Dogtainers Reviews 

Absolutely appalling. The minimum is one star but I wouldn’t even have given them that. The whole process was traumatic caused by the incompetence of these people. I had a bad feeling when I rang up the first time as the people I spoke to were not familiar with Sydney or Adelaide and appeared really disinterested.
I received advice that my dog’s flight had been confirmed but it was downhill from there. First I was told I should drop her at the Sydney freight terminal, then I was told to take her to Dogtainers in Botany but no address was provided.
A day before my flight I had received no final confirmation or invoice so I rang the office and they had no record of my booking. It turns out that someone in their office had mistyped my email address. No apology. I finally told the person on the other end of the phone that I had not paid. She said, well I had better pay now, because the deadline was 2 hours away. At this point the system automatically cancels unpaid bookings.
The form I received was rather threatening in its tone - demanding microchip numbers etc. Qantas never did this.
I got to the Dogtainers office at the appointed time and no one was there. I rang Qantas and they rang Dogtainers. Finally after half an hour a woman turned up - don’t worry sweetheart (I do have a name). There were 3 of their vans parked in the street. Next a driver turned up with 2 unleashed Alsatians which leapt out of the van. I found this somewhat disconcerting....
A driver eventually put my dog into her crate in the van and that was the last I saw of her until I arrived at the freight terminal in adelaide and could hear her howling from the car park. Thankfully no one from Dogtainers was in attendance. She has done this trip directly through Qantas numerous times and has always been fine.
Never again will I entrust my dog to these clowns.

My 3 stars are for the first time I used this service back in June 2020. The ladies I spoke with were wonderful and made the booking really stress free and easy even after I was scammed though a breeder and had to cancel a flight/ car transfer.
This time around though, as they already have my money from the cancelled travel 6 months ago the staff are making my booking process a night mare and the lady iv been speaking with has no idea what’s going on and iv had my booking put out by a week which isn’t fair on our family or our new puppies family. I feel like they don’t care as they have my money already so the urgency to help my situation isn’t there.

This morning my daughter took her dog to Adelaide airport where nobody from Dogtainers was there to meet her. The only person on site was a forklift driver who did not have a crate but searched around for an old crate and found one used the previous week dirty and not of the required size. My daughter was not allowed to leave a soft toy as the forklift driver told her that item was not allowed contrary to the web site. I lodged a complaint with the company at 8am and I am still waiting for anybody to call me 4 hours later. Terrible service and awful experience to go to an airport and not be greeted by anybody and not even see the crate which my daughter paid for. Stay away from these people.

Having a supervisor scream down the line at me and then hung up makes me believe these guys should have nothing to do with the transportation of familys much loved pets.

Be careful these guys will take you money only to have your pet rejected at the airport and lose your money.

If you are looking for a company that really cares about its customers and pets you have come to the right place. I cannot even express how thankful I am to dogtainers and the team for how they handled my pup Snowy move from Sydney to Switzerland. But most importantly, special thanks to Biljana my pet travel representative, she is gold! A procedure that could have been very stressful turn out to be stress-free thanks to Biljana outstanding dedication and care, I am still impressed until now on how Biljana was able to book Snowy flight at the last minute within 72 hours.

Before booking with dogtainers I was having the worst experience with another pet travel company called Jetpet who I was having issues with Snowy flight for over 7 months. They did not have care for its customers or pets and they leave customers running after them, they are diorganized and even tried to overcharge me in many occasions. Long story short I was able to get a full refund and book with dogtainers. Best decision I ever made in regards to Snowy flight. All my stress that I had for over 7 months were gone in just 2 days, as Biljana was able to book Snowy flight that quick ! I think we all know how much our pets mean to us and ensuring their safety while travelling is our number one priority and dogtainers has shown me exactly that.

Biljana was so caring since the first time I contacted her about Snowy flight, she was fast to reply to all my emails and questions. She went above and beyond in organizing Snowy flight, she even called me after working hours to discuss Snowy flight and ensure that all necessary procedure for the relocation was looked after. Her dedication and care for its customers is oustanding, you can really feel how much she loves pets and ensuring that their relocation is as smooth and confortable as possible. From the start of Snowy trip until the end destination I was constantly updated on how he was doing. Although, I was stress with my own relocation as moving abroad is always stressful, Snowy reloation was stress free. This is because I was rested to know that Snowy was in safe hands and that made a huge difference on my entire relocation experience.

I could not thank Biljana enough for all the care and dedication she had towards organizing Snowy flight. Once again thank you so much Biljana and all dogtainer team who made Snowy relocation experience stress free. Snowy arrived happy, healthy and is now settling really well in his new home. If it was possible I would give a 10 star rating. I would higly recommend dogtainers to friends, family and anyone who is looking to relocate your pet abroad. You can be rest assured that you and your pet will be looked well after.

