Cruising With A Service Dog....everything You Ever Wanted To Know!

[rangeley]

Gators, coyotes, bobcats, lizards, bugs.... Florida is not for me! 

[wizard-of-roz]

16 hours ago, rangeley said:

Nancy, I'm so glad the training is going well. My grandpuppy went to classes and I thought did fairly well, but hes over 2 now and still nuts. He listens to my dil if she has food in her hand. He's grammys little monster and I love him. 

What a beautiful dog!

[wizard-of-roz]

Woke up this morning to 80mph wind gusts and 9 new fires.  The most difficult to watch are all the animals that are being displaced.  My nieces have horses and were up at 4:00am to trailer them to Ventura County Fairgrounds and other safe places without smoke and fire danger.  It's not easy to calm down a frightened 12 hundred pound horse.  It's hard to hear all the stories.   Thank goodness all are safe and will remain in place for the next few days.  I am doing well but have a terrible case of laryngitis from the dry winds and smoke.

 

I'll be so glad when this fire season is over and, really thrilled to finally get on the Royal Princess with Cindy & family.

 

Horton had his Vet check on Tuesday and I had forgotten how the Vet treats an 11 year old senior dog.  There are some immunizations that my Vet feels are unnecessary for the senior dog because they have built up enough antibodies to protect them so he only gave Horton a Rabies shot; filled out and signed the Aphis 7001 form, and cleared him for cruise travel.

 

I have another cruise booked for May and then I think Horton will be retiring.......It'll be his retirement cruise.  We'll be going to Alaska on board the Golden Princess [Morey's favorite ship and destination.]  

[rangeley]

Another dog thread in HAL. 

[rangeley]

9 hours ago, wizard-of-roz said:

Woke up this morning to 80mph wind gusts and 9 new fires.  The most difficult to watch are all the animals that are being displaced.  My nieces have horses and were up at 4:00am to trailer them to Ventura County Fairgrounds and other safe places without smoke and fire danger.  It's not easy to calm down a frightened 12 hundred pound horse.  It's hard to hear all the stories.   Thank goodness all are safe and will remain in place for the next few days.  I am doing well but have a terrible case of laryngitis from the dry winds and smoke.

 

I'll be so glad when this fire season is over and, really thrilled to finally get on the Royal Princess with Cindy & family.

 

Horton had his Vet check on Tuesday and I had forgotten how the Vet treats an 11 year old senior dog.  There are some immunizations that my Vet feels are unnecessary for the senior dog because they have built up enough antibodies to protect them so he only gave Horton a Rabies shot; filled out and signed the Aphis 7001 form, and cleared him for cruise travel.

 

I have another cruise booked for May and then I think Horton will be retiring.......It'll be his retirement cruise.  We'll be going to Alaska on board the Golden Princess [Morey's favorite ship and destination.]  

I hope things calm down out there. I'm getting worried they will start canceling flights. You better get your talking voice back by next week!! 

[lindaler]

1 hour ago, rangeley said:

Another dog thread in HAL. 

I’m so discouraged by all of these negative people. I was so glad the other thread had dropped to page eight. I wish people would just get along. 

[rangeley]

31 minutes ago, lindaler said:

I’m so discouraged by all of these negative people. I was so glad the other thread had dropped to page eight. I wish people would just get along. 

I agree. And I understand if someone has a fake dog and they are letting it eat off a plate or feeding it from the table, but this one just seemed like she didn't like it, and thought it was dirty. 

[lindaler]

I can have horrible reactions to some perfumes but I don’t try to make a big deal of it, I just move. I once knew a woman who had never bathed her dog after eleven years. That was a dirty dog, but all of us with a service dog take such pride in our animals I bet they are cleaner then 70 percent of the people around us.  It just hurts that someone wants to rant about something they know little about. 

[wizard-of-roz]

10 hours ago, rangeley said:

I hope things calm down out there. I'm getting worried they will start canceling flights. You better get your talking voice back by next week!! 

I think all will be fine in the L.A. cruising world, and if you think by the farthest stretch of your imagination that a little pharyngitis will keep me down......you don't know Rozziepooh very well! 

 

Get ready, get set to have fun with "RoHo", that's Roz and Horty!

[rangeley]

16 hours ago, lindaler said:

I can have horrible reactions to some perfumes but I don’t try to make a big deal of it, I just move. I once knew a woman who had never bathed her dog after eleven years. That was a dirty dog, but all of us with a service dog take such pride in our animals I bet they are cleaner then 70 percent of the people around us.  It just hurts that someone wants to rant about something they know little about. 

