Written by Jay Tuttle, Burley Marketing Team
“A lot of the other travelers we meet, backpackers, or other foreigners, they have pets at home too and they miss them, so there’s an emotional attachment when they meet Sora. They get a chance to pet her, give her some treats, and watch her do her tricks. It really benefits everyone. I think from a social standpoint she is pretty awesome at meeting people.” – Dave“Well, you know her Spanish isn’t very good. So it’s a challenge sometimes.”
“She’s been on bikes, ferries, planes, trains, subways, buses, taxis, and boats. We just need to get her on a balloon ride now! She’s been on pretty much every mode of transportation you can think of.” – Jen & Dave
Traveling with a dog internationally on all these different modes of transportation can certainly have its legal hurdles. The Long Haul Trekkers have been at it for a couple years now, so they have some helpful hints. A simple Google search has been one of their best resources. They warned that some info may be outdated and always recommend checking the official government webpages where “there’s almost always a version that’s in English”. There does seem to be a misconception that traveling with a pet always requires a quarantine time period. LHT clarified that this is mostly required for island nations such as Japan, Australia, New Zealand, or Hawaii. Vaccinations, current rabies shots, and health certificates from a veterinarian and the government’s dept. of agriculture are usually all that’s required for international travel.
“She is a registered ESA as an emotional support animal for our flights, so she was able to sit with us. I was quite nervous about it. She started whining about half way through the flight and crying and I started freaking out. What ended up happening was the floor was really hot because we were near one of the engines. So, we put her bed down over where the hot spot was and that was it, she went to sleep.” – Dave
They are quite the team and always look out for each other. When we asked how Sora gets along with other dogs Dave jokingly said, “Well, you know her Spanish isn’t very good. So it’s a challenge sometimes.” Sora, Dave, and Jen, have been through a lot together and they’ve seen Sora’s personality change to be more accepting and eager to meet others. It seems as though Sora has grown just as humans do when we get out, explore the world, meet new people, and have new experiences.
“We just stayed in a hostel campground area and that had a 6 month old Lab puppy. This puppy had endless energy and loved Sora. They would play all day long and it just made us so happy to see Sora play with this little puppy having the greatest time. She would get annoyed and ended up teaching Safira, the puppy, when she was done and didn’t want to play anymore. Safira didn’t always listen, but it was fun to see that exchange of Sora teaching this dog how to be a dog.” – Jen
Sora is 12 now and she’s still learning new tricks. These tricks sometimes come in handy if they ever come across lodging that’s unsure about taking in this pup. A quick rollover, high 5, circles, and a shake will usually get them in with the group, and Sora is the VIP. Oh the life of a dog on the road. Hopefully Sora works out the Spanish soon.
You can follow the Long Haul Trekkers on their Blog at http://longhaultrekkers.com/ or Instagram @longhaultrekkers
