From what I understand, flying is not much worse than riding in a car. I've now had five dogs travel from Japan (11 hours on the plane, plus load/unload time at the airport) and sent two puppies across country. In all cases, they seemed to just sleep. Perhaps they're lulled by the hum of the engines, I don't know. I do know its much less bumpy and no sharp turns, compared to riding in a car.
EDIT: Mosura gets very car sick, but wasn't sick by plane travel.
When I flew ChoCho and Goro from Salt Lake City, UT to Miami, FL I told the airline to not let them out... I was scared that once ChoCho was let out of the crate to pee and eat that she would flip out and give them a hard time about going back in. So if the owner is scared that he might bit someone or another dog during the stop because he's scared, than I would just have her say tell them not to let him out. He'll be fine.
Thank you guys! I'll let Monica know. Of course, you helped soothe one worry and another worry takes its place. I'm setting myself up for three paranoid days of waiting.
Miyu weighs 38lbs, just measured her neck with a tailor's ruler and 15inches makes for a snug fit. 16inches is less snug but still tight enough to not slip over her head. Hope that helps you some. You could also see of the owner is willing to package his collar outside his crate, sometimes you can attach the shipping info to a manilla envelope (that contains important items for the dog) and attach that to the crate itself.
@Crispy -- sorry, I missed this thread before. Kuma's neck takes a 18 inch that we have to trim down. 16 inch collars are generally too small for him (I wish that they made 17 in ones, but around here they do not). Kuma is 38 lbs, but has a bigger, muscular male neck. Takoda might be similar?
My female wears the same size as Miyu (@Calia), and has a smaller neck (and less fur).
Good luck!!!! Also with the cats, lots of "no Kitty" will help and I am sure he will learn. My dogs have lived with up to 5 cats and they are completely fine with them. Just keep reminding him (and maybe clicker train him to look at you instead of the cats, so he gets a reward of a treat).
First off, I want to thank EVERYONE. I am SO happy with Takoda already. He's really taken a liking to my boyfriend straight off the plane, but he's been pretty growly and uncomfortable with both of us. He's just nervous. He's watching London and my cats out the baby gate - he's more concerned with them than he is with us. Not necessarily TOO concerned or focused, just like "who the hell are you?"
understandably after the past couple of days hes a bit wary but it will disappear with just time and familiarity. What does London think of his new bro?
@cdenny - London was really interested for the first ten minutes. He sat outside the baby gate and sat down and cried. I didn't want Takoda to get too close to the gate while he was nervous just in case there were any tension issues. London eventually gave up. Takoda did snarl once, but there wasn't much... I guess... girth... behind it. Just kind of "uggggh, not now".
I think they're going to be good friends. London is ready for a mature doggie buddy, I think. The last few foster dogs we've had have been crazy high energy and huge and don't know any "social rules". Takoda seems to be a pretty adjusted little guy. I think he's going to end up being a goofball when he warms up, too.
@cdenny - thank you! Haha, I work with "aggressive" (in quotes because some of the cases I get are a little ridiculous) and fearful dogs for a living and I've had a lot of experience with helping dogs settle into a multi-dog/animal environment... and I've been preparing for this for what feels like forever.
More of me creepin' on Takoda while he falls asleep. I decided to stop bugging him.
I am sure he is pretty stressed from the flight and leaving his mom he has know for all his life. But I am sure he will open up soon.
FWIW, his brother (my Kuma) is really a talker and makes all sorts of growling noises, but it is all talk and his way of communicating, not aggressiveness. Maybe Takoda, being a full brother, is similar?
@Edgewood - I think you're right. He just growls to express himself. He isn't really being aggressive. He's avoids anything that stresses him too much, so far. He's just very "talky" with his noises for the most part.
He just woke up from his nap and I bribed him with a little bit of chicken since his last meal was yesterday at 8pm. He was ALL ABOUT the chicken and I was surprised to see he responded to commands very quickly. He even started getting "huffy" when I started to withhold chicken and stomped his front feet a bit.
He has met one of the kittens and was interested, but didn't really care after the initial sniff. I think with my cats being so dog-savvy and hard to chase, he won't really bother them. I could see him being bad with cats that got stressed with dogs around or very flighty cats.
He has a lot of built-up shed in his coat. I suspect he's blowing like London did, but I don't want to stress him out with a bath or a brushing... at the same time, I don't want him to get irritated because of the built-up hair. Any suggestions on what I could do outside of those two options?
I haven't been able to get a collar on him or a slip around him, either. He hasn't been out in a very long time and he didn't go in his crate on the trip. I know that will come with time, but I'm the fretting kind of dog mom.
Slip lead him for now, its what I had to do with Sachi the first day. Then corner her and not touch nor reach afoul.d her when putting on her tags collar
I think he will be fine not being brushed yet, unless he seems to like it. The coat coming out in tufts won't hurt him and probably he doesn't even notice him. I would give him at least a day to settle before brushing. And ESPECIALLY bathing -- his full brother HATES bathes and gets really stressed by them (my Kuma), so better not to take the chance with Takoda yet.