I hate stinky perfume. Especially when someone over does it. Some of these women bathe in it! 

[rangeley]

I'd like to know about everyones experiences with your dogs on long flights. This will be the longest one we have taken with any of our dogs. 

[Miki_moto]

I’ve made 7 round trips from Seattle to London Heathrow without mishap.   Because I’m the first on/last off, that was usually 10 hours on a plane.

 

I limit water for six to eight hours before takeoff but I encourage maximum intake immediately prior by adding a probiotic powder.  My dog/s love that stuff and drink every drop.  I offer a limited amount of ice on the plane.

 

I also feed feed a normal meal about ten hours before takeoff.  Try to get a good, long walk in before check-in.

 

I brought a small roll up bed and a seat belt, both requirements of British Airways.  We fly business and, except for one time, the dog/s had a seat for themselves.  Of course, they weren’t allowed on the seat but they needed the floor space.

[DUTRAVEL]

We have taken several cross country flights, one to Hawaii and two eleven hour flights to Europe (last one was last Friday). We always fly business to have enough room for a 65 pound dog because otherwise I don’t have enough leg room. I limit water before a flight but usually feed her on schedule because I know she can hold it for a long time and she wouldn’t be happy if she were hungry. In the US we can usually have her use the indoor relief area right before we board. We did have a bad experience this week in Frankfurt where they refused to let me take her outside between our connecting flights. 
 

We left today from Rome on our transatlantic cruise on Celebrity Edge to Florida. 
 

Dianne

[Algebralovr]

We have done 4 hours non-stop but not more.  I feed on his normal schedule, since if his tummy is empty it is more likely to be upset.  He doesn't get motion sick, although he HATES flying.  I think it bothers his ears.  We try to visit the dog elimination spot (in the US) right before we are likely to board.  I'm lucky in that my home airport has them in good places.  Some don't, and you have to be escorted.

 

Dianne, you'll have to tell us how Celebrity did on Edge.  Did they find a better place for the box?

 

 

[allies_daphne]

Anyone have an example of the IHC that has to be filed for porting in Colombia?  Our vet is trying to do the VEHCS system for that certificate, and there is some confusion on what goes into certain request boxes. 
 

If live in one state, but are sailing out of another, do you put your home state as the State of Origin, or the state that you are sailing out of?  Also, the address for the cosignee - do you give your home address for that, or the address of the port you are arriving into?  I've seen it filled out different ways on online examples.

Any info anyone could provide if they have gotten Colombia's health certificate completed would be appreciated!

Denise

[allies_daphne]

28 minutes ago, allies_daphne said:

Anyone have an example of the IHC that has to be filed for porting in Colombia?  Our vet is trying to do the VEHCS system for that certificate, and there is some confusion on what goes into certain request boxes. 
 

If live in one state, but are sailing out of another, do you put your home state as the State of Origin, or the state that you are sailing out of?  Also, the address for the cosignee - do you give your home address for that, or the address of the port you are arriving into?  I've seen it filled out different ways on online examples.

Any info anyone could provide if they have gotten Colombia's health certificate completed would be appreciated!

Denise

Also, in regards to Mexico, if you are using Option B, and porting in several different ports in Mexico, do you have to have a separate Form B for each Mexico port, or does one form suffice for all 3 ports? 

 

[allies_daphne]

On 10/11/2019 at 7:27 PM, rangeley said:

So far so good. Although the food is still mixed with the rx food. I mixed it half and half until its gone. Probably a week or two, then just the new stuff. I was thinking of asking the vet for some anti diarrhea pills to take with us. 

We also literally just ran in to this issue, with some intermittent vomiting - he wasn't feeling ill, and it would be hours after he ate.  He's just urp it up, wherever he was, and move on.  He has a pretty sensitive stomach, and if he gets anything that isn't his food, he tends to have diarrhea.  We watched it for about a week, and it would come and go, but then we started getting close to our trip, and worrying he wouldn't get cleared by the vet so we took him in.  They thought he might have gastritis, so they put him on Flagyl x 8 days, and it seemed to get better.  About a week ago, he started it again.  Took him right in, since we were leaving within 2 weeks, and they took him off the Health Science Salmon and Rice he's on, and also gave him the Probiotic paste, capsules and switched him to prescription Royal Canin GI food, as well as gave him Tylan powder for 7 days to reset the immune system of the gut.  We are a week into this, and no more vomiting, so fingers crossed.  We are definitely taking some loperamide and Cerenia with us, since it's a 14 day cruise, just in case he gets any stomach upset, since we went on this new regimen.  They recommend he stays on the probiotic capsules until we get back, at the very least.

