Life is good in Hawaii for the Dogs

This morning we walked to the beach with the dogs. Here's a picture of Lanikai Point. The tree stumps are a reminder of how much the wider the beach used to be. Due to erosion many ironwood trees been removed.

Doggie update: At the age of 15+ years each and over three years since flying to Hawaii, Tasha and Danzig are both still doing well! I'll repeat that retiring to a comfortable climate such as Hawaii seems to have prolonged their lifespan. A few weeks ago we had an episode where I feared it was time to say goodbye to Tasha. I was carefully monitoring her quality of life to make sure she was having more good days than bad and she was seeming more sad than happy. She was unable to walk at times and had a hard time getting up. I spent an entire day giving her love and affection. Love has amazing power, the extra attention really perked her up. I purchased a "bottoms up" leash for her, which is styled like my rock climbing harness to support her hips. After one walk using the leash it seemed as if she decided to walk on her own, maybe she was embarrassed by it! It is as if she resolved to start "training" to walk better. She started breaking out of her pen and performing feats of strength such as knocking over my beach cruiser to get out. Maybe she overheard me talking to the vet about our options, including putting her to sleep! I was so sad and torn about making sure she is living with dignity and comfort. We thought she'd never make it to the beach again, but now she is walking there regularly. Here are some photos taken this morning.

As for Danzig, he continues to teach life lessons every day. He is so happy all the time, his tail wags him. I can tell he his having some difficulty breathing because his malignant tumors are growing. However every audible breath is part of his excited happiness to be alive. Everything to him is awesome. Even when he was in the animal shelter the day we adopted him he stood out as the positive thinker. Every other dog was barking and unhappy about being caged. Danzig quietly sat there wagging his tail, as if he was thinking, cool, I'm no longer a stray on the highway, there's a roof over my head and regular meals! When we fixed his broken tooth, he was even happier with "Oh yeah! I'm no longer in excruciating pain!" We attract what we think about, and thinking positively brings more positive energy to your life. Aloha from Paradise!

Fall 2011 Doggie Update

Aloha everyone! I'd like to share a recent photo of Tasha and Danzig taken this month. We can't believe Tasha celebrated her 15th birthday on July 6, 2011. What is that in dog years? 105?

In my last post I shared that Tasha and Danzig are showing signs of their age, and that Danzig has cancer. Even without a terminal illness, Tasha is the serious one. She worries about everything. When she's been bad she'll stress out about it like crazy, and when she hasn't, she worries and has a guilty conscience over the last time she did something, even if it's ancient history. Her mission in life is to please everyone around her. She is incredibly sweet and we love her so much. Unfortunately we can tell she is aging faster than Danzig. Even though she doesn't have cancer, she may not outlast him. With her advanced age, she's had some problems controlling her bladder and the poor thing thinks it's her fault and worries about making a mess, so she prefers to stay outside.
At the same time, Danzig has demonstrated that attitude is everything. On January 5, 2011 the vet's biopsy predicted he had 2 months to live, 6 at the most. However, since he doesn't know his condition, and therefore doesn't dwell on it, he has the most inspiring attitude towards life. Because he couldn't eat dry food following his throat surgery and tumor removal, we switched him to canned. He thought he won the doggie lottery! Basically everything makes him happy. Everything rules in Danzig's world. I took a quick video of him at feeding time to show how excited he is for his food. I apologize for the dark lighting, it was very, very early in the morning. Up for anything, all of the time! We can all learn a lesson from Danzig and his outlook on life.

Maybe it's better for our health and sanity to not worry so much about pleasing others and squeeze every bit of joy out of life that we can.

We continue to monitor their quality of life and are doing everything possible to make them comfortable. Ever since we met them at the animal shelter over a decade ago, they have been grateful, loving and loyal family members. Providing them with retirement in Hawaii has been the least we could do.

Spring 2011 Doggie Update

Aloha!


I wanted to post a quick update to let you know I'm still here to answer your questions and offer advice. A reader asked for my email, it is vickiyurealtor@gmail.com.


Our dogs are still loving life in Hawaii. The photo above was taken last week (May 2011). Tasha will be 15 years old in July, and Danzig is probably around the same age, since we have had him for over 13 years and when we adopted him as a stray he was estimated at about 2 years old. When we moved from snow country, Danzig was suffering from arthritis. The climate here seems to have helped prolong their lives. Just like for humans, swings in temperature can be hard on the body, so retirement in a warm climate is ideal.


