Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Emigrating with your dog

Emigration seems to get much more complicated if you have a dog.  A friend of mine is considering emigrating to New Zealand as her father has moved out there, and she has just booked flights to visit for three weeks.  Quite a sensible move, seeing as she has never been there before, however, I’m not sure if even three weeks is long enough to make a lifelong decision such as that.  She’ll have to be very careful not to just feel like she’s on a great holiday and really look carefully at other factors that affect lifestyle and living out there.

However, another complication is that she has a dog.  Obviously, flights to New Zealand are quite long so there are some serious health and safety issues to check out for her dog if she decides to go, and what happens if the dog doesn’t like the climate?  She’s a five year old shih tzu and used to British weather – she could have a big shock!

The people I bought my house from also emigrated to New Zealand and only eight months later they were back, claiming that the salaries were ok but tax was high and the cost of medical care was too high as was the cost of living.  So what would happen if my friend changes her mind?

It’s not like taking your dog to Europe where you simply get him or her a passport and you can go back and forth as you please.  There are quarantine requirements so if she came back, the dog would have to go into quarantine for six months I think it is.  The nearest quarantine place to her is Manchester, about an hour’s journey for her, so for six months, she would have to visit her dog.  Emigration with your dog is definitely more complicated and in my opinion, probably not worth it.

Further Thoughts and Related Products:
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Sep 17, 2008 | 1 | Care & Training