Traveling to Ecuador with a large dog

I feel for you man, we just completed the process of bringing our Boston Terrier and she will be coming with my sister in law this afternoon and hopefully everything is in order and we have no further problems.  I have travelled between Ecuador, Canada and the US quite a few times and by the condition of my luggage I'm not sure I would ever send a dog freight, especially after hearing your story.  Hopefully your buddy recovers and has no lasting ill effects.

I feel for you man, we just completed the process of bringing our Boston Terrier and she will be coming with my sister in law this afternoon and hopefully everything is in order and we have no further problems.  I have travelled between Ecuador, Canada and the US quite a few times and by the condition of my luggage I'm not sure I would ever send a dog freight, especially after hearing your story.  Hopefully your buddy recovers and has no lasting ill effects.

I feel for you man, we just completed the process of bringing our Boston Terrier and she will be coming with my sister in law this afternoon and hopefully everything is in order and we have no further problems.  I have travelled between Ecuador, Canada and the US quite a few times and by the condition of my luggage I'm not sure I would ever send a dog freight, especially after hearing your story.  Hopefully your buddy recovers and has no lasting ill effects.

I am thinking of bring my dog from theBahamas but now after reading you guys post, I am so scared. Maybe I should just find him a good home in the Bahamas!.

Hello Keshla, I too am from the Bahamas. My family and I are planning our move for early 2016 and we are bringing our 2 dogs. We would love to hear how your process went as well as how are you adjusting to your move to Ecuador. Would love to hear from you.

Sadly, the majority of U.S. airlines do NOT have personnel trained to handle or care about pets.  I used Lufthansa (as highly recommended) overseas. When we arrived at the ticket counter, the agent showed me where to take my pets and explained about the plane's holding area and the pet hotel at our stopover where personnel cleaned the crate and hydrated pets before departing for the US. My pets arrived safely, hydrated and unstressed on a 15-hour international flight. KLM is also highly recommended. Unfortunately, these two airlines don't fly between the destinations we are discussing here. What about COPA? Any positive experiences to share?
Best wishes.
PS

We flew from Montreal to Guayaquil on COPA with our 8-year chocolate Labrador.  I have nothing to complain about COPA.  During transit in Panama, there's a special crew that handles pet and we were able to witness them bringing our dog between both planes.  We were very happy to witness that our dog was well handled.

The only downside of COPA when traveling with a large dog, is that they don't accept dog as excess luggage.  You need to send your dog by cargo.  Because of that, we had to drop her 3 hours before our flight at the cargo area in Montreal... and retrieving her in Guayaquil was one of the most painful experience of my life!!

The issue is you can't use a company to take care of that stuff.  The owner needs to go through all customs stuff by himself.  I'm sure you can hire someone to help you out on site, and I would recommend you do so if you find someone knowledgeable of the process.

Here are the steps I did:

1- Upon arrival, go to cargo company to get the original waybill and the dog official papers (this is out of the airport terminal, good luck to find it if your not with someone who know where it is... and if you don't speak Spanish).  I had to pay about $35 for that which was cheaper than what I was told before.  The employee told us that the next step was to go to custom to retrieve our dog... not so easy!

2- You need to go back to the airport terminal with official dog paperwork.  In the domestic arrival terminal, you will find the office of Agricalidad.  The agriculture agent needs to look at all papers, certificates, vaccination record, etc.  I think it costed $20.  Once you have that, the guy told me to go to customs.

3- At custom's gate (where you can enter the tarmac), they won't let us go in.  A friend speaking Spanish explained the guy over the phone that we were coming to pick up a dog.  They told us to go to customs office... There, someone had called previously to tell we were coming (because we tried that place two times before and didn't let us in).  After going through stairs up and down, I ended in the huge custom warehouse!!!  My dog was there in her kennel in the middle of nowhere, near the docks.  They took my passports, all the paperwork, etc.  It costed $11... and they told me to go back to the airport terminal where my dog would be delivered.

4- After another drive around the airport, I went at the door where people usually enter the terminal after customs and an agent brought me back inside the place where you usually retrieve your luggage.  After 5-10 minutes of waiting, the customs agents arrived with the kennel and let me go!!

This whole process took over 3 hours from the time we got out of the terminal (so doesn't account for the hour we waiting at immigration).

Our dog traveled over 50,000 km by plane in her life, so it wasn't her first flight experience.  That said, it was, by far, the worst, just because of all that mess on arrival.  She will end her life here in Ecuador, for sure!

Because of all these issues, I think it's much easier to travel with a company that will accept your dog as excess luggage.

Best of luck!

This is great information. My family of 7 (5 kids) will be travelling with our 2 chow chow dogs in February 2016 . This is a great deal to keep in mind. However, I am coming from the Bahamas where everything is a challenge. I am sure this too will be a challenge but we are mentally prepared for that, as we are for adapting to the change that will come in moving to Ecuador. Thanks for all the great info.

Please know that there are a lot of 3rd party scammers who give you unfulfilled promises. The website to check on scammers is this: www.expresspets.com. Jerry Mischler is the expert here who can tell you, based on his international experiences, which airlines, crate requirements, etc. Cargo status is very expensive. Extra baggage is cheap. However, the U.S. is well-known for the cargo status oer TSA regsm  and unfortunately, most of their airline personnel are NOT experienced in pet handling. So, if you can't take your pet under your seat or as "excess baggage" in the holding area,. you are at the mercy of the airline.   
PS

Moving internationally, I once tried to make flight arrangements for our dog, a great Pyrenees.