Fifteen years old is quite advanced for large breed dogs living anywhere, so they are showing some signs of age. Tasha still insists on prancing when she walks. She looks like a wind-up toy with her feet lifting high off the ground in slow motion. The last time she was climbing a sand dune she fell over backwards and tumbled into the sand. It surprised her since she has always been such an agile athlete. She lives on love, and whenever someone comes up to her and pets her it makes her day. Danzig was diagnosed with cancer in January and had a tumor removed from his throat. The doctor gave him a few months to live, and we are focusing on giving him the best life possible. He seems really happy and wags his tail all the time and is not showing signs of distress.















I don't want to make too long of a post here, so the most useful information about flying with pets to Hawaii still appears on this page. There is another point I needed to add. If you are moving here without a place to move into, it could be very difficult to find a (nice) rental that allows pets. Please keep that in mind, since I have heard of people giving their pets away after going through all the trouble to get them here because they couldn't find a place that would allow them. If you are fortunate enough to be able to buy your own house or condo, then this is not an issue. Of course you need to check the pet policy of any building you buy into. I will check this for you if you send me the building name or address. I am very familiar with the housing market all over Oahu. I have found homes for people who had no idea where they wanted to live at first (my parents and myself included) and did extensive research to fit neighborhoods to lifestyle, wants and needs. I haven't mentioned that I am a realtor before, since this blog is dedicated to our dogs. I have over 13 years professional experience as an attorney and with real estate matters, and this background has proved invaluable to my clients. If I can be of any assistance in helping you to find a new home for you and your pets, please feel free to contact me!












Rainbow photographed from the Pali Highway, Kailua bound.

The Big Day (AKA the day you fly with your pets to Hawaii)

Aloha. I'm power blogging today so that I can get this information out there for those of you moving your pets here. This is the perfect time of year to fly over because it's not too hot anymore for the airlines to restrict boarding and not yet too cold.

To repeat, if you're new to this blog, the entire process of preparing and moving our pets is described in detail starting from the first post. For best understanding go back to the beginning and read forward.

Here is some very important information regarding additional final preparations for the big day. If you don't have someone to take you to the airport and you have big dog(s), pre-arrange your SPECIAL transportation! We needed to call for a taxi that would fit us, the dog crates and our luggage. I must have called 2 or 3 times to repeat how important it was for us to get a van with space for passengers, luggage and dogs. That a row of seats should be REMOVED to make room. As it turned out, they sent a mini-van without the seats removed. The driver had no idea how to remove them. I had to climb in the van and figure it out and remove the seats for him, and was only able to do so in a rush of adrenaline like when a mother has a car on top of her child or something. If we missed the flight after all the preparations, it would have been, well, I can't think of a polite word. I made the cab driver leave the van seats in our driveway and come back for them later.

For the other end, make sure you have transporation arranged from the airport in Hawaii. This went smoothly because Jay from Aloha Airport Shuttle RULES! Book him in advance by calling (808)538-3355. He removed his back van seats before coming to the airport. He was waiting for us when we arrived, picked us up at baggage claim, and took us to the Animal Quarantine Station. He waited for us to pick up the dogs, then drove us to the nearest park outside the airport so the dogs could pee. Dogs/animals can't be let out of their crates outside the Quarantine Station or anywhere on airport grounds so this is important. He then put up with the smell of Tasha's "accident" all the way to the Windward side of Oahu. Thank you Jay, soooooo much!

Another final preparation was a trip to the groomer to get all the excess hair off the dogs to make them as comfortable as possible for the introduction to Hawaii's warmer climate. Our groomer is booked far in advance so I had to plan ahead. I scheduled it BEFORE the vet health certification day, so that the bath wouldn't interfere with the application of the Fipronil at the vet.

Okay, so the Big Day had finally arrived. Time to move our dogs to Hawaii! As I posted previously, you must make sure your flight arrives in Honolulu (if that's where you are going)while the quarantine station is open. For that to happen, we had to leave very early in the morning. We got up very early to walk the dogs so they could take care of their business and we dosed them with the calming remedies I mentioned earlier. At the airport, we got a giant baggage cart. We let the dogs out of the crates and put them on leash. I honestly am not sure if this is allowed, but I watched a show on Travel Channel about traveling with dogs (I cannot remember the name, sorry) and the host walked his dog into the airport on a leash in one hand while carrying the crate in the other. Here's photographic evidence that we did it without getting arrested.

At the ticket counter, the airline employees stuck "this side up" and "live animal" stickers all over the crates (as if mine weren't enough already!) and placed baggage tags on them.

For the Northwest Airlines Priority Pet program, a tag is placed on each crate with tickets that are to be torn off by the baggage handler and delivered to the flight attendant. The flight attendant then deliveres it to the pet owners in their assigned seats to show that the pets were boarded.

After checking in for our flight, we took the dogs out for one last walk, then went to the special large baggage drop off point. We had to seal the dogs into the crate with zip ties and bid Aloha to them.

