Once we started to make enquiries about getting Leroy to the UK, it quickly became clear that flying a pet out of Australia was going to require the services of a pet moving company.  In theory you could navigate your way around all of the required authorisations and documentation but we found that, in practice, the majority of airlines will not deal directly with you and demand you use a qualified agent.  We contacted Jet Pets, Dogtainers and Aeropets with varying degrees of satisfaction although, to be fair, with airlines only just starting to resume anything resembling normal international flights out of Australia, some of the pet moving companies were quite vague about what they could offer and seemed to be lacking definite information from the airlines.  Matters were also complicated with many flights having being affected by transit countries changing policies due to Covid.

After seemingly endless phone calls and e-mails, we chose to go with Aeropets, mainly due to the fact that our contact there, Tom Brown, gave us more confidence than anyone else.  Despite being aware that pets are moved around the world all the time, it does feel like a big deal when it is your own pet being relocated and being able to talk the process through with an intelligent, considerate individual helped enormously.  To start the process, we were required to fill in an information sheet and pay a non-refundable deposit of $500 after which Tom advised us to fly Leroy with one of the middle eastern airlines as their schedules had been much less disrupted than some of the other carriers.  Also, as Qantas was flying Sydney/Darwin/UK they were not accepting pets due to the long flight time of the second leg.  Qatar was accepting pets through Doha, where any animals on board were provided with a comfort stop for 24 hrs before continuing their journey, and this is who we chose.  

Preferred carrier and flight time selected, we were asked to provide vaccination and rabies certifications whilst waiting for Qatar to confirm our requested flight.  We also needed Heathrow to allocate a slot for Leroy to come in through customs.  Our preferred date for Leroy to leave Australia was 4th April, the same day that we would leave with Qantas, and as it was still only middle of Feb when we were finalising arrangements we were pretty confident that we would get a slot at Heathrow.  It was a bit disappointing then to be told that the earliest we could get him through customs in Heathrow would be middle of April.  However, Tom made some calls and informed us that It would be possible for Qatar to get him through Manchester airport instead.  This was more than ok with us as we were intending to head up to North Wales which is in the general direction of Manchester, give or take 150 km.

A week before Leroy was due to fly, we received the final invoice ($5,300) and were notified that he was booked in for a vet check on the morning of his flight at a clinic not far from Sydney airport.  We arrived at the vets at the appointed time where we met Greer, our co-ordinator from Aeropets.  She had another dog that was travelling to Europe who, along with Leroy was given tape worm pills and proclaimed fit to travel.  The UK is very un-demanding in their requirements for pet import asking only for proof of rabies vaccination and tape worm protection.

Vet check over, we followed Greer to the airport holding area which was a 15 minute drive away.  Here both dogs were settled into their own large cages where they would wait until the airline was ready to board them.  So far, the process was straight-forward and with all the Department of Agriculture paperwork processed by Aeropets there was nothing for us to do other than to say goodbye to Leroy and check in for our own flights with Qantas.

We arrived into Heathrow on the Tuesday morning and after collecting a hire car from the airport we headed north and into Wales where we were spending a week prior to heading up to Cumbria for the Coast to Coast walk.  We were now liaising with Starwood Transport, a pet relocation company in the UK, who were dealing with the importation paperwork and custom clearance for a fee of £420. Armed with an e-mail of instructions we headed to Manchester the following morning.  We didn’t have any face to face dealings with Starwood, but following directions, we presented ourselves to Swissport, a cargo handling company, where we collected all the paperwork pertaining to Leroys importation.  We were then directed to Pets on Jets, who are a part of The Pets Travel Scheme that allows cats dogs and, surprisingly, ferrets from certain countries to enter the UK without quarantine.  Here, the recently acquired paperwork was handed over and after the requested sum of £20 had been paid to cover the cost of disposing of the crate, I was taken into the back of the warehouse where said wooden crate was sitting on top of a small trailer.  Being such a large dog (50kg) and possibly because of his breed, Leroy had been crated with the instructions “no teeth, no paws" which meant that his crate, which had been made specifically for him, was solid wood with air holes.  It was not possible to see inside the crate and, therefore, not possible for any animal inside to see out.  I did feel a bit sick when I saw the crate, knowing how much time Leroy would have spent in the dark interior not knowing what was going on, but once the crate door was opened, out he came looking exactly the same as when we had left him in Sydney two and a half days earlier.  To say he was delighted would be a huge under-statement.  He was absolutely beside himself and, after much leaping around, dragged me out of the warehouse to where Ian was waiting with the car.  He really didn't seem to be any the worse from his long journey and it was the best feeling ever to be reunited with him on the other side of the world.