Relocating overseas with a dog.

[FernArable]

Has anyone ever done this? We're moving to the US and will be taking our Border Collie with us. I've done the initial research into prices etc but does anyone have any practical hints and tips. It will be a long flight so all needs should be met by the travel company. But how do dogs cope with this? Is there anything I can do before or after to help her settle?
I'm panicking about the stress it will put on her but couldn't possibly re-home her she's my baby!

Has anyone ever done this?

Twice! DH and I went from the UK to Canada then back to the UK a year later with two dogs in tow.

Both the dogs coped admirably, in fact DDog1 (who we'd been most concerned about due to his issues relating to spending his formative years locked in a kennel at a "rescue") sauntered into the new house and settled down on the sofa as if he'd lived there his whole life. DDog2 was a bit more stressed by the whole thing (but then she's very neurotic anyway) but she was fine after a few days.

We used a door to door service which was brilliant. It used a fair chunk of our relocation budget but it was definitely worth it. It meant we could get the house organised and could just carry on as normal when the dogs arrived which I think really helped them settle in.

Bringing them back to the UK was a bit fraught. DDog1's heart murmur had deteriorated so I got a phone call from the Canadian transporters needing my permission to fly him in case he keeled over en route (he didn't!!). Then that volcano erupted and they were on one of the very last planes into Heathrow before everything was shut down. The transport company was amazing though, they kept me up to date with what was happening and I also got regular updates from the driver who was bringing them from Heathrow up to Yorkshire.

I'd definitely do it again (prohibitive expense aside given we now have four dogs) in the unlikely event we decided to relocate abroad.

Thanks! I'm glad to hear neurotic dog got through it, ours could be described in the same way. We'll definitely be going for the door to door service it sounds worth it for her comfort, DH is over there already so house should be set up already.
Coming back for yours sounds so stressful, this should be a permanent move for us so hopefully she only needs to do it once!

Yeah, backwards and forwards twice to Canada. First time with a Kleine Munsterlander (neurotic in the extreme, and she had to go from Germny via LHR) - she was fine, just quiet for a few days. On the way back, the Canadians had muffed up her passport docs, and so she had to be quarantined at LHR overnight. It was touch and go whether they put her in clink for 6 months as we were missing a stamp somewhere. In the end the vet managed to confirm everything was fine.

Second time we shipped two Labs (too big to go in together so we had to ship two containers). Black dog is extremely high maintenance and essentially whined and yowled for the entire 9 hours(they could hear him on the ac), then peed for about twenty minutes when we let him out. No ill effects. Brown dog completely fine.

It costs an absolute fortune, obv, but tbh it's so commonplace these days that the handlers know exactly what to do in every eventuality.

Thank you both! I read an article with some real pet travel horror stories in it and upset myself a bit. Good to hear some more positive experiences!