We waited around in the boarding area and watched them load the dogs through the window before we got on. The gate attendants received a transfer ticket from the baggage handler showing that the dogs had been boarded. So it appears that the baggage handler tears the ticket off and delivers it to the gate. If we're waiting to board, they call our names and give us the ticket so we know the crate has been loaded onto the airplane. Alternatively, the ticket could have been delivered to our seats after boarding. We flew the first leg on Alaska. Here's the pics I took when we landed in Portland. I posted a few more of these in my earlier posts.

As I mentioned previously in the post "booking your flights" we were very fortunate to be able to claim our dogs at the layover and walk them. In Portland, we went to baggage claim and grabbed a luggage dolly. Here's the dogs straight off the plane.

Before we chose Portland as the layover airport, I researched and found out that Portland has a pet relief area. I mapped out the airport in advance, so we knew where to go. The pet relief area is adjacent to baggage claim. We wheeled them out to the pictured area below, with the doggy sign. We watered and walked them. They each lapped up a packet of waterbites gel as well.

There was some time before we had to check them in for the next flight, so we hung out with them until the last possible minute. Here are some pictures of the dogs hanging out during the layover in their crates, in the baggage claim area of PDX.

We gave the dogs a treat to chew during the layover. This turned out to be a big mistake! Tasha got airsick and made a mess in her crate on the way to Honolulu. After checking the dogs back in, we had lunch and waited for our flight to HNL. The Northwest agents at the gate let us know the dogs had been boarded.

The flight went smoothly, with no delays, which was a huge relief. This is another reason why I chose PDX. On at least two previous trips to Hawaii, SFO was often fogged in or the runways were over capacity, so our flight was prevented from landing, and as a result we missed our connecting flight. For this trip, I purposely chose a LONG layover.

When we landed in HNL, it was about 3pm. I was beyond excited to see the dogs. Jay from Aloha Airport Shuttle called my cell as soon as we were on the ground to let me know he was right outside baggage claim. We grabbed our bags as quickly as possible and he zipped us to the Animal Quarantine Holding Facility. Here's a pic of Jay, our hero, and the outside of the Airport Animal Quarantine Station.

Inside the facility, there is a window where we presented our paperwork. All we needed at this point was the health certificate. They had our file ready, showing that we had already paid all fees and presented us with an airport release card to fill out. I've kept the airport release cards because I recall seeing them as a requirement for future trips in and out of Hawaii.

Finally. . . the moment of reunion! The door opened and they wheeled the dogs out to us. They were quickly released into our custody, no muss, no fuss, no quarantine.

Here's Jay loading the dogs into his van, which he thoughtfully prepared by removing the back seats. He also brought us bottled water.

Again, you are not allowed to remove your pets from their crates at all while on airport property. After six hours, they probably had to pee pretty badly so Jay promptly drove us to the nearest park, which is off Sand Island Access Road. On the way there we noticed the unfortunate smell coming from Tasha's crate. She tossed her cookies during the flight from Portland to Honolulu. Think about what to feed your pet before the flight if at all. Here are pictures of their first pee on Hawaiian soil. . .

By the way, peeing is called going shishi in Hawaii. After the pit stop, we drove over the Koolau mountain range to our new home on the Windward side. Danzig set to work marking every coconut palm in sight. We went to the beach immediately, to introduce them to the ocean. The dogs grew up drinking from the rivers of snow runoff on their walks.
They'd never been to the beach before, and didn't know the ocean would be salty! Here's a clip from their first beach walk, and Danzig trying to drink the seawater!
They learned pretty quickly that the ocean is not for drinking.

Almost a year after our move, the dogs still love the beach and get as excited to see the ocean as the first time they every stuck their toes in the sand. Reviewing my previous posts, I realize life has been good since we got here. The nice man we met and photographed on the beach last year, who I referred to as "Mr. Obama" in my early blog post became President of the USA. We've become a happy part of this small beachside community and run into someone or some dog that we know almost everywhere we go. Every day I appreciate my life and feel so lucky to live in Hawaii.

Mahalo for reading along and sharing in our adventure. Aloha!

Aloha! LOST filming site spotted!

Over this weekend I realized that we've been here almost a year. With the summer weather we have been stand up paddling and hiking a lot. Last weekend we walked into another LOST shooting set. See the rear view in the pic? I think it might be some kind of temple where they'll add the top part of it using the computer effects. [UPDATE: after seeing the episode, it was Jacob's Lighthouse!] Last weekend Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof hosted a panel at the Hawaii International Film Festival to discuss ABC's TV show LOST, and Yunjin Kim (Sun), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Terry O'Quinn (Locke) and Michael Emerson (Ben) were there. Yeah, so even though I don't have TV, we watch all the DVD's on the PS3. Gotta love LOST If you live in Hawaii. I may have mentioned this before but several of the actors live in this small town. I've run into Ian Cusack (Desmond) a few times but he told me he won't come to my yoga class because he doesn't like Bikram, the man not the yoga. Oh well.
Over the past several months we had a parade of visitors. That kept us busy as we didn't take any time off work while entertaining the visitors. A couple of avid LOST fans visited, and we took the filming sites tour at Kualoa Ranch. These pics are of Hurley's golf course site, and then a screenshot from the show.














