How much would you pay . . .

[wideopenspaces]

to make your dream come true :-) ? I've been looking into doing a year or two practicing in New Zealand. The end of this school year would be the perfect time as my son will be in elementary school 2 more years and I think that would be the easiest time for him to move to another country without totally disrupting his social/educational life. The main issue we're running into is that we have 2 pups, that have been apart of our family for 4 years. It costs about 10k/pup to bring them back and forth. We *may* be able to find someone they know and are comfortable with to stay with, but is it cruel to do that to them? If we wait until they die (probably 8-10 years from now) then we'd go when my oldest is in college and I'm not sure I want to be a 24 hour flight away from him at that point in his life. Plus this feels like a family adventure, that we'd like to have the whole family present for! What would you do? Suck it up and pay the 20k? Leave them with someone? Put it off until the kids are out of the house??

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

If the pay in your specialty is anything like mine, you'll be giving up far more than $20,000 to work a couple years in New Zealand. I say that to put things in perspective. If you're considering the experience (which I think would be amazing!), I wouldn't let an additional $20,000 hit make or break it for you.

I strongly considered working as a locum in NZ (or AUS) until I realized between a full time clinical job and maintaining a growing website, I wouldn't have much time to enjoy the beautiful surroundings. We'll probably go for a few months or more, but I'll wait until I'm no longer practicing medicine.

Cheers!

-PoF

[wideopenspaces]

PhysicianOnFIRE wrote:

If the pay in your specialty is anything like mine, you’ll be giving up far more than $20,000 to work a couple years in New Zealand. I say that to put things in perspective. If you’re considering the experience (which I think would be amazing!), I wouldn’t let an additional $20,000 hit make or break it for you.

 

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Yes, the pay for specialists is about $600NZD/day. I'm just working part time now though, so the pay hit isn't that big of a deal. I'd be working full time and my husband would be at home, so I think we'd still be able to do quite a bit with our time. It's a small country, so weekends could be used to take day trips. Ultimately it's not about the money (the company I'm working with said that most docs don't walk away with much money from the time spent there but make enough to live and travel while in country), it's about the experience at this stage of our lives. It just seems crazy to spend that amount on pets!!! But maybe I'm getting stuck on that. . .

[treesrock]

My question is not whether that money is worth it (that is totally up for you to decide), but whether that long trip on a plane is even safe for the dogs?  What does the $5K each way per pet get you?  Seats on the place, or some other spot outside the cargo hold?

If the money almost guarantees a safe flight for your dogs, then personally, I would say its worth it.  But then again I'm a crazy dog person so maybe thats just me.

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

treesrock wrote:

What does the $5K each way per pet get you?

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It's not the flight, it's the pre-reqs before you leave, the long quarantine after you arrive, etc... NZ has a very strict import policy for dogs.

More detail here if you're curious.

[wideopenspaces]

treesrock wrote:

My question is not whether that money is worth it (that is totally up for you to decide), but whether that long trip on a plane is even safe for the dogs?  What does the $5K each way per pet get you?  Seats on the place, or some other spot outside the cargo hold?

If the money almost guarantees a safe flight for your dogs, then personally, I would say its worth it.  But then again I’m a crazy dog person so maybe thats just me.

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New Zealand requires dogs be transported as cargo, so they cannot ride in the plane with you. They are in a pressurized compartment under the plane and it's like a 19 hour flight. There are companies that have experience doing this and that is what airlines recommend using (and that is where I got the quote from). There's also a 10 day quarantine process they have to go through upon arrival. So all of that seems stressful to me. At the same time, we'd be there a year so probably worth it? I need to think about it, but also want to hear what others think.

[G]

When I was a kid living in Europe (4 years during elementary school), our family dog made the trip back and forth with us a couple times.  I don't know the finances behind it, but I do know we didn't have much money.  I took it for granted he would be with us; I think I'd have been devastated to leave him behind.  That's probably why, as an adult, I have no problem dropping thousands of dollars at a time on our animals (some might consider this financially imprudent).  Anyway, my point is that I was the same age as your kid; I'm sure he'll learn life lessons with either direction you choose.  Staying longer than 12 months would probably make more financial sense if you do fly them ($30/day/dog...ugh!!!).  Also consider for $20k, you could fly the fam back to US to visit the animals (maybe even twice).  When I'm travelling, I've been known to skype with my dog in addition to my human family; seems to work ok.  Finally, you might look into vet costs...who knows, if they are cheaper, a couple TPLOs (or four) could actually have you breaking even!

[Miss Bonnie MD]

Does NZ employ dermatologists???

[Hatton]

I am a huge dog lover and I think this is a hard decision.  If you have a good friend or family member who would take care of them while you were in NZ that would be ideal.  Only you know if your dog would be ok with a 19 hour flight and 10 day quarantine.  My current dog would not be able to handle such a trip.  She is frightened by all change and new people.  My dog that was recently hit by a car would of handled the trip as a great adventure and had a good time.  I went to Europe for 2 months during med school and my cat would have nothing to do with me when I returned.  She had bonded with my Dad.

[Anesthesia84]

I am a dog lover but I would not bring our dog. To be fair, he is older and would not do well with a long trip and lots of changes. And we have family we could leave him with. I also think it would give us more freedom while there to travel and find housing more easily.

Do you have people you trust who could keep your dogs?

[adventure]

wideopenspaces wrote:

New Zealand requires dogs be transported as cargo, so they cannot ride in the plane with you.

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You might actually consider a private chartered jet. NetJets allow dogs to ride in the cabin with you, and then you walk them off the plane into quarantine. Certainly a much calmer affair for all involved. And, when we've looked at the price from the US to EU, it's actually not crazy expensive. It's not row 39K on some big carrier flight cheap, but being allowed to have a great adventure, nice set up, pets, etc make it reasonable. We also considered this to travel with very elderly family members to avoid to chaos of airports. Drive to the plane, fly away, drive off the tarmac.

 

edit: and for that matter, are there any shipping options?

[adventure]

wideopenspaces wrote:

New Zealand requires dogs be transported as cargo,

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Source? I couldn't find that requirement, although the NZ website on importing animals was really well done.

[Dr. Mom]

I would consider what is best for the dog and would likely not bring them.  One of ours is old and would not travel well at all.  One is a large family dog and would require housing choices that could limit options.  The third is mine and not very close to my son or husband.  They would care for her, but I'm not sure she'd be better off with us and seeing me less than with family here.  Tough decision.  No right answer.  You will have to pick the decision that you can live with.

[adventure]

wideopenspaces wrote:

 What would you do? Suck it up and pay the 20k? Leave them with someone? Put it off until the kids are out of the house??

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Go!!!!

[jfoxcpacfp]

We have family members who are very close to our Beau and would keep him for a year and he would be fine. But I don't know if I'd enjoy being separated from him - he's like my 3rd kid. If I thought $10k was what it would take to keep us all happy, I'd do it. x 2, though, is a tough call.

Before we got Beau, I would have thought your dilemma a little nuts. Now, though, I totally empathize (as he lays next to my feet at my desk).