Dogtainers Reviews 

We recently used Dogtainers to transport our puppy from Canberra to Melbourne, and the experience was fantastic. From the start, Laena-Leigh was a pleasure to work with-she was friendly, informative, and gave us complete confidence in Dogtainers' ability to handle the transport of our little one. Thanks to their efficient and smooth process, we were able to book the transport on Monday, and our puppy arrived safely on Tuesday without any issues.

Communication was clear and consistent throughout the entire process, and their pricing is very reasonable. We highly recommend Dogtainers and especially appreciate Laena-Leigh’s exceptional service. She truly went above and beyond to ensure everything was in place for our puppy’s safe arrival. She’s a real asset to the company, and we’re grateful for her dedication and support.

Dogtainers made our pet transport to another state seamless. Even helpful when I didn’t understand elements of the move.

Wonderful quick and efficient service and the price was great. Thank you for your care xx

Clear communication & prompt with replies.

Dogtainers is an excellent pet transport service, we have used them twice now to fly our 8 week old puppies from a small breeder in Perth across to Melbourne (big flight and big day for little puppers 🥺) but they are well taken care of and it shows in their boundless enthusiasm and high spirits when they finally arrive at our home, safe & sound, not traumatised and dry 😜

Very friendly team, competitive pricing and smooth process each time.🙏🏼 Definitely recommend checking them out before you look elsewhere 🥰🐶🛫

Shelby travels 3x per year and it’s always and easy and efficient process to do

A very impressive company. Customer service is first class. Could t have been more helpful when booking and then making changes.
Highly recommend!

It has good reviews. But dont use it. Its double the price and your pets will have a bad Time. Better Find another one. On GOD

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY if you care about your dog.

Avoid Dogtainers! I used them to relocate my dog from Europe to Australia which turned out to be the biggest mistake of my life. My dog was about to get deported from Australia because Dogtainers failed to do their one job. They didn't check our paperwork properly (although they had confirmed everything was ok) and when my dog arrived in quarantine, biosecurity was not happy with our pre-export tests. This resulted in many issues as they had to re-test my dog in quarantine and it was a miracle I could get my dog back after 51 days. Dogtainers agents are so inexperienced and careless. They just grab the money and don't care at all if anything goes wrong. They charged me 13000 and I still had to go through a horrible time. Avoid Dogtainers if you love your pet.

Dealt with a staff member She advised me quote
“ They have informed me that as Pallas is a Pocket Bully we recommend that you contact the Department of Home Affairs in Australia to apply for a pre-approval (in writing on letterhead) for Pallas to enter Australia. We would very much recommend doing this specific pre-approval first before committing to the booking, because if it arrives into Australia and they decide Pallas is possibly pure Pit Bull they will most likely euthanise her because you cannot send that breed of dog back into New Zealand either”

As you can imagine as an owner hearing the word euthanise will make ANY owner terrified, I went back advising she’s an American bully NOT a pitbull. After going back and fourth with the company they still wanted a letter from the argiculture team who I spoke with them 4 times and they even advised YOU DO NOT NEED A LETTER AS SHE IS AN AMERICAN BULLY AND BULLIES ARE NOT BANNED. once again advised dog tainer the staff and she still wanted the letter… eventually down the track the import team of Australia wrote me a letter as proof advising Pallas is approved to come to Australia as her breed is not banned here once again…

Upon this the next day I called in and the same staff now advises me my dog “may need a breathing test” to see if she will me fine for the flight, after getting frustrated and no apology or no acknowledgment about them completely mucking me around advising me to get this letter head that was NOT NEEDED TO BEGIN WITH. She now advises a breathing test. After getting annoyed and her tone of attitude on the phone saying to me “well what do you want me to say”was uncalled her.

Once she gave me attitude on the phone as any person would I gave her attitude right back.
(Keep in mind I have been polite for the past 2 days even after hearing my dog may be “euthanasie” she then went on to tell me her manager will contact me.

2 hours later I get a pathetic email, no acknowledgment or nothing no solution from the operation manager alan

“Going forward, we will not be able to assist you with your dog’s relocation to Australia and we will not engage in any further communications with yourself. I have reviewed this case and conclude that our team from both NZ and AUS have provided courteous, informative information to assist you any way we can. Your attitude towards members of my team is far from acceptable and I do not condone this sort of appalling and disrespectful behaviour”.

Seems like they couldn’t own up to the mistake they made, and all calls are recorded I believe they should have listen to the phone call and listen to how terrible her attitude was on top of that also seems like they couldn’t be bothered and because they have made me run around for no reason they couldn’t admit or apologise.

Long story short, I ended up calling another company Auckland airport pets same day and they got my dog on the same flight 4 days after. Just goes to show once again AMERICAN BULLY aren’t banned.

Would not recommend dog tainers.
Either I was just unlucky and had an agent who had no experience and did not know her breed, or they were just rude and useless including the operation with his no acknowledgment email.

I cannot thank Jess from Dogtainers enough for helping us bring Olaf from The Netherlands to Australia. This was a stressful process but Jess answered all of our questions and helped us every step of the way. Everything with Olaf went as planned and we were kept up to date with his journey. I highly recommend Dogtainers!!!