This is the "Tempest" Dharma station from the tour, and how it appeared on the show.




















Our nephew visited alone, he's 9 and flew all by himself from California. Among the fun things we did, he burned out the PS3 by overheating it and wanted to skateboard a lot. Here's a pic I took at Aala Skatepark in Honolulu, and a pic from inside the Atlantis Submarine ride, of a giant sea turtle.















Another set of visitors came in and we went to the Big Island for a mini vacation. We stayed at the Fairmont Orchid. Beautiful.
OK, back to what his blog is about, the doggies. Tasha and Danzig survived the summer heat without air conditioning. However, I wouldn't recommend trying it with arctic breeds. There were a few days where they didn't even want to eat because they were too hot. We will probably install air conditioning before next summer. I am going to post this now and then go back to my last draft about dog travel preparations and the flight itself and finish that up for you. Mahalo for reading!

Final Preparations

When you have all the necessary documents required by the 5-Day or Less Program checklist, get ready to send them to the Animal Quarantine Branch. You can't send them too early, and if you wait until the last minute there will be some scrambling because of everything else associated with travel (such as your own personal things other than the pets). Allow time for getting a money order, going to a notary, and the vet. It's a good idea to call the Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture in advance of travel to make sure they received everything.
The links to the checklist, Dog and Cat Import form, and vet instructions for the health certificate can be found at http://move2hawaii.blogspot.com/2008/11/step-1-at-vet.html
I had the Dog and Cat Import Form notarized before sending, as the signature line requires the signature of a notary public or DOA employee. You may want to go to your bank to get a Cashier's Check for the fees because personal checks are not accepted. You can wait to pay at the airport (where credit cards would be accepted), but the forms say that processing will be delayed. I had the Pet names and microchip numbers included on the cashier's checks. We used FedEx to send everything in. The checklist says to make sure they are received more than 10 days before the pet's scheduled arrival.
You are also required to provide a health certificate done within 14 days of arrival in Hawaii. The checklist says "If I did not send an original health certificate . . . when I submitted my other documents, I will provide the health certificate upon arrival. . ." I think it's cutting it close to have the certificate done and then send all the documents in together, so I chose to send all the documents except for the health certificate first. This way I could call ahead to make sure they were received and have enough time to send them again if something happened to them. Make copies of everything before you send it!
Make an appointment with your vet within 14 days of your flight. At this appointment, obtain the health certificate and have your pet treated for ticks (with Frontline or something containing Fipronil). There is a checklist to take to the vet with you available on the Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture Website, which I linked to in an earlier post. Carry the original health certificate with you at all times when you travel to Hawaii with your pets and protect it like your passport!
As an additional precaution, we had the vet write a letter regarding the weather restrictions. This was in response to an item on Northwest Airline's checklist to provide certification that the animal could handle cold weather. "To Whom it May Concern, I am writing this letter in reference to (dog description, name). (Dog's Name) has been examined and determined fit for travel. (Dog's Name) is acclimated to weather above 85 degrees and below 45 degrees for short periods of time. If we can be of any further assistance please contact our office at (phone number)."

So if you've completed the checklist, bought the plane tickets, crate trained your pets, tested travel products, all described in detail in my previous posts, time to pack and get ready for the big day!

Dogs can't wipe their feet

Or, at least mine can't. As a result I fight a neverending battle against sandy floors. The dogs had a grooming appointment today. I seized the opportunity by taking them to the beach beforehand, knowing for once I wouldn't have to clean them in the beach shower (I did so anyway, to avoid getting my car all sandy, but not as thoroughly). I also tried to get them to swim in the ocean instead of just walking along the shorebreak. I got in the water myself to swim, Danzig followed me, but when his feet started floating he didn't like it and went back to shore. Tasha got wet, then went back and stood there barking at me. Then they both kept trying to come in but every time a wave came they backed up. Maybe it's that Arctic breeds don't like swimming. Oh well. At least I didn't have to clean up the salty sandy mess they became. While they were being groomed I cleaned and vacuumed. So the clean floors will last a few hours anyway. That's another thing to get used to living in Hawaii, especially if you go to the beach a lot. Dogs can't wipe their feet and will inevitably track sand into the house.