The ‘Pets on Trains Act of 2013’ Read All About It
Post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess
Do you travel with your pet? Do you buy an additional ticket when you travel with him or her? I do most of my cross country travel by car and Henrietta, the Diva Poodle, rides along in seat-belted in comfort alongside me.
There are pet parents though who travel by plane, train, bus and other modes of conveyance who are seeking status as passengers for their pets. What does this mean? That they would be able to buy tickets for their pets when they travel with them.
In an article, Celebrity dog trainer Laura Nativo was quoted as saying, "It’s about time pets became passengers.The whole reason that I have a career is because I have been traveling with Preston for 11 years sometimes legally [and] sometimes disguised as my scarf…"
You can read the entire article here.
We'd love to hear from our pet parents. Have you ever travelled "illegally" with your pet? Do you think your pet should be treated as a passenger and be issued a ticket? Let us know.
We only just recently moved to San Francisco from London, UK with Alfie our Entlebucher Mountain Dog.
In the UK dogs are welcome for free on all public transport and Alfie would come along on the bus and the train with me. Then, of course we flew to the US and Alfie travelled as cargo – I wish there were airplanes that would allow big dogs to travel with their humans, we would have happily paid for a seat for him 🙂
I’ve never traveled with Duke, but I know we will hav e too soon! One of the reasons we’re planning on driving cross country for our potential move instead of flying is because we don’t want Duke to have to fly in cargo. If we could get him a ticket and have him in the cabin, we’d be much more willing to bring him along. However, I don’t know how likely that it to be allowed by the non-dog loving passengers!
I passionately believe that our planet won’t survive every person on earth driving their individual cars everywhere they want to go. So allowing pets to travel safely on Amtrak is one way for pet lovers to lessen our carbon footprint.
I hope it passes. I’d be happy to buy a ticket for Honey to travel with me on the train. Now if only I could get our local buses to accept her too.
I have often thought about how difficult it must be for a dog or cat to fly in the cargo compartment of a plane. At some point in my life I want to adopt a rescued puppy mill dog from National Mill Dog Rescue in Colorado. Their life experiences make cargo flight not an option. I guess when I do so, we will be renting a car or RV to drive back from Colorado UNLESS something happens with flight rules. One can only hope.