Bogart was due for his rabies update in November 2012 so we did it earlier and that way my vet was sure to have all the batch info required for the paperwork.

Basically, five days before travelling you need to get paperwork filled out by the vet and then by a federal vet. The federal vet produces a travel certificate. I had them scan and email this right to the animal reception department at Heathrow airport. The animal reception folks then review the info and produce a letter to show to your air carrier stating that, providing all the paper work originals are present, the dog will be allowed to stay. This sounds simple but it was rather stressful because I only found out from Air Canada about the need for a letter from the UK animal reception centre about 2 weeks before I was to leave even though I had asked if there was anything special they required months earlier.

Another upside is that in Canada all air carriers must provide a seat space for any service dog over 50 lbs and Air Canada honours this on their international flights as well. I probably wouldn’t have taken Bogart on that long of a flight if he didn’t have that extra space. Rather than arriving at the airport 3 hours ahead of time as suggested, I arrived 1.5 hours ahead of time and presented us at Air Canada’s customer service desk. Still ended up sitting around waiting there for quite some time.  The flight was 9.5 hours so, if I could get out of the airport in London in one hour Bogart would have travelled only 13 hours of travel time (including to the airport). I stop his water 6 hours before flying and food about 12 hours. However, there was a hiccup. The UK animal reception centre read my arrival time wrong and were there the day before to meet us. Totally their fault by the way. So it took an extra 40 minutes to get them to me at passport control. Once through there I had to get my games accreditation but that went smoothly. The upside of that was my accreditation gave me access to car transport. So off to the car. My driver said it would be about an hour to the hotel so I asked him if we could find some grass sooner than later. I wasn’t so worried about Bogart peeing but wanted to get some water  in him as well. There was a service station close and we got both jobs done.

With regards to dog food I had contacted the maker of my food, Acana. She put me in contact with their UK distributer. That person set up that the size of bag of dog food I needed for my stay was sent to my hotel ahead of time along with a couple of bags of treats. In the end they did not charge me for this service  or the food which was so kind of them.

As for was Bogart beneficial? Well I brought him for two reasons. For him to physically find the doors and figuratively open them for me. He was a great ambassador . I’d be needing to get here or there and when we found someone who could help we let them say hi to Bogart and go all gaga for him. Then we’d ask our questions and most every time we’d get outstanding service. Yes, I know people shouldn’t pet him in harness but sometimes the rules need to be flexed to make things work.  His guiding was great. We had one day where I had an evening shoot (was reporting for Accessible Media) and we left him in the hotel because my colleagues said he looked tired and I had found his guiding a bit off during the day. But for our first 5 days we had 12 to 15 hour days so who wasn’t tired. Once we got into our routine I was working long hours but much of it would be in my hotel room writing and researching stories so he was able to relax as per normal.

With regards to access I didn’t really feel any difference. Having a poodle I sometimes have to explain what he is, guide dog for the blind, so that was pretty normal. I was amazed that I has even more issues with taxis there though. Being used to it I always tried to talk  it out but people I was with, either colleagues or just strangers met along the way, were often out raged. Relieving Bogart could have been an issue  but our hotel was, sadly, in the middle of no where so there was lots of grass. We were right by security for one of the venues so there was a bit of grass barricaded off. I’m not sure if it was for service dog relieving but the army  guys at security certainly made it that way for me. I came there one day at lunch time and the grass was full of people sitting around. And I couldn’t take Bogart there. I didn’t make a big deal of it because it wasn’t an emergency but after that time that area became blocked off and only Bogart and I went in there. 

The other issue I had was with everyone wanting to pet Bogart. They don’t use poodles at all in the UK and Bogart is a really beautiful dog. Of course I had him groomed just before heading out so he looked and smelled great. We actually had people running beside us taking pictures of him. The daily telegraphs blogger stopped us in the street begging to take a pic for the daily blog. It was hanging out with Mick Jagger from the Stones. So it got a bit tedious by the end. “Can I give your dog a pat?”. No, he’s working. “Okay, just a wee pat then.” Followed by some head rubbing. Anyway, we survived that and I didn’t kill anyone. 

Certainly if your trip to the UK was mostly in a few areas then it might be worth while to bring a dog. Otherwise transporting huge bags of dog food around could become tiresome. I did it once between  hotels and found it tiresome.

I have been quite long winded but feel free to ask specific questions if you like. It was awhile ago and so much happened there it is hard to remember everything. Really should log things as they happen for future reference.

Gary
g.steeves at shaw.ca

----- Original Message -----
From: Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net>
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:12:24 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: [nagdu] London with a dog

Hi Gary.
I'd be real interested to hear how it was taking your dog with you to 
London.  Were you hassled at all about bringing him places?  Did you feel it 
was worthwhile?
I'd love to visit the UK again, and this time bring my dog, if it doesn't 
over-complicate things.
Tracy 

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