First Time Doing Transport - Lessons Learned?

[DeeMcB]

I'm signing up for a 1400 mile round trip transport in about 10 days. Having never done this before, I wondered what lessons learned - Do's and Don'ts - anyone might have from having done transport before.

[Emoore]

Don't let them poop in your purse.

If you're not sure whether the dog is fully vaccinated or you know he's not, stop and let him out at places where other people DON'T let their dogs out.

Aside from that, keep the dog in a crate in the back of your car or SUV. Don't try to be nice and let him ride up front with you. Trust me on this. He'll poop in your purse.

[Kris10]

[gsdraven]

Slowly open doors and make sure you have the dog's leash firmly in hand. You often hear about dogs escaping during transport - they don't know you, you don't know them so stay alert.

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

I absolutely need to know where the dog is going.

I stupidly did a couple of transports for someone who said they were doing rescue in KY. They did not do home checks, and would just send these smelly little dogs from KY to homes in NY based on a phone interview. That was it.

So who knows where those dogs ended up, how long they lived there, what kind of home they had, if they were a match with the people who got them...I may have transported a dog to a life on a chain or worse.

I will forever regret doing that. Always make sure when you transport a dog that the dog is going to or from a rescue that does vet, personal and home checks or that they have been done on the receiving end, no matter what.

And if all that checks out, use a martingale collar too.

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Also don't forget to have the health certificate with you with proof of rabies.

[onyx'girl]

I've only done legs of a transport and they were for reputable rescues. I've pulled dogs from shelters to send them on their way to rescue.
Make sure all paperwork(vetting, license, any history on the dog) is in order and like Jean posted, where is the dog actually going???

Have a martingale no slip collar on the dog at all times, they are strong and because they have no relationship with you, will possibly try to back out of the collar and escape.
One dog that I pulled for a resecue ended up getting euth'd a couple days after arriving because the rescue assessed him as extremely dog aggressive. They never gave him a chance to decompress from the shelter/transport stress. He lived at a shelter for a couple weeks before I pulled him. It was very sad for all.

[Rerun]

We only transport for certain people now. We stopped doing transports for someone who runs a ton of them because nearly every single dog sent was very sick and they were direct shelter pulls.

The others have a 2 wk out of shelter holdtime in a temp foster home. Having so many other dogs, we just couldn't do the sick ones anymore.

[Emoore]

But really, the main thing is to NEVER let them poop in your purse. Everything else is just gravy.

[Remo]

While I have never had a dog poop in my purse, I did have one that vomited in my open purse.

It gets worse - since the purse was deep, I did not realize what had happened, zipped it up and carried it inside. My purse remained zipped for the whole weekend until Monday morning when I went to fetch out my keys to start the car. It got to harden on everything for a couple of days. Bleeeeech!

So, speaking of vomit - have paper towels and clean up supplies with you. If they get sick in the crate you will be glad you were prepared.

You have been give some excellent advice in the previous posts. Make sure that you are working with reputable folks on both ends.

I second the idea about the slip lead or Martingale collars. These dogs are often very stressed and some are practically professionals at backing out of their collars.

That is really quite a long distance transport - what a very generous gesture on your part. Good luck with your trip.