I would like to share our relocation story in 2020. We travelled from Sydney Australia to Frankfurt Germany in July 2020, just as international pet travel from Australia became possible again. I would like to share my gratitude for Dogtainers, but especially for Biljana Popandonova, who always supported our process that we initiated in April, when the whole world seemed to be in a standstill. She took ownership of the case as if it were her own dog. She was in charge of helping me even with the procedures on arrival in Germany, since here the laws are different for my dogs breed entering the destination country. But thanks to her experience and her knowledge everything worked out wonderfully. My dog had a very pleasant flight enjoyed his rest time in transit. Thanks to Dogtainers we are in Germany today together. Blitz has already adapted to his new home a little colder than Australia, and is very happy.

They Cancelled my dog's flight twice then charged me 10% to refund me.

I booked my dog to come down from Brisbane to Melbourne and the flight got cancelled twice over a 2 month period. Got offered to book again in a couple of months time and when I said no sorry not waiting other 2 months please refund me. Then they charged me 10% of the original fee that was paid.

I contacted dogtainers while still in the UK to initiate transport for my dog from quarantine to Perth. They have been excellent every step of the way. Polite, friendly, professional and quick response time even with the time difference. They made me feel relaxed in a stressful situation, and didn't rush for any information, just gave quotes and advice on what I had at the time.
We had our dog delivered to the house, and the lady was lovely and early which was great! Toby arrived well, and we wouldn't hesitate to use dogtainers again if we needed to in the future

I recently purchased my puppy from Auckland I was then needing to transport my little girl home to me. I contacted a number of transport companies but one stood out above the rest. Dogtainers in Auckland was a tiny bit more expensive than some of the others but the customer service was out of this world. I cant put into words just how organized the guys on both ends were. My little girl arrived happy and in very good shape considering Dogtainers had a 3 hour drive to collect her from the breeder then the flight then the transport to me which was only 30 mins. Thank you to Chris, Meagan etc.

Just a quick note from Ashley and I to thank each of you for all the time and effort (and love, cuddles, feeding etc) which you have all contributed to us, Diesel, Berry and Buzz over the past few months. It’s been one of the most, if not the most stressful parts of our move to New Zealand, and you have each contributed towards making it a stress free and painless as it could ever be.

The dogs however, are already loving life, and will hopefully get their first taste of a beach, and the ocean this coming weekend! Thanks again!

Thank you Dogtainers – on both sides of the Tasman. Everyone was wonderful in helping Polly get from Taupo to Perth. I cannot recommend these people highly enough. They are all absolutely fantabulous and made the transition so easy and also giving me peace of mind, knowing my dog-child was being looked after every step of the way. Thanks again Hannah, Chris and the Perth staff. Big licks and kisses from Polly xxx

Moved my 2 cats and 2 dogs with Dogtainers and cant be happier, fantastic customer service from the getgo and all my babies arrived in good time, happy and full of beans. I trust this company 100% with my pets. This for me was a door to door service.

We can’t say enough great things about Dogtainers. We began the process to move our dear Harrison Ford, a smaller black lab mix from Chicago to Sydney last December. Dogtainers and, in particular, Sophia, helped us every step of the way making sure all of our paperwork and tests were timed perfectly, answering questions from my vet and myself promptly, and ensuring that his move would be a smooth as possible. From the time dropped him at Cargo in Chicago, they were great in keeping us informed, even sending us a photo prior to his being put on the plane to Melbourne. Knowing he was being cared for along the way was very comforting to us. When he was delivered to us in Sydney, the handler said he was very well behaved and she was extremely careful in handling our precious fur baby. Thank you Dogtainers. Harrison Ford has acclimated very well to his new home and we love that he was given such great care.

My dog spent 19 hours in a crate for a 5+ hour flight. I was not contacted till 7 hours after I dropped him off (after midnight) to let me know the plane did not go. I picked him up and he was very upset and confused. I returned him 4 hours later. I had to clean his soiled cage myself (that’s right my dog did not even warrant a clean cage) and put my dog back in. It was an extremely traumatising experience for us both and he was very scared. I got back home that morning to find out myself (I was not contacted again) that the flight was delayed for another four hours. By the time my dog got to Perth he did not recognise my daughter and he was very confused, dehydrated and disorientated. The lady that dropped him off apologised to my daughter and said she tried to cool him down. I made a complaint to Dogtainers and they have taken no responsibility and blamed virgin and pretty much said they can’t help me anymore. Turns out that apart from driving animals from the warehouse to the plane, Dogtainers do very little. The dogs are kept in a warehouse prior to going to the plane that is not air conditioned (was just prior to Christmas that my dog went) and there is no guarantee that your dogs water will be replenished if the flight is delayed (I am sure my dogs was not). My dog is my family and I understand flights get delayed but this was absolute neglect of my animal and he very well could of died. I am beyond disgusted with this company and if you love your pooch, I suggest you find a company that puts their needs first. Dogtainers is not that company.

