Gardens and dogs

Hi Puppylove you can mail me on [email protected]

Veritas, I just realised who you are, lol.... Puppylove, i am a dog trainer and I can put you in touch with another lady who also trains dogs here in Doha. Do get in touch with Janet for the best advice regarding relocations. Bringing dogs in can be a hair raising experience, even if it sounds easy. If you do decide to go it alone, do make sure its late night flights as its too hot at any other time of day for the dogs to be waiting out of the AVI room for transfer. Good Luck.

When are you moving PL? We have a stand alone and pool. You can email me on c dot rosewarne1 at btinternet dot com V

Here is the info for the woman that can get you the import permit if you fly the pets yourself. She got mine and my friends done with no issues at all, I think the charge for the permits were 550 QR if the pet is as accompanied baggage and 2000 QR if they fly separately. Everything is done by email :) Janet Qatar Pet Relocators PO Box 2659, Doha State of Qatar Tel: +974 5528 6335 Fax : +974 44667127 I live in an apartment in West Bay and it's not easy but we have found all the "good grass" and even though we are mainly in city/pavement it is actually probably nicer to walk the dog because we encounter very few people on our walks as this area is very quiet outside of work hours. I thought living in an apt with my dog would be horrible but it's actually so big she has plenty of room to run around. I think what you need to worry most about is if your dogs bark a lot, as in, if people will complain. If so, I suggest you choose to live where there are only expats because they might be a little more understanding/tolerant. They can run off the lead during non-peak times at Al Wakra beach but its a little bit of a drive. We were told in our building if anyone complains about the dog she has to go :( it was scary at first.

Hi there PuppyLove2, Well, we do have a very big garden by Doha standards and it wraps right around the house. We live on Al Messilah, which is a LOVELY compound, but you have to have written permission from the site manager to have a dog here, which we do (I think it was more of a formality) and you are not supposed to walk dogs on the compound at all. We are under strict orders to DRIVE her to the wasteground by the compound exit for walks! Although I do see some dogs being walked on compound in the late evenings, so I dunno really. Our friends have a standalone with a big garden, but our other friends' standalone has a very small garden, so I guess there are no hard and fast rules. As for dog training classes, we've only been able to find one and she is stopping that next month as she is pregnant (Katarina at Qatar Veterinary Center). I've not managed to find any others unfortunately. I do know a couple of people out here with dogs, and it is challenging, but you can get by. Now we are slightly reluctant puppy owners too, I am quite looking forward to lots of coastal and camping trips with the pup in the cooler months....not looking forward to the summer so much though!

I would suggest a stand alone villa rather than a compound both in terms of yard space as well as minimizing possible complaints - especially from people of various cultures who do not have dogs as pets usually. As for places to walk - I've used various large empty lots near where I live where puppy can run around (my dog comes when it's called) without fear of traffic and without frightening anyone who doesn't like dogs. For myself, I wouldn't like a compound for my dog (but then, I wouldn't live on a compound if I had the choice even if I didn't have the dog). <em>edited by marycatherine on 30/05/2011</em>

There are obedience classes available through the Qatar Veterinary Center. Many villas in compounds have small yards not much larger than a backyard swimming pool. The size really depends on what compound you are in. What size are your dogs? If they are large and need room to run, you may be happier with the yard from a stand alone villa. I suppose it depends on what size yard you and your pets are accustomed to. If the dogs are going to get regular walks in the compound it should be fine, though. Getting back to the pet relocation for a moment, if you have someone else picking up the pet import permit for you days or weeks before your arrival, they may need a copy of your passport, residency permit, and a signed letter from you authorizing them to get it for you. If you are bringing them as excess baggage and handling the permit yourself, you may need to wait an hour or so for the right officer to stamp your import permit and release you from customs with your pets. When we brought ours, we waited about an hour. It depends on what time of day your flight arrives. To give you an idea how much you can save doing your own work to bring your pets, we were quoted 2,200 dollars for each dog using a pet relocator. By doing it ourselves, we only paid 500 dollars per dog to check them as excess baggage, plus vet fees to update their shots and the cost of getting the official health certification forms from the proper authorities back at home. Last I knew, they do not accept 2 or 3 year rabies vaccinations here, so even if your pets have that, it should be updated if it is more than a year since the shot. But the cost difference between the total of 4,400 dollars down to 1,000 made it worth it to us to do a bit of work! Are you flying from somewhere that is hot in the summer? In the U.S., there are restrictions on pet air travel in hot weather but if you take an evening flight out you can work around it in the summer (we did). Just allow an extra hour for flight check-in as many airline employees do not frequently check in pets and may have to ask others what to do. You will most likely need to contact the airline as soon as you book your flight to make a reservation for your pets' travel in order to get them on the same flight. Depending on whether you have a direct flight or stops in some countries/changing planes, you may be required to have a specific kind of pet id/locator chip for your pets. Sorry this is so long but I hope it is helpful. Best of luck. If you have any more questions let me know how to contact you as I tend to be on here only once in a while.

Many compounds should be fine to walk dogs on a leash but I suppose it depends on whether the compound is mostly expats or not. That being said, we regularly walk our dogs on the streets near our home and the only thing that happens is we get stared at. Once or twice people have stopped to take pictures. The main thing is to avoid public parks, the Corniche, and the beaches that are in or close to town. Many dog owners drive an hour or so out of town to some of the more remote beaches, like Fuwairit, where there is no one around who might object to a dog on the beach. Are you using a pet relocator? You can save a lot of money getting your pet here by taking them as excess baggage on your flight with you. Aside from the vaccinations and paperwork on your end, the main thing you need on this end is the pet import permit which can be obtained from the Department of Animal Resources. The trick is that they will only issue the permit within a 30 day time period prior to the animal's arrival, so you need to have someone pick it up. If you have someone willing to assist with that or have one family member arriving before others, it could be done fairly easily.

There is a "Dogs in Doha" group on FB - someone there can probably guide you. Sadly no dog park here, but I know that some people take their dogs to the beach in Al Wakra. Sorry I can't help more - I have a small dog that doesn't seem to need too much excercise - a few daily walks around the compound, and the occassional romp through our small yard.