Dog Transport Services
Pet Travel Advisors is a door to door dog transport service. We handle domestic and international dog relocation anywhere in the United States and to more than 30 countries, and the job covers the whole move rather than the flight: collection from your home, an IATA crate sized to your dog, the airline booking, the health certificate and its USDA endorsement, check-in at the cargo counter, and delivery to the new address.
Dogs travel in the cabin, as checked baggage, as manifested cargo, or by road, and breed and size decide which one before anything else does. One coordinator owns the move from the first call to the handover, so you are not chasing four companies for one dog. Tell us the route and we will tell you plainly what it takes, what it costs and what could go wrong, or read what it costs to ship a dog before you call.
What We Handle
Dogs travel three ways, and which one is right is decided by size, breed and season rather than by preference. Here is what each actually involves.
In Cabin
Small dogs in a carrier that fits under the seat in front, on the airlines that still allow it. The fewest moving parts and the lowest cost, but the size limit is strict and it is measured at check-in, not when you book.
Checked and Cargo
How most medium and large dogs travel. Your dog flies in a pressurized, temperature-controlled hold in an IATA-compliant crate, on a booking made separately from yours and often only through an approved shipper.
Ground Transport
Door to door by road. The answer for snub-nosed breeds airlines will not carry in the hold, for dogs that travel badly, and for routes where driving beats flying on cost and on stress.
Breed and Size Decide the Route
Two things settle how your dog travels before anything else is discussed. The first is the muzzle. Most airlines refuse snub-nosed breeds in the hold, because the same shortened airway that makes a bulldog snore makes heat and stress genuinely dangerous at altitude. If your dog is a bulldog, pug, boxer, shih tzu or one of their crosses, plan on ground transport or a cabin seat and treat a cargo booking as the exception that has to be proven.
The second is the crate. Your dog has to stand, turn and lie down naturally inside it, and that finished crate size decides which aircraft can carry it. A large crate rules out narrower aircraft doors, which rules out routes, which changes the price. Measure before you book your own flight, not after.
Crate Sizing, and Why It Decides the Route
The crate is the part owners underestimate. Your dog has to stand without the ears touching the roof, turn around without contorting, and lie down with the legs extended. Those three tests give you a length, a width and a height, and the airline checks them at the counter rather than taking your word for it.
What follows from the size is the part nobody expects. A crate above a certain height will not fit through the cargo door of a narrow-body aircraft, which removes every route flown by one. On some city pairs that leaves a single daily flight, and on a few it leaves none. This is why we size the crate before we look at flights, and why a quote that arrives before anyone has asked for your dog’s measurements is a guess wearing a number.
Buy the crate early either way. A dog that has slept in it for three weeks travels better than one meeting it at the airport, and IATA compliance is far easier to confirm in your kitchen than at check-in.
Which Airline, and Why It Matters
Airlines differ more than owners expect on live animals, and the differences are not marketing. Some ended checked pet service for the general public and kept it only for military and State Department moves. Some accept cargo only through an approved shipper, which is a booking you cannot make yourself. Some restrict breeds, some restrict months, and some restrict aircraft types rather than routes, which is invisible until a crate will not fit the aircraft flying that day.
Our guide to US airline pet policies compares the carriers that matter for a domestic or outbound move, including who still ships pets as cargo and what the options are when a dog is too big for the cabin. We choose the airline around your dog rather than around the cheapest fare, because the cheapest fare is often the one that will not take the crate.
What Actually Goes Wrong
Three things account for most of the trouble on a dog move, and none of them happen in the air.
The first is refusal at check-in. A crate an inch too small, a door fastener that does not meet the standard, a health certificate dated a day outside its window. The agent is not being difficult, they have a checklist and no discretion. Everything on that checklist can be confirmed in advance, and confirming it is most of what coordination actually buys.
The second is an embargo nobody saw coming: a heat limit at a connecting airport you never thought about, or a carrier suspending live animals on a route at short notice. The defense is a direct flight where one exists and a second route held in reserve.
The third is the timeline. A rabies titer test with a waiting period measured in months, or a USDA endorsement appointment that is not available in the week you need it. Neither is an emergency when you find it early. Both are close to unfixable when you find them late, which is why we would rather tell you a date is not achievable than book toward one that is not.