Courtlynd Marks
- Pet Travel Consultant - Export Brisbane,

Thank you for all the assistance in getting our 2 dogs and 6 cats back to South Africa. You were / are an absolute star. We really appreciate all you did to assist us from arranging vet visits for bloods for the dogs, to arranging boarding for a week at Dogtainers Sydney prior to their flight, and all the paperwork and flight bookings. You made the process so much easier and stress free. Your ongoing communication was outstanding and you really went the extra mile in all you did. We are extremely grateful that we had you to assist us through the process. We would highly recommend Courtlynd at Dogtainers - Brisbane for any International Travel requirements you may have for your pets.

Janice and Family

We used Dogtainers 15 years ago to bring our sausage dog Oscar from Canada to Australia and now years later they helped us bring Vito and Pippin from Australia to Canada. We knew they would be in safe hands and getting updates along the way was so nice. Kym was wonderful to deal with and we would highly recommend Dogtainers whether you need help with interstate or international travel.

Used this company to transport my two cats from Hobart to Cairns. Pets arrived the next day covered in their own faeces and dripping wet. They were starving. They were handed to me by airline staff. Dogtainers have refused to communicate with me and have blocked me.

I booked Dogtainers to transport my cat and dog from New Zealand to the Middle East. During the enquiry process, Dogtainers appeared well organised, professional and responsive, so while their quote was higher than others, I went ahead as I believed my pets would be in safe hands.

Once I submitted my booking request (10 weeks from my requested travel date), it went downhill. To start, the booking form said deposits paid by credit card would be processed in the next 3 working days and their office would call to do this. After a week with no contact, I followed up with an email, played some phone tag, and after 11 days was able to pay the deposit. After this, aside from an email to confirm my request and state their NZ team would be in touch re the next steps, in the 5 weeks following, no communication was initiated by Dogtainers. I emailed after a few weeks to check in but didn’t get a response so I followed up with a phone call (where we discussed flight options, that Dogtainers would submit booking requests for the flights discussed, and they’d update me soon). At this stage, I believed all was under control in the background but Dogtainers wasn’t great at communication.

Just over a month out from our travel date, I was worried as Dogtainers hadn’t come back to me to confirm the flights discussed or if any changes needed to be made, and I needed to know for the import agent. There was no response to my email asking for an update so I followed up with a phone call 2 days later, where the team member seemed disorganised and disinterested. He couldn’t recall what stage the booking was at, then said he hadn’t heard back from the booking agent but that he would follow up, but when I asked when I could expect an update, he wasn’t sure. At this stage, alarm bells went off so I called another transporter to come up with a plan B.

The second transporter was surprised that Dogtainers hadn’t told me that the airline wasn’t flying pets from NZ after mid November and we needed to either get them out before the final flight (in the next 2 weeks!) or do a double export through Australia (which would incur a significant additional cost). I confirmed this with the airline directly, who told me that pet transporters had been advised of this some months before.

At this point, I realised Dogtainers had dropped the ball and I was worried that if Dogtainers had dropped the ball on something this major, changes to one of the biggest airlines in the world, changes that directly affected Dogtainers’ NZ business (an airline that Dogtainers lists as a partner on their website), how could I trust Dogtainers to safely transport my pets? I lost all confidence in Dogtainers.

When I called Dogtainers’ head office in Australia to cancel my booking and explain why, their international transport manager also wasn’t aware of the airline’s policy change, nor was he apologetic that his team had dropped the ball. He also didn’t seem interested in resolving the issue or learning about the experience to ensure this didn’t happen again. And while Dogtainers agreed to refund my deposit, it took 7 weeks (and me following up several times) for the refund to be received.

Dogtainers’ website states they: are “pet travel specialists”, “take the stress out of international pet travel”, and “can manage the logistics of world pet travel for Any Animal, Anywhere, Anytime”. Sadly, my experience demonstrated this isn’t true; Dogtainers didn’t action or follow up on my booking in a timely manner, they neglected to keep up to date with airline policy, their communication was awful, they lacked empathy and awareness that their business is transporting pets who are much loved family members (not a piece of luggage), and ultimately, they didn’t do their job and caused significant stress during an already stressful time.

Fortunately, the second transporter was able to save the day. Within 4 days of my initial call, the second transporter had my pets booked on a flight, and just 2 weeks later, they flew my pets out of NZ on one of the airline’s last pet allowed flights.

I understand an international move with pets will be stressful but using a pet transporter should reduce the stress, not increase it. I do not recommend Dogtainers.