The airline said she'd need a travel carrier of a size large enough for her to turn around. So that would be an extra extra extra large shipping kennel, and they can easily cost many hundreds of dollars.

Then because the required kennel size was so big the cost of cargo for such a container was more than a flight ticket for the trip. So I asked them if I could just buy the dog a seat on the plane instead as it would be easier and cheaper. The answer to that was a resounding 'no'.

So the dog didn't go. I did not have the thousands of dollars to pay to ship her. But she was a beautiful and good dog, I was able to find her a home.

I have flown with cats because they are allowed in the passenger cabin if the cat container is of certain maximum dimension to fit under the plane seat. But that's a big hassle too as every airline has it's own standard of allowed size for an underseat pet carrier which varies greatly from airline to airline. We came within minutes of missing a flight out of Beijing after spending 4 hours arguing with airline agents when they determined our pet carrier was 2 inches over the allowed height for a cat carrier. (no matter that the plane ended up being half empty anyway and the cat could have had an entire row of seats to himself, bureaucrats gotta bureaucrat)

There are more dogs than people in Ecuador. There are a lot of strays running around loose in the streets and entering open area restaurants to beg for food.  One cannot get away from the constant barking, doggie-doodoo left on the side-walk and the odd dog-fight of the strays. This is  e v e r y w h e r e.  I have a neighbour lady, who has 7 dogs, 2 great big huge German Shepherd dogs on her roof-top, and she does not clean anything. The dogs bark incessantly 24/7 and I finally got somebody to go and have a look. Nothing was done about it. Can't afford to move, Canadian dollar worth half of the US currency here. I like this country, but some of the people just don't care about anything. Complaining is scoffed at. My only other recourse is the Animal Rescue Service. The woman is mentally ill, and if those poor dogs are walking knee-deep in their on poop, somebody might want to help them. I really like this city, though. It is at 8,000 ft. elevation, in the Andes mountains of Ecuador, surrounded by volcanoes, and close to Quito. The weather is always Spring-time, year round, with warm days and cool nights. I like this place called Ambato.  Kind regards, Amber

Amber, this is a developing country and people have other priorities than taking care of their pets.

It's sad, but it's the reality of Ecuador and you will find similar in other South American countries, in Africa or Asia.

That said, the situation is not the same all over the country.  I barely saw one street dog in Cuenca's centro historico.  Here in Bahia, there are many, but I've seen a lot worse.

My daughter is feeding some of them daily and would like to raise money to do more (sprayed or neutered, medications, prepare them for adoption) but that's a hobby for the wealthy people.  Locals are still throwing their rubbish in the street, some kids don't go to school,... so you can't expect them to properly take care of their pets!

Thanks for your reply. I have been in Ecuador for 2 years, and like most of it so far. I am retired and I was able to teach English and German part-time. Enjoyed it a lot. Ambato is actually one of the cleanest, larger cities, I have seen so far in Ecuador. I am sure Cuenca is even cleaner, with 8,000 Americans living there, it is most likely "little America".  I feel sorry for the stray dogs, too. My neighbour-lady, however, is very well to do. She and her family lived in Australia for 20 years and are reaping the benefits of that now. I was able to communicate with her estranged husband in English, and found out, that she is mentally not altogether well, and, therefore, thinks having seven dogs is just perfectly fine. Meanwhile, she leaves some of them on the roof of her own apartment bldg. and does not seem to want to clean the mess they are making.  I know, it is like this in many other countries. I have lived in 5 different countries during my long life. I knew, what to expect. Came for a visit first, before moving here. Ecuador is a lovely country and I like the mountains a lot. Perhaps the next generation will be able to clean it up some and get rid of the pollution from Buses and Trucks. One can only hope. Meanwhile, I am able to communicate in Spanglish and I have a wonderful Native mountain dude living with me. Adios, Amber

When I was young, I remember seeing people throwing a bag of McDo of KFC out of the window while driving in Canada.

That was 30-40 years ago... But this is where they stand here!

When I see someone doing that, I pick up the bag, run after them and tell them they accidentally dropped their bag before putting it in a proper bin in front of them. 

Same with our dog.  I always bring two bags with me when walking her and if I see a local who doesn't pick up his dog poop, I hand him a bag with a smile saying (oh you forgot to bring a poop bag, here's one!).

It's just an habit to create. They will get there... True that if someone wants to adopt a dog here, the choice is pretty unlimited, and some of these dogs are amazing!

thanks for reply. that is one way to educate people. I noticed, that at the school, where I was part-time teaching, the kids were taught to use the bins for their garbage, and the school yard was very clean. I have also seen small kids putting garbage in bins. So it is a positive start. My land-lady, who is letting me rent a small two-bedroom home in her backyard, has 3 Poodles, and she takes good care of them. They are a lively bunch. There are also 2 cats, lots of guinea pigs in cages, a bunny and chickens. One would think, we live in the country, but this is actually a rather nice suburb of Ambato in the north-end.  It is above the city, and the view into the valley is spectacular.  It took a little time to get used to the 8,000 ft. elevation, but I am used to it now, after 6 mos. here. It took me about a month to get used to the rather hyper 3 Poodles, but we are fine now. I am not scared of the strays, but when I saw a stray Pit-bull, I did get a tad anxious for a moment. I was attacked by German Shepherds in Canada, bitten in the neck and quite hurt a few years back, so I developed some paranoia, when it comes to big dogs. You can imagine, that it took me a while, to get used to more dogs than people in this country.  But I am making progress with that, as well as the language, which is no easy feat at my slightly advanced age. Kind regards, Amber