Dogtainers Reviews 

I was assisted by Ethan Leppala. Absolutely flawless service! So friendly and nice, so helpful and efficient. Such a pleasure to deal with.

Colin Presland

A Warning to Pet Bird Owners – Please Don't Give Up on Your Feathered Family Members! 🦜

I have never written a negative review before, but I feel compelled to share my experience to protect other bird owners from going through what I did.

This review relates specifically to my experience relocating pet birds internationally, not cats or dogs.

My experience with this company was an absolute nightmare. What should have been a carefully managed relocation became one of the most stressful and emotionally exhausting experiences of my life.

The company was very quick to provide an expensive quote and emphasise how difficult relocating birds would be. Unfortunately, when it came to providing actual support, I was deeply disappointed.

They could not organise quarantine or the essential veterinary checks, some of the hardest parts of relocating birds internationally! When I explained how difficult it was to find a vet who could approve home quarantine and complete the required examinations, the person assisting me seemed surprised.

If you offer specialist bird relocation services, shouldn't you be able to help with the most complicated parts of the process?

Initially, I was dealing with a pleasant and responsive gentleman, Callum. However, when he went on parental leave, he introduced me to a colleague who was supposed to take over my case.

I never heard from her. Not once. Her name was Bibi.

Despite numerous emails and phone calls, nobody followed up. I was repeatedly promised a callback that never happened.

Even worse, I had been instructed to send my original wildlife trade export permit to their Sydney office. When I needed a scanned copy to obtain the import permit, I couldn't get anyone to respond. I eventually had to go to their office in person to retrieve my own document!

After almost TWO MONTHS OF COMPLETE SILENCE, the original employee emailed, apologised for staffing issues and asked whether I still wanted to proceed. By then, I had been left desperately searching for another solution.

I was emotionally exhausted, anxious and terrified that I might not be able to bring my beloved birds with me.

In my opinion, it is deeply irresponsible and concerning to offer an expensive specialist service while leaving owners to organise the most difficult and critical parts themselves.Birds are living, sensitive creatures, not cargo, and their welfare, along with the mental wellbeing of their owners, deserves far greater care and responsibility.

BUT PLEASE, BIRD OWNERS, DON'T GIVE UP! ❤️

Thankfully, after contacting numerous companies, I found Gemma from Pet Carriers International, and everything changed!

Gemma was absolutely incredible. She organised quarantine at their facility, allowed me to visit and prepare my birds' cages, provided daily photos and updates, handled the paperwork, arranged airport transportation and connected me with a wonderful agent at our destination.

She answered every email and message, even on weekends!

The entire process became smooth, organised and reassuring. And today, my feathered babies and I are safely reunited in Europe! Forever grateful to Gemma ❤️

This proved to me that relocating pet birds does NOT have to be the nightmare I was initially led to believe.

My Final Message

To this company: Please reconsider offering bird relocation services unless you can genuinely provide the specialist support required. If you are excellent at relocating cats and dogs, focus on that. In my experience, the lack of support, communication and responsibility shown towards my birds' relocation was unacceptable. These are beloved family members, and their lives and wellbeing should never be treated lightly.

To fellow bird owners: PLEASE don't give up on your birds! There are knowledgeable, responsible and compassionate companies that can guide you through the entire process.

I am sharing this not out of spite, but because I never want another bird owner to experience the desperation, anxiety and helplessness I felt.

If this review helps even one person bring their precious feathered family members safely home, it will have been worth writing.

Our birds are family. They deserve better. ❤️🦜

The attention to detail was appalling. After submitting the initial paperwork, our 'consultant' Taylor, sent us paperwork identifying our 3 cats as dogs (VERY different needs for export)
After a phone call it was obvious she had no idea what the difference was. After phone calls and correspondence with her supervisor we realised our pets well being was not important.
We quickly moved to JETPETS. We 100% recommend JETPETS

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Couldn’t recommend the team highly enough! They handled the Australian side of Jasper’s journey from the UK to Sydney and made what could have been a very stressful process incredibly easy.

They were so professional, responsive and kind throughout, keeping me updated and making sure everything was organised for his arrival. After months of organising an international move, it was such a relief knowing Jasper was in safe hands.

Thank you so much for taking such good care of my boy! 10/10 would recommend. ❤️

Fantastic service from Dogtainers, and Ethan in particular. He made the entire process easy for us and handled significant changes to our request without any fuss at all. A pleasure to deal with!

"Huge shoutout to Laura and the Dogtainers team! Laura handled our cat Gryffin's pickup in Melbourne (he came all the way from Bavaria) delivered him safely to the quarantine station, and organized his next flight perfectly. She was always reachable, quick to answer and incredibly reliable. She made a stressful international move so much easier for us. Gryffin arrived completely healthy and is so happy to be reunited with my daughter. Highly recommend Laura and Dogtainers for pet transport.
Thank you so much and all the best for you all.