Under quoted by a large amount because of an error with their website. Would not budge on the price to fly my dog from Alice Springs to Brisbane with me. Took my $1500 but there was no booking for my dog when l went to the freight drop off. No one from Dogtainers showed up or contacted me so l had to cancel my flight. Scrambled to re-book and fix the situation.
The next day Nina worked hard to get my dog and l to Brisbane at roughly the same time, no small feat in December at short notice. Her effort was appreciated and we all lived happily ever after. Could have done without the stress though

Huge big shout-out to everyone at Dogtainers (Perth and Sydney)!!!! They moved my dog and semi-blind indoor kitty-cat from Sydney to Perth.
Every step of the way, from my first call for a quote, the many follow-up questions I had, to the 4:00am collection in Sydney to when I picked them up at 4pm in Perth -- all the staff was amazing.
The pricing was extremely competitive, the communication and support superb, and the care taken of my furry 4-leggeds was genuinely loving.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I requested a quote, then had to chase as I got no response! And that being their biggest problem - They Do Not respond ESP if you have concerns AFTER you have paid and received the service.
Firstly I was sent attached photo of Stella who looks petrified yet message I got "Stella is so happy and getting spoilt" I was totally distressed when I got the photo
This is not Stella's first international move so we thought we knew what to expect! Nah!
Stella arrived SOAKING WET, and her mattress was completely drenched Stella was freezing cold and shivering! I asked why as that much water could not have come from a water bowl - I got NO RESPONSE.
Stella's face and mattress were orange from vomit - DT said "probably airsick" - Ok fair enough. When I took Stella out the crate at the warehouse she wee'd and poo'd right where she stood as at least 17 hours had passed and she was not given a toilet break or water READ THE FINE PRINT - "Airline staff are not allowed to move your pet out of the crate," So if you think they are given a toilet break after the flight - think again!
I took Stella out the crate and she skulled an entire 360ml bottles of water and vomited. She was so dehydrated as she had no water throughout her flight given how wet she and her mattress were. She drank 3 x 360ml bottle of water over a 3 hour period. BUT the fine print says "Airline staff cannot open the crate!" Stella's crate is Australian/IATA import std (We had to get this specific crate when we moved from SF to Syd as required by Australia) comes with an IATA approved food and water bowl. These were supplied but not on her crate on arrival. They used something else which might be why she was so drenched . There was also a massive crack through the top of her crate on arrival at LAX
Stella can only eat prescription food. I supplied x5 portioned bags. I was told extra food would be taped to the crate - there was no food taped to her crate BUT READ THE FINE PRINT "Please note: Customs prevents natural products from travelling i.e pet food, are all strictly prohibited on flights! So WHY tell me it would be taped to the crate if it is prohibited?
The soft cuddlies I put in Stella's crate (as suggested by our consultant) were not in the crate on arrival - BUT READ THE FINE PRINT "Some airlines have a strict ‘no toys allowed’ rule". Our consultant knew Stella was flying with Qantas so should have known if we could/could not include cuddlies.
We dropped Stella at DT for her vet check - My husband took her entire medical file incase they needed COPIES of any docs - DT asked to keep the file -- my husband said No. They insisted so my husband called me - I said NO as it has EVERYTHING. - import docs, rabies metal tags, certificates, her Spay certificate, all her vaccine certificates etc. DT insisted and ensured we would get the file taped to the crate - NO FILE ARRIVED with Stella. I was fuming! I called Madeline and she said she would investigate. I then got an email saying they taped it to the crate! All that was taped to the crate was the DT Waybill! I NEED THAT FILE! NO RESPONSE for 9 days till I called a manager BUT READ THE FINE PRINT - "Important documentation not required for transport should be mailed to the receiver and not attached to the travel container as separation of the documents makes it extremely difficult to trace." SO WHY WAS I ENSURED I'D GET IT TAPED TO THE CRATE BY YOUR STAFF? DT staff should familiarise themselves with the fine print
DT sent me a Qantas doc - attached (point 3) saying I have to pay a USD$120 customs fee - No Problem. THE PROBLEM IS it is USD$140 (min charge & goes up based on weight & size - See Photo). This is what DT do yet they don't know what the fees are! I had to find this out when I get to customs with not enough money in hand!
I emailed consultant & Head Office 2/5 as per previous reviews to try resolve this 1st (& get my file) NO RESPONSE. I rang 11/5 - BB? is going to look into this...
UPDATE -7/6 NO CALL from BB? as promised & NO FILE! You guys are the worst!

Well.Booked from Hobart to Melbourne my chihuahua to be picked up and delivered,very straight forward I thought.I was wrong.2 elderly friends were waiting with poppy to be picked up but a no show.then all of a sudden dogtainers were there and thought he had to be picked up from airport not my friends address,they were in tears letting him go as they didn't know nor trust where he would end up but after reassuring them they let him take poppy.All the time dogtainers never called about what was going on.so he missed the quantas flight held in a container the size of a Guinea pig size only room for him to lay down.so the elderly friends called and I was panicked as no one called me from dogtainers.he arrived at my address in Melbourne in the Guinea pig crate saturated in urine,he was passed to me with a blanket and a mat from the cage soaked in urine with the urine running down my clothes.no apologies for any of it.i emailed head office,nothing,emailed a few times the person who booked everything,nothing,no apologies no explanation nothing.not a service for $650.00.to this day ive heard nothing from dogtainers at all.To top it off my dog was thoroughly checked by my vet two days before and he was fine day after he got to me he had contracted kennel cough and severely dehydrated
so a vet bill dumped on me also.these people are money hungry parasites who DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE ANIMALS it was the first time I used them and it will be the last so for the money and service they dont care like they say,so once there paid thats it no more service.