[rangeley]

1 hour ago, allies_daphne said:

Also, in regards to Mexico, if you are using Option B, and porting in several different ports in Mexico, do you have to have a separate Form B for each Mexico port, or does one form suffice for all 3 ports? 

 

One for with all the ports listed is accepted. 

[rangeley]

32 minutes ago, allies_daphne said:

We also literally just ran in to this issue, with some intermittent vomiting - he wasn't feeling ill, and it would be hours after he ate.  He's just urp it up, wherever he was, and move on.  He has a pretty sensitive stomach, and if he gets anything that isn't his food, he tends to have diarrhea.  We watched it for about a week, and it would come and go, but then we started getting close to our trip, and worrying he wouldn't get cleared by the vet so we took him in.  They thought he might have gastritis, so they put him on Flagyl x 8 days, and it seemed to get better.  About a week ago, he started it again.  Took him right in, since we were leaving within 2 weeks, and they took him off the Health Science Salmon and Rice he's on, and also gave him the Probiotic paste, capsules and switched him to prescription Royal Canin GI food, as well as gave him Tylan powder for 7 days to reset the immune system of the gut.  We are a week into this, and no more vomiting, so fingers crossed.  We are definitely taking some loperamide and Cerenia with us, since it's a 14 day cruise, just in case he gets any stomach upset, since we went on this new regimen.  They recommend he stays on the probiotic capsules until we get back, at the very least.

Unfortunately once we stopped the mix and just had regular food things didn't go so good. Within a day or two he had unformed mushy poops not really diarrhea. So he is back on the rx food for now and for the cruise. I will ask her for some pills to take with us Monday when we go for the health certificate just in case. 

[wizard-of-roz]

13 hours ago, rangeley said:

I'd like to know about everyones experiences with your dogs on long flights. This will be the longest one we have taken with any of our dogs. 

I have not flown with Horton but Brenda flew to Wash. D.C., Zurich, Paris and back to L.A.  She was offered ice cubes between L.A. and D.C. and only between flights was offered water, fed and pottied before we headed for Europe.  She did best when we didn't fuss with her and allowed her to sleep.  We had bulkhead seating and she rolled-up into a pill bug and slept most of the time, only to get up, stretch, walk in a circle and go back to sleep every few hours.

 

Brenda did well if she was walked before we flew.  Long, tiring walks.  Horton MUST poop every time he pees.  I don't think he'd fly very well.  He's also got legs that are a mile long and does not like to roll up, he prefers stretching out when he sleeps.  He'll roll up if he has to though.

 

[wizard-of-roz]

Happy weekend everyone.  Horton and I are preparing for our B/B cruise onboard the Royal Princess, leaving on Sat., Nov. 9th.  I finally get to meet "rangeley", who I've been communicating with since 2006 on these boards.  Cindy, John and Oakland will be meeting Horton and me at the San Pedro dock.  I'm looking forward to spending a week together filled with laughter and certainly some tears.  The second week my granddaughter will be joining me.  Part of the fun is certainly the anticipation of it all.

 

See you soon Cindy and family. 🥂

[rangeley]

On 11/2/2019 at 12:31 AM, wizard-of-roz said:

Happy weekend everyone.  Horton and I are preparing for our B/B cruise onboard the Royal Princess, leaving on Sat., Nov. 9th.  I finally get to meet "rangeley", who I've been communicating with since 2006 on these boards.  Cindy, John and Oakland will be meeting Horton and me at the San Pedro dock.  I'm looking forward to spending a week together filled with laughter and certainly some tears.  The second week my granddaughter will be joining me.  Part of the fun is certainly the anticipation of it all.

 

See you soon Cindy and family. 🥂

I've decided not to come. 🤪

[Wendsong]

I will be taking my first cruise with my Standard Poodle, service dog, Jazz, on Island Princess in March '20. He has flown many times, traveled on trains, buses and subways and is a very good traveler. But there may be some issues.

 

He has been trained NOT to use artificial turf grass as a toilet. There is too much of it around and I don't want any incidents on areas which are not meant for dogs. The airports use it and he (rightly) refuses to go. I must make sure he relieves himself before we get into the airport. He has held it as many as 12 hours until we could get to a place outside where he has been trained it is OK to go. Princess has been slow to contact me to answer questions regarding what medium they use in the boxes on this ship, except to say it is "mulch or similar". There will be no problem if it is mulch.

