X-Mas Pup is coming Introductions

We just bought a new house and pulled the trigger on a GSP from a breeder.
We as family made a collective decision to skip X-Mas this year and pool funds into a puppy.
My daughter agreed without hesitation, which is the most adult thing I’ve seen from her yet.
I personally wasn’t looking forward to going from finally getting out of boxes straight into setting up X-Mas decorations, so I was definitely on board.
X-Mas comes every year. New puppy, not so often.

Puppy is being to us via air.
Got the info yesterday and she’s got a 1hr flight - 1st leg, then a 4hr layover and then a 2hr flight to us.
Total travel time is 7hrs.
Anyone else have pups shipped?

The breeder is very reputable and says he does this a LOT and has never had an issue.
Just seems traumatizing to a puppy.
Breeder says the airlines take good care of the dogs including feeding and cleaning.
I could have gone and picked her up but it would have been over 11hrs. driving and through nasty weather on top.

I have had 2 puppies shipped by air from the same breeder. I’m sorry to say my experiences were not good. The first pup arrived on time but was listless on arrival. As soon as I pulled out of airport onto freeway I smelled poop and figured that’s good I can stop at vets and drop off a stool sample. Well he had the runs, which I thought was from the stress of the trip ( he had peed on his newspaper in the crate during flight). I stopped at a gas station and cleaned up the crate and continued home. Spoke to the breeder and gave him some Imodium and a bath. 12 hours later we were at the emergency vet in the middle of the night.. he had parvo. 8 very worrying and expensive nights later he came home alive but very underweight, a sack of furry bones that I nursed back to health. The breeder paid $500 over his cost towards my large vet bill. I had been under the impression she was paying for the whole treatment....

She knew I was thinking of getting him a playmate in the future so she offered me a free puppy in the future, my pick of a litter. So almost 18 months later she shipped me another pup, this one was 4 months old as even though I’d done everything recommended to clean my yard there was no guarantee that the virus wasn’t still lurking (it can live for years in the soil). The airline totally screwed up and when I went to pick her up after waiting at the cargo pickup for 1.5 hrs I was finally told she wasn’t on the flight. Long story shorter she was supposed to arrive on a Friday night and I didn’t get her until Sunday afternoon. She had an upset stomach and ended up having kennel cough which she gave to my older dog... Poor pup had left her home and mom and it took over 52 hours for me to get her. The airline screwed up and lied multiple times. She is healthy and a good pup now but I don’t know if I’d ever do this again. I have an ongoing claim with the airline and the breeder was refunded her $ for the flight.

I live in California and the pups were shipped from Missouri so I wasn’t going to drive to pick either of them up. I do not think my experience was typical but in the future I don’t know if I could do this again.. I’m sure this is not the tale you wanted to hear but you asked. I hope your pup arrives happy and healthy

Wanted to add my pup didn’t get parvo from the plane flight but I think the second pup got kennel cough where she was kenneled the 2 nights she was stranded in Kansas City

I have not tried getting my pup shipped, I guess that's the thing about shipping animals, they're really risky for some breeds. Of course the breeder would say good things about the airline but you never know what might happen.

I guess I’ll just have to stay positive and hope for the best.
I trust the breeder but I just can’t help but be worried.
He said he ships 50 pups a year and hasn’t ever had an issue.

At least he’s shipping Delta!

I fly nothing but Delta and after 100’s of flights I’ve NEVER had an issue.

Hope my dog gets the same level of treatment!

I can't comment as I have only ever exported once, - to Norway. The puppy went as accompanied hand luggage, but I believe she didn't spend very much time in her carrier, most of the flight was on various knees! The vet was waiting on the tarmac when she touched down, so she had a seamless transfer.
I'm sure it doesn't always go so well though, and I would always want to collect my own puppy, meet the relatives, and see the kennel set-up.

That’s a lot of puppies to ship every year .

I believe that the average litter size for a GSP is 8-12 puppies so if the breeder ships 50 pups a year, I wonder how many breeding bitches he has, as presumable he does not ship every puppy in every litter.

It’s possible I got that wrong.
He might have said he’s shipped pups over 50 times.
My wife says I don’t always hear the whole sentence / statement.
I listen!