Delivery
Getting Your Puppy Home
Three ways a puppy travels, what each one costs and takes, and the one thing I’ll never do at any price.
A puppy comes to you one of three ways: you collect it, it’s driven to you by ground transport, or a flight nanny carries it to you in the aircraft cabin. I deliver to all fifty states. No puppy from here ever travels as cargo, at any distance, for any price, whatever an airline says it permits.
The three options
1. Collection, or meeting you
I drive up to two hours out of Sedona to meet buyers at no charge, which covers Flagstaff, Prescott and most of the Phoenix metro. Most people simply come to the house, meet the litter and take their puppy the same day.
Collection takes about half an hour, most of it going through the health record and answering whatever you’ve thought of since you wrote. You’ll meet the dam. If you’re within driving distance this is the best option by some margin, because you see where the puppy has been living.
2. Ground transport
Driven the whole way in a climate-controlled vehicle, with regular stops to walk, feed and check the puppy. There’s no depot, no holding facility and no transfer between carriers: the same person is with the dog from Sedona to your door.
Transit runs from same day within about 400 miles to three or four days at the far end of the country. You’re told when it leaves and roughly when it will arrive, and the dog is handed to you in person.
3. Flight nanny
A courier flies with the puppy held in the cabin, keeps it with them the entire journey, and hands it to you at arrivals. Door to door it’s one day rather than three or four, which for anywhere past about 2,000 miles is both faster and easier on the dog.
This is the usual choice for the Northeast, Florida, and anywhere reached through a major hub. It’s the only option for Alaska and Hawaii.
Roughly what to expect by distance
| Distance from Sedona | Ground transit | Usually the better choice |
|---|---|---|
| Under 400 miles | Same day | Collection or a meet |
| 400 to 900 miles | 1 day | Ground |
| 900 to 1,600 miles | 2 days | Ground |
| 1,600 to 2,200 miles | 2 to 3 days | Either. Ask and I’ll say which |
| Over 2,200 miles | 3 to 4 days | Flight nanny, one day |
| Alaska and Hawaii | Not applicable | Flight nanny only |
Say where you are and you’ll get the figure.
Hawaii is a special case and worth knowing about early. The state has strict rabies quarantine rules and a documented import process that takes months of preparation. I’ll talk you through it honestly before you commit, because it isn’t a quick purchase and some people change their minds once they understand what’s involved.
Heat, which decides more dates than distance does
A heavy, short-muzzled puppy doesn’t cope with heat, and humidity is worse than temperature because panting only cools a dog when the surrounding air can absorb the moisture. That isn’t a disclaimer, it’s the reason my schedule looks the way it does.
From May through September, runs through the southern corridor go overnight. If there’s a heat advisory on the route, I move the date rather than travel through it, and I’ll tell you that’s why. A delivery delayed by two days is a much better outcome than a puppy that arrives in trouble.
Cold is far less of a problem. A puppy travels warm in a heated vehicle and copes with a Minnesota January comfortably. What moves a winter date is the road being closed, not the temperature.
Why never cargo
Because a cargo hold means a dog alone in a container, loaded by people who didn’t meet it, in a compartment whose temperature and pressure vary, with nobody able to check on it if something goes wrong. Airlines carry animals that way and some do it carefully. I’m not willing to find out which kind I drew on the day.
Every option above keeps the puppy with a person the entire journey. That’s the whole of the reason and it isn’t negotiable at any distance or any price.
This page covers the how. The sales policy covers what happens if a delivery has to move, and what happens if something is wrong on arrival.
Tell me where you’re
You’ll get the option that suits, the transit time and the cost, in one reply, before any money changes hands.