Paperwork, and the Order It Has to Happen In
For a domestic move, most states want a health certificate from an accredited veterinarian, issued close to travel. For an international move the certificate also has to be endorsed by USDA APHIS, and endorsement starts at $101. The order matters more than the documents: microchip before rabies vaccination, rabies before the titer test where one is required, and the health exam inside a window that is often only ten days wide.
Get the sequence wrong and the fix is not paperwork, it is waiting. That is the most common reason a move slips by a month.
Heat Embargoes and the Season
From roughly May through September, airlines apply heat embargoes and refuse live animals when ground temperatures anywhere on the route exceed their limit. It is not the temperature where you live. It is the temperature at every airport your dog touches, including the connection you never see.
Northern routes have the same problem in reverse in winter. The practical answer is to fly early or late in the day, to book direct where a direct exists, and to build the plan around the season rather than fight it.
Where We Move Dogs
We arrange domestic moves between US cities and international moves out of the major gateways, including Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Seattle and Houston. Door to door is the default. We collect from your home and deliver to the new one rather than handing you a cargo terminal address and wishing you luck.
If your city is not a gateway, the plan usually opens with a road leg to one that is, and we build that into the timeline rather than leaving it to you.
How the Move Works
Every dog move follows the same backbone, whether it is two states or two continents. Here is the shape of it.
Route and Plan
We map the route, check airline and destination rules against your dog’s breed and size, and give you a timeline that marks the dates which cannot move.
Crate Fitting
We size the crate to your dog rather than to a weight chart, and confirm it meets IATA requirements plus whatever the airline adds on top.
Vet and Documents
We sequence the vet visits, prepare the health certificate with your veterinarian, and handle the USDA APHIS endorsement where the destination needs it.
Booking
We book the flight or the vehicle and confirm live animal acceptance before you are asked to commit to anything.
Travel Day and Arrival
We handle check-in, track the journey and manage collection at the other end, and we update you rather than waiting to be asked.
Moving within the country? Our guide to shipping a dog to another state walks through the same decision with real numbers.
What It Costs
A domestic dog move runs about $300 to $3,000 depending on distance, size, and whether your dog flies or drives. Ground transport usually runs $400 to $1,200, and air $300 to $2,500. International moves run about $2,000 to $7,000, and that spread is wide because the flight is the largest line and it is priced per booking.
Size moves the number before anything else does, then route, then season. Our cost calculator breaks a specific route down line by line, including the government fees that most quotes leave vague.
Tell Us About Your Dog
Send us the breed and weight, where you are moving from and to, and roughly when. That is enough for us to tell you which of the three routes is realistic, what the timeline looks like and what it will cost. If the honest answer is that you do not need us for this move, we will say so.
GET A PET RELOCATION QUOTE:
Frequently asked questions
Can my dog fly in the cabin?
Only if the dog and carrier together fit under the seat in front, which in practice means a small dog, and only on airlines that still offer it. The limit is enforced at check-in, so measure the carrier rather than trusting the booking screen.
What if my dog is a snub-nosed breed?
Most airlines will not carry brachycephalic breeds in the hold, and the ones that do add conditions. Ground transport is usually the safer and simpler answer. We will tell you which carriers are realistic for your breed rather than promise a flight we cannot book.
Is cargo safe for a dog?
Your dog travels in a pressurized, temperature-controlled hold, not the luggage area people picture. The real risks are heat on the ground, long connections and a badly sized crate, and all three are planning problems rather than flying problems.
How far ahead should I start?
Four to six weeks for a domestic move. One to four months for most international moves, and six months or more for destinations that require a rabies titer test. Starting early keeps the options open. Starting late removes them one at a time.
Can my dog travel without me?
Yes. Dogs move as unaccompanied cargo every day, and this is where coordination earns its keep, because someone has to handle both ends. We arrange the routing, the crate and both airport handoffs.
Do you handle the paperwork?
Yes. We prepare the health certificate with your veterinarian, sequence the vet visits so the timing windows line up, and manage the USDA APHIS endorsement where the destination requires it.