Yeah, I'm going to put off the bath. Once he's warmed up, I have a grooming room at work I can give him a proper grooming/bath in. I think it's more than just this season's shed, though, now that I got a chance to really pet him.
So... Takoda has decided we are BEST FRIENDS when we're outdoors. He peed on the end of my bed because I wasn't able to get a leash on him in time to go out and THAT, of course, was when I was finally able to get his collar and leash on (and he didn't seem to mind it at all, oddly).
When we got outside, I figured I'd let him do mostly whatever he wanted to do while at the end of the leash to get to know the yard and drive... and that turned into a good, long walk. He seems very relaxed and happy outdoors. I got in some neck-scratches and petting and he licked all over my hands and my face. As soon as we got back inside, he was back to growling and hating me.
@cdenny - Haha, yeah, I just think it's cute. He and I spent a lot of time outside and he's sitting next to me now that we're back indoors.
He's pretty goofy now that he's feeling comfortable. He met some NEW strangers when we were on our walk and I think he decided that I was okay people when I got him a trachea. He's now just staring at me, like he's expecting more funtimes.
I did give him a bath this morning. I wasn't going to, but he REALLY loved the brushing he was getting. Turns out he thinks the bath is the best thing ever and now he's 800x cleaner.
He's already attached to my side. He hasn't left it all day. London is a little pouty today, though. He yelled at Takoda for a second over my coworker's bagel. Takoda just kind of looked at him like he had some kind of damage going on. Overall, doing better than I could have imagined.
I am going to be that annoying dog mom forever. I'm so excited it's stupid.
Comments
EDIT: Mosura gets very car sick, but wasn't sick by plane travel.
And thank you @Calia - I'm going to get him a 15-18 inch leather collar after battling with a decision on widths.
My female wears the same size as Miyu (@Calia), and has a smaller neck (and less fur).
Good luck!!!! Also with the cats, lots of "no Kitty" will help and I am sure he will learn. My dogs have lived with up to 5 cats and they are completely fine with them. Just keep reminding him (and maybe clicker train him to look at you instead of the cats, so he gets a reward of a treat).
Takoda, creepin'.
understandably after the past couple of days hes a bit wary but it will disappear with just time and familiarity. What does London think of his new bro?
I think they're going to be good friends. London is ready for a mature doggie buddy, I think. The last few foster dogs we've had have been crazy high energy and huge and don't know any "social rules". Takoda seems to be a pretty adjusted little guy. I think he's going to end up being a goofball when he warms up, too.
More of me creepin' on Takoda while he falls asleep. I decided to stop bugging him.
I am sure he is pretty stressed from the flight and leaving his mom he has know for all his life. But I am sure he will open up soon.
FWIW, his brother (my Kuma) is really a talker and makes all sorts of growling noises, but it is all talk and his way of communicating, not aggressiveness. Maybe Takoda, being a full brother, is similar?
He just woke up from his nap and I bribed him with a little bit of chicken since his last meal was yesterday at 8pm. He was ALL ABOUT the chicken and I was surprised to see he responded to commands very quickly. He even started getting "huffy" when I started to withhold chicken and stomped his front feet a bit.
He has met one of the kittens and was interested, but didn't really care after the initial sniff. I think with my cats being so dog-savvy and hard to chase, he won't really bother them. I could see him being bad with cats that got stressed with dogs around or very flighty cats.
He has a lot of built-up shed in his coat. I suspect he's blowing like London did, but I don't want to stress him out with a bath or a brushing... at the same time, I don't want him to get irritated because of the built-up hair. Any suggestions on what I could do outside of those two options?
I haven't been able to get a collar on him or a slip around him, either. He hasn't been out in a very long time and he didn't go in his crate on the trip. I know that will come with time, but I'm the fretting kind of dog mom.
So... Takoda has decided we are BEST FRIENDS when we're outdoors. He peed on the end of my bed because I wasn't able to get a leash on him in time to go out and THAT, of course, was when I was finally able to get his collar and leash on (and he didn't seem to mind it at all, oddly).
When we got outside, I figured I'd let him do mostly whatever he wanted to do while at the end of the leash to get to know the yard and drive... and that turned into a good, long walk. He seems very relaxed and happy outdoors. I got in some neck-scratches and petting and he licked all over my hands and my face. As soon as we got back inside, he was back to growling and hating me.
He's pretty goofy now that he's feeling comfortable. He met some NEW strangers when we were on our walk and I think he decided that I was okay people when I got him a trachea. He's now just staring at me, like he's expecting more funtimes.
AH. I'm so happy!
I think @tjbart17 was right ,:3
I am going to be that annoying dog mom forever. I'm so excited it's stupid.