Jet lag: How do pets accommodate?
 

I am interested in the topic of "jet lag" with pets crossing multiple time zones. Would appreciate experienced travelers' anecdotal experience. Will be traveling to VCE for our annual Thanksgiving sojurn and we are considering taking our Yorkie along (we know he would love the walks, bridges, etc.). As well, he should be able to fit under the Biz Class Seat on Af Would love some perspective on how dogs deal with the jet lag.
Thanks.
O2K

We take our dogs from CA to MD every winter. It's not a lot of jet lag, but some... however, I don't ever notice any particular effect on their behavior. They sleep most of the day anyway, so I don't think they really notice much. The only potential effect is that they might get hungry or need to go to the bathroom based on their original schedule... but most dogs should be able to handle a shift of a few hours.

IMHO, dogs handle time changes better than humans. :)

When we moved our three dogs and cockatoo from Japan to Switzerland the dogs were fine within a