Moving a GREAT DANE to GERMANY

I am in need of some serious help! I am familiar with all of the health/vet requirements for shipping my pets, but what I am most concerned about is what airline/company is the best/cheapest? The Army is making us fly on United and they do not ship animals over 150 lbs. I checked and Delta does ship larger dogs, but are there any other options? Things are getting INCREDIBLY pricey! Also, how do you arrange your flights to coincide? He is too big for a normal sized crate, has anyone had a custom crate built and how did it work out for you? I think it is our only option, but am worried that because the crate will have to be SO big that it won't fit in a normal sized vehicle in order to get him to and from the airport. Are they collapsible? Please help!

Thank you! Any comments and suggestions would be most appreciated.

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Hoffmann on November 25, 2009 at 2:19pm: Hi... we are in a similar situation with our Great Dane Mix.
The only difference: we are looking from Toronto to Frankfurt Main.
It is horrible difficult to get a information from an airline cargo... that would be the cheapest solution... when you can figure out a phone number from your airlines cargo..
We are now in process since 3 weeks to find a payable solution... still without a result...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Brian Wright on February 22, 2010 at 6:15am: Dana,
First, I can tell you that it is not going to be cheap, we have found a service that we are going to have to pay about $2500 to ship our dog.
We are moving from Ft Riley to Germany with our female Mastiff, unfortunately she is too big for the standard crate so we are having one built. When we moved from Germany to Kansas we flew into Denver on Lufthansa (a United Co-chair) to keep from having the dog transfered, unfortunately we did not keep the crate so we are having a new one built. To lower our cost somewhat we are driving from Ft. Riley to Denver. I don't know where you are flying from but if you can you should schedule your departure at an airport that United has a direct flight to Germany. I know the Army will let you do that, tell them where you want to fly from. As far as the crate, they are not collapsable and you will either have to abandon the crate and have another built when you leave or rent a small truck when you get there. Your sponsor can do that for you as these trucks are more common in Germany.
Let me know if this helps.; ▶ Reply to This