Local Pet Travel

[lfrc322]

I am planning on getting a Jindo type dog in the next few weeks and I would like to be able to take him or her with me on hikes or just out in the country. How easy is it to travel within Korea with pets? If i want to take him on a cab to go somewhere, are cab usually pet friendly, what about busses/subways? I live about 10 minutes from the subway/train station here in Suwon, and have on intention on getting a car while I'm here.

Thanks for any feedback and information.

[alibuch]

If a cab sees you with a dog and doesn't want the dog in the cab, they won't stop. As for the train, keep them in a carrier. I've heard the same for the subway. If the dog is small enough you can carry them on the subway in your lap (this is what Korean friends have told me, but I haven't seen it personally)

[lfrc322]

thanks for the info alibuch

[Karen]

I feel a little weird quoting myself :P but I wrote about pet travel a bit before. I guess I should go in and change the tenses because we're not living in Korea anymore, but eegad it's OK as is. Oh, our dog is a 7kg mini-schnauzer, so not too big for travelling on public transport but much much too vocal for us to have ever tried :)

1a) Travelling in Korea
We take Sage pretty much everywhere we travel. We bought a car when we got her. Her crate cost 150,000won and our car cost 200,000! We take lots of trips because my husband is a rock-climber, and Sage can go everywhere except to National Parks. (They have cages just like in Emart at the ticket booth/ entry points. Provincial Parks, on the other hand, do allow dogs).

When she was a puppy we would take her in to restaurants, but now she is too big. She also stays in yeogwans/hotels with us, thought I don't know if a larger dog would be accepted. She also likes camping outside and going to temples, but we have definitely seen fewer museums and art galleries and taken fewer international trips since we got her.

I hear you can travel on the train and subway with a pet in a carrier, but on the intercity busses even crated pets are forced to go below with baggage (sounds cruel and traumatic to me, especially considering the driving! ). I think the smaller and quieter the pet, the easier it is to persuade the driver to allow them onboard the bus (I took a city bus with a Maltese in a soft case, driver said no problem.) I would never subject my dog to bus travel other than on my lap, and Sage is too vocal to ever be allowed in, so we've never tried. Taxis with dogs have never been a problem in my experience, though I always ask permission before we get in.

1b) Pet Hotels
I have never used a pet hotel because I haven't found one that walks the dogs, or where she could live like at home, walking freely about not confined to a cage. Instead, we've been lucky to have a friend stay at our place with her, or who will babysit her at their house when we go somewhere she can't. We can leave her alone for 4-6 hours at home of course...Getting a car for a couple hundred dollars is a really great idea, then your travel around the country would be fairly easy and unlimited.

Here's the original post, it got buried : [link removed]

[lfrc322]

thanks for the post archeology Karen... I hadn't seen that post/thread.

[Karen]

Yeah, things get buried very easily and there is no search feature with this free forum software, sorry!

[lfrc322]

its all good... i still dont think that i'll get a car though.. not for the time being.. im sure that the drivers haven't gotten any better since you've been gone