Ethan at Dogtainers was an absolute lifesaver. I was stressed trying to sort crates for our dogs before a cross-country move, couldn't find any locally, and ordering them in would've meant they arrived after our flight. Time was running out and the costs were looking huge.

Then I called Dogtainers and got Ethan. His calm, cheerful voice was reassuring and he sourced the crates, managed to halve the cost and even got our dogs booked on the exact same flight as the rest of our family so they wouldn't be left alone any longer than necessary. It took a massive weight off my shoulders at an overwhelming time.

Can't recommend him and the team highly enough. Thank you, Ethan!

Do not use this company for international imports or exports, they do not know any of the regulations - they claim that sudden changes in EU regulations have disrupted services despite them being announced for months - the people working here are not pet travel experts, they are glorified customer service specialists (and poor ones at that). They would take up to 2 weeks to respond to emails and even sent the crate out for delivery with an ETA of after our flight was meant to leave. Incredible incompetence throughout the entire process. The worst thing happened at the end when they lost my dogs paperwork during transit. If EU customs were not sympathetic to our case - he would have been euthanised or sent back to Australia. They have no accountability and just shift the blame despite email records, phone records, EU regulation updates on policies etc.

I entrusted Dogtainers Australia with the international relocation of my beloved dog from France to Australia, believing I was hiring specialists in the safe transport of live animals. Instead, my dog never made it to Australia. He died during the journey.

Before the flight, my wife and I specifically raised concerns about the extreme heat forecast in Paris and asked whether the transport should be postponed. We were reassured that the situation was under control and that there was no reason to worry.

On the day of departure, the aircraft reportedly experienced a significant technical delay after boarding. From what I have been able to establish, my dog remained in the transport chain for many hours before the flight eventually departed.

Our dog died before reaching Australia.

Since then, we have repeatedly asked for a full and transparent explanation, including the records needed to understand exactly what happened. Many important questions remain unanswered.

Almost one month after his death, we still do not have a complete explanation of the conditions in which he was kept, the monitoring he received, or the decisions made after the delay. No necropsy report, not even recovered ashes following his incineration.

Losing a pet is devastating. Losing one while it is in the care of professionals you trusted is heartbreaking.

I am currently pursuing the appropriate legal and regulatory channels to establish the facts and determine responsibilities. My purpose in writing this review is to share my experience with other pet owners so they can make an informed decision.

Based on my experience, I strongly recommend to avoid by all means Dogtainers.

We had an excellent experience with Dogtainers from start to finish, relocating our dog, Lola, from the UK to Melbourne and then on to Perth following her 10-day stay in quarantine.

A huge thank you to Laura, who went above and beyond to ensure Lola arrived safely. She even helped me find a last-minute vet to complete the required checks before Lola’s onward journey to Perth, taking so much stress out of an already emotional process.

We couldn’t be more grateful and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Dogtainers to anyone relocating their pet. Thank you for helping bring our girl home safely!

It was the first time i had shipped a dog interstate so i sent heaps of emails and made lots of calls and Ping my consultant was so so patient and kind

My experience was extremely frustrating. After the process started, the company simply stopped responding to my emails, leaving important questions unanswered. In a service as sensitive as international pet transport, communication is essential...and here it was completely absent. I do not recommend.

Very disappointing experience with Dogtainers. The costs kept increasing throughout the process, with extra charges constantly being added that were not clearly communicated upfront. On top of that, important forms were not completed on time, which caused major delays. Because of their mistakes, our dog had to stay at PEQ Melbourne for 4 weeks instead of the expected 10 days to 2 weeks.

This caused unnecessary stress for both us and our dog. We trusted them to handle everything professionally, but the whole process felt disorganized, poorly managed, and extremely frustrating. I would not recommend using them.

Great communication through the entire process of supporting my cat’s move from England to Australia, and then after quarantine in Melbourne up to Sydney. I spoke with Laura in the lead up and whilst Tallulah was in quarantine and she was great! Then Kyle got in touch for the domestic leg and he was really reassuring about how Tallulah was coping.

Would recommend Dogtainers most highly!

Ethan from Dogtainers was incredibly helpful, flexible and responsive at organising the transport of our pup! He made the process incredibly smooth and straight forward. Would happily use them again.
Cheers Ethan!

We moved out 5 year old cat Spooky from Brisbane to London. The experience was smooth and our fur baby made it over safely. He’s happily enjoying his new exciting view at his new home. Thank you Lisa!

Dogtainers made the Australian Quarantine process and internal flight from Melbourne to Brisbane so easy for our 2 dogs that returned from the UK.

Excellent communication every step of the way.
Professional staff, who obviously enjoy working with animals.

Excellent and professional, takes the stress out of moving with your loved furball

PetsAbroadUK and the Dogtainers team were excellent in helping us to get our little King Charles Cavalier Spaniel from UK to Australia. Laura from the Dogtainers team was always very professional and helpful in responding to our queries. Thank you!