5 Star Service moving my dog from Brisbane to Melbourne and back after the holidays, hire crate was there waiting for me with a fluffy vet bed and my old golden retriever who is 11 years old was not bothered by the flights either direction, thanks Dogtainers another job well done.

We flew Mickey to Ottawa last month he is an angry old kitty but Steph went above and beyond to assist me. Great friendly driver who came and picked him up very happy with the easy door to door process of pick up and delivery 5/5 stars!

Like another below, my experience was incredibly similar to theirs, shipping two cats from Brisbane to Canada, and then on to the US. Limited contact, and absolutely NO contact at all as soon as I'd left the country. I flew ahead of the cats into the US, and they shipped out a day after. I got ONE email, not long after I'd dropped them off, with a photo of my wet, washed cats (I hadn't been told they'd be bathed), and that was it. No follow-up, no further photos despite the fact that I requested them - NOTHING.

The office in Brisbane opened at 8am. I'd kept them VERY informed that my flight opened at 8.30am the same day. I had no offer to early-check-in the cats, I wasn't able to drop the cats off a day early - nothing. No help was made, and to top off the extremely tight schedule? They were very late opening the office for drop-off. I was late for my flight's check-in, as a result.

The company didn't tell me where to pick my cats up from in the US. As far as they were concerned, as soon as they had my money and shipped the cats, their duty of care and helpfulness ended there. I asked more than once, where to pick the cats up from, and no answer was given. I was told AirCanada would contact me, and they didn't. I suspect they told me AirCanada would contact me just to take the heat off of them, when I asked where the heck to pick up my cats from (as they had no idea and couldn't be bothered finding it out).

Like the other reviewer (Brisbane to Canada), some of the information on the cats was wrong (like the age of my older cat), and the additional fees that I had to pay were much more than I was initially consulted - HECK - they added an extra damn flight into the itinerary a day before I was paying for the flights (I paid in full, in one instalment), which also drove the prices up (the cats had three flights within Canada alone - one inbound, one between cities, and then one to Chicago, because apparently the airport they'd selected for the cats to initially land at didn't have adequate facilities for the cats... which they should know about before booking flights like this).

Over all, it cost me a lot more than initially quoted, even though I'd confirmed over and over that the price was going to remain the same (aside from a "small" fee in the US - which turned out to be >$350USD, which is nearly $500AUD).

The complete lack of communication was extremely stressful, doubly so considering I have severe anxiety, which I'd informed them of (and they'd promised to keep in contact as a result).

The cats are here safe and settled, but it took MANY hours and much more money, driving between Chicago airport, AirCanada's fright cargo terminal (which is off-site to the airport), and between animal import and import brokers (oh yes - because I also had to go through a US animal Import Broker!).

If you're shipping your cats and unable to fly with them (I had to go through New Zealand, not Canada, like the cats), absolutely make sure you know where to collect the cats from BEFORE you land. Make them find out.

I’d just like to give a Big shoutout to Megan who made me feel at total ease when sending our fur child off on his first ever trip. I didn’t know what to expect and it was nerve racking for the whole family.
Alas, We needn’t have worried because he was in such capable hands that I felt like he had become a part of the Dogtainer family too. Every step of the way made us feel like we were on the trip with him. The photos were also very much appreciated and a heartfelt touch. I know where I’ll be going to in the future if a second adventure arises. Again Megan Thankyou so much. We couldn’t have done such an amazing job without you.

I have been using Dogtainers for the past 4 years and anytime there has been an issue with the airlines delaying or cancelling flights they have been there to help straight away. They know there's an issue before we do!!!
The staff there are so helpful and if there's something they don't know they make sure they thoroughly research before getting back to me (which they always do, and quickly I might add!).

I will continue to use this company in the future and recommend them to anyone needing to send their pups internationally!

One happy Corgi - My baby Buster traveled to Dallas we were so very happy with the service from start to finish excellent communication and great pics, we had a delay upon collection but we are fully aware that this was not a fault of Dogtrainers but the airline I was a very nervous fur Mom but I was put at ease thanks to Callum and the team!