Switzerland is 18,376.87 km from New Zealand – as the crow
flies. It’s not possible to do the trip all in one go so our dogs needed to
stop over somewhere along the way. We tried to find a transporter who offered a
service that accommodated the minimum amount of time possible for the trip, but
flying from Switzerland it was impossible to do so. Switzerland has a paucity
of transport companies able to ship dogs and we found only one that would deal with
us personally – the rest doing so only through online bookings. While this may work
for human flight reservations, we really needed to advocate for our dogs and
that meant getting to know the people responsible for their transportation
.
Transporting live animals is an intricate business and it is
strongly recommended that a pet transport company is used for the purpose.
Unfortunately there are precious few in Switzerland and none of them offered an
ideal door to door service, but one ACE Pet Transport out of Zurich were the
best of the bunch.
Even then all they could offer us was a trip in four legs: a 10-hour, 6,262 km flight from Zurich to Dubai, followed by a 10-hour stop
over and then a further 16-hour, 14,194 km flight from Dubai to Auckland and
finally the 493 km hop to Wellington – a trip spanning half the world and
costing the equivalent of a first class ticket for each dog. This amounted to
nearly two days travel and for the larger share of it the dogs would be
confined to their crates.
I worked diligently during the month before the trip helping
each dog feel that the crate they were to travel in was the best place in the
world to be. Both dogs had been crate trained on coming to live with us, and
regarded their 'dens’ as cool places to chill out. Though these travel crates
were not nearly as comfortable or as familiar as their soft sided portable
ones, they soon saw the advantage in venturing into this unknown territory.
Whenever they voluntarily entered their crate, treats fell from above.
Before long Beau was using the crate to train me in treat tossing and, so he
didn’t miss out on the fun, Blue was soon tentatively entering his own crate
and peering out with a look of expectation on his poodle pout. Fun though these games were, nothing I did
could possibly prepare them for the hours they would spend locked in the crate
during transport, and though Beau would happily spend all evening in his crate,
it was Blue who coped better with the whole experience in the end.
Blue’s early history was a bit sketchy but what we did know
for sure was that he had been kept in a wire cage for long periods of time
while being carted from place to place in the hope of a sale. His rescue had
freed him from wired cages, and now I was locking him in a plastic and wire one for one
last time. He’s a stoic wee fellow and while he hates being confined, willingly
entered the crate at the depot in Zurich and sat staring at me with a look that
pretty much said “this better be worth it.”
Beau on the other hand saw an opportunity for treats and
rushed into the huge box that would be his confinement, spun around into a
down, and eagerly took the treats showered on him. He had no idea what was
happening and all the excitement of being in a new place had raised his level
of arousal so that he was already on full alert. As the crates were wheeled
away I wasn’t sure who I was most concerned for – the little poodle with the
fixed expression and the penetrating eyes, or the excited Beauceron with the
air of eager anticipation. There was no time to worry though; we had a 3-hour
drive back to Geneva so I could catch my own flight leaving that evening.
One thing the philosophy of clicker training has taught me
is to focus on the behaviours you want and ignore everything else. By extension
I had learned to focus my thoughts on positive outcomes and leave off the
worrying about things outside of my control. The dogs and I flew out of Switzerland
on Tuesday 20 November – the dogs on Emirates, me on Qantas. I arrived in
Wellington in the afternoon of Thursday 22 but the dogs were still on the
tarmac in Auckland due to delays caused by recent eruptions from Mt
Tongariro. After several phone calls I
learned that they would be landing in Wellington that evening and I could visit
them at the quarantine centre in Levin the next day.
I couldn’t wait…