 

I have also been unable to  obtain the requirements for entering the 5 SA countries we are stopping at: Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Mexico. I have attempted to contact the Consulates, but have had little success in obtaining information about taking a service dog into the various countries.

 

Mexico told me they correspond by email only, but they responded to my email by sending me instructions on importing exotic animals and birds to zoos. They replied to my response that I was just visiting with a service dog, not importing exotic animals by saying I should contact the cruise line for the information "Ask to your cruise ship company". I have responded to this message, but have not heard back.

 

Panama and Costa Rica both said they will email me the information. Costa Rica has, Panama has not. There is no current number for Colombia in Beverly Hills. I found an email address for them in Colombia and have not as yet heard back.

 

I am sure you have discussed and answered all of my concerns, but 880 pages is more than I can manage right now (!) and wonder if you can give me advice on the issues I have delineated above. Thank you so much.

 

[Caribbean Chris]

On 11/1/2019 at 9:16 PM, rangeley said:

Unfortunately once we stopped the mix and just had regular food things didn't go so good. Within a day or two he had unformed mushy poops not really diarrhea. So he is back on the rx food for now and for the cruise. I will ask her for some pills to take with us Monday when we go for the health certificate just in case. 

 

My vet prescribed some probiotic chews that Raylene likes, and they have been very helpful for treating and preventing diarrhea and soft stools. I got an extra bag to take on our cruise next week.

[Caribbean Chris]

8 hours ago, Wendsong said:

I will be taking my first cruise with my Standard Poodle, service dog, Jazz, on Island Princess in March '20. He has flown many times, traveled on trains, buses and subways and is a very good traveler. But there may be some issues.

 

He has been trained NOT to use artificial turf grass as a toilet. There is too much of it around and I don't want any incidents on areas which are not meant for dogs. The airports use it and he (rightly) refuses to go. I must make sure he relieves himself before we get into the airport. He has held it as many as 12 hours until we could get to a place outside where he has been trained it is OK to go. Princess has been slow to contact me to answer questions regarding what medium they use in the boxes on this ship, except to say it is "mulch or similar". There will be no problem if it is mulch.

 

I have also been unable to  obtain the requirements for entering the 5 SA countries we are stopping at: Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Mexico. I have attempted to contact the Consulates, but have had little success in obtaining information about taking a service dog into the various countries.

 

Mexico told me they correspond by email only, but they responded to my email by sending me instructions on importing exotic animals and birds to zoos. They replied to my response that I was just visiting with a service dog, not importing exotic animals by saying I should contact the cruise line for the information "Ask to your cruise ship company". I have responded to this message, but have not heard back.

 

Panama and Costa Rica both said they will email me the information. Costa Rica has, Panama has not. There is no current number for Colombia in Beverly Hills. I found an email address for them in Colombia and have not as yet heard back.

 

I am sure you have discussed and answered all of my concerns, but 880 pages is more than I can manage right now (!) and wonder if you can give me advice on the issues I have delineated above. Thank you so much.

 

 

In the US, animal export documentation is managed by the US Dept. of Agriculture - the division is “APHIS”.  Service dogs are treated essentially the same as pet dogs. Google “APHIS pet travel” for the website. Lots of information - take time to surf the site and read everything.

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/pet-travel

 

See the drop-down country menu? Find your ports and forms. That will give you an idea of the requirements immediately. Basics are a current rabies certificate and a microchip. For some countries, all you will need is an APHIS Form 7001 Health Certificate after your dog has been examined.

 

Some countries require vaccinations like leptospirosis, which the vet can do. You’ll need the scientific names of the flea & tick and heartworm treatments that the vet will enter in the form 7001 (just tell them the brand names).  For Mexico, I have my vet use the simple “Option B,” language copied onto the vet’s letterhead and signed. 

 

Next, call your vet and ask if s/he is “USDA accredited.” If not, ask for a recommendation of one in your area (or find that info by calling your nearest APHIS office, listed on the website.) An “accredited” vet needs to examine your dog and issue the forms that need to be endorsed (countersigned and stamped) at a regional APHIS office. (Some forms do not, but endorsement is becoming more common.) You can make an appt. to go to the regional Office if feasible, or send the forms to APHIS by overnight service and include a return overnight envelope. Ask the vet or APHIS office which overnight service is preferred (I  think UPS works best.)

 

All of this needs to be done fairly close to sailing date (some countries have a time limit of days before arrival). The good news is that you are planning ahead now. You can establish a relationship with a vet, give them your exact itinerary now, and tell them you will need their help.