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Our Move experience thus far (Dog Owners)

12 years ago
My wife and I are in our thirties and just moved our lives to Costa Rica. We sold our condo, cars and many possessions over the last 18 months. We packed away some things to be shipped later by a friend back home, put what we could not live without in 6 large bags (45-50 lbs ea) and brought our somewhat aggressive 43 lb dog in his crate. The dog was my biggest concern. He is a sweetheart with anyone he knows but is a scaredy-cat with a jaw that can cause damage if he choose to exercise his fears... which would be bad. In the end we decided that since he was crate trained, and since he feels safe and at home in that crate, then he should be fine. And we were right. We did pay for a broker and did not fly United. They wanted us to buy an all-metal crate (we had already purchased a new travel crate) per the breed, pay for a broker, and then pay for shipping. The cost exceeded the perceived emotional value. American Airlines was awesome. The handlers assured us that they do not mess with any dog, assuming it may be unpredictable. They just move them. We even flew a connection! LAX to MIA to SJO. In MIA we saw him being moved from one plane to the next. The flight attendants will tell you if he made it on as assurance if you want and AA let us give him a mild sedative (not a tranq). In SJO, he came through on carousel 4 and seemed just fine. He did however, destroy his pee-pads. I didn't expect him not to be afraid... I just wanted him to be safe.
So, here we are... we have made a stop in Heredia with some friends to finalize our submission for residence and then off to Guanacaste to explore and find a home.

Pura Vida Maes.

Damon

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