The adventure of shipping a dog to Nigeria! - Page 3

That was indeed long ago, so no comment.

As to heat, plenty of GSDs operate effectively in hot environments similar to Africa. Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam to name a few.  Even the Mexican border which is scorching hot, the dogs work vehicle lines, track / apprehend illegal aliens for hours on end.  They acclimate to the heat and as long as they are hydrated should be able to work if they are healthy.

Yes  but there are breeds better suited to it than the GSD;  and there has to be  

confidence that the acclimatisation period will be respected and the dogs treated

well in the interim.  At the time of that campaign, there were no such assurances,

indeed some dogs were known to have already suffered horribly, even died, when

sent out to Nigeria.

Even if this was only a small number of all dogs in the country, how few is too few

to make a fuss ?

'Sides which, the last part of my post holds good - I have known Nigerians in London

run screaming  (I'm talking about adults here !) at the very sight  of me walking past

with one or two GSDs, on leash & behaving themselves.  Even when not every reaction

is as extreme as that,  it really ain't no fun being around them with a dog.

Maybe some of the hesitation to export dogs is the result of the horrible experiences many had back in the late  70's and 80's when they exported dogs to Japan. If you were breeding back then and advertising in magazines like "Dog World" (no net then), few weeks passed that you didn't receive offers of very high prices for puppies and adults- 10K for a pup of any breed was major dollars at that time.  Many of those "good homes" turned out to be puppy farms where the dogs were grossly mistreated. Some I knew who sold dogs there ended up going to Japan and taking their dogs back when they saw how they were living. Then there were all the stories about fur farming in China.  Who can blame anyone for being careful about exporting dogs.....anywhere?

The only thing that matters is did the payment clear ?  :-(

Ship a puppy anywhere as long as you get paid. I am beyond disgusted

Thomas Barriano

I had a guy wanting Ember from my E litter last year, shipped to S. Africa. I really liked the guy and it would have been a PERFECT home for her, so we looked into the logistics and when we looked at what she would go through if it all went perfectly, and what could happen if it didn't, we were both horrified and decided he'd be better off shipping from Europe. Just way too much to put a puppy through, potentially. It sounds like this pup ended up faring really well, actually, considering how bad it could have been. I am a bit jaded, as the daughter of a corporate pilot who has been to those places many many times and also knows exactly what goes on with the airlines, so I do tend to look at travel of this magnitude in a negative light. Thank goodness he is safe now. 

A heck of a lot of UK breeders would not touch Japan as a market,

either.  Particularly when we heard so many examples of expensive

pedigrees being imported there, and just dumped when they got too

old and owners' fancy turned to a new puppy - the rationale apparently

being that the Shinto religion dictates that you don't have an old sick dog

p.t.s., you let it run off in the mountains and the gods will take care of

it. 

There just weren't quite the horror stories that happened with Nigeria,

so there wasn't the same protest level. 

That has changed with modern-day Japan, most are now willing to

export there, although some have remained true to their original

opinion.  There  is certainly demand  from Japanese buyers  (even

for our sub-standard GSDs Haz !).  Glad I don't have to decide.

And yes with any long journeys there can also always be shipping

problems.

I never said anything about being on-board for blindly selling puppies abroad to anyone who had your price...the OP sold the pup to someone they personally know and trust, and I have no problem with that whatsoever.

One culture's pet can be another person's food, whether we like it or not--most people in the US consider guinea pigs or 'cavies' to be pets, but in some Hispanic and South American cultures, guinea pigs are tasty little livestock that can be kept in the home for fresh meat. Heck, rabbits are considered pets by a lot of North Americans, but there's probably just as many who think of them as food also, or instead.

I hope Boy has a long, healthy and joyful life in his new country with his new owner. I also hope that when the new owner returns to the US for extended periods of time, Boy is in good hands if he's left to guard the property in Nigeria...but I would think a more effective protection system for the property would be armed guards instead of a single large dog.

Found this today, the First GSD from South Africa to be registered with the AKC was back in 1917...
Otjean's Wolf

Thank you for all the comments. What an interesting read I must say!

I agree with those that say to not send a pup to Nigeria (or similar country) unless you know all the circumstances that will involve further care. To easen up minds, yes, I know the new owner personally for many years, he is my Medical Director of the Stroke Center I am working at of a very large hospital here in the US.

However he is Nigerian of origin and has a second residency and family in Nigeria. For those concerned about the wellbeing of Boy. He is living in a large modern house with family (keeping the owners mother company) on a several acre enclosed compound. He does not have to be a guard dog for that compound, the owner has for this Mastiff-like dogs. The family living there has house keepers, ground keepers and a person whos only job is to take care of the dogs. Boy has its own trainer, even though he is foremost a family dog. The owner shipps dog food from the US to his residence which is mixed then with a home cooked diet (mainly rice and meat) for all his dogs. The climate is very comparable to Florida (and you have plenty of GSDs there    )

On his long flight Boy had a break (lay over) in Amsterdam and was taken care off by the pet hotel folks there. He was accompanied by his owner on all 3 flights.

Okay LOL  I would never send any dog there unless it was going to

be living on the private estate of a very wealthy senior Doctor (or

similar).   Elkoor, I do not doubt that Boy's circumstances are as you

describe  ( I not long ago had a job with a similar set-up here in the

UK, so I know such households exist.)   But just as I felt it improved

the dogs lives / education by sometimes walking them OFF the estate,

I can see that it would be very difficult to do that in Nigeria, (even counter-

productive ), given the attitude of a majority of the population there. 

For anybody to extrapolate that because your friend's circumstances are

suitable for a GSD and the level of care will be good, then it will always be

okay to send animals to that country, would be too much of a stretch - IMO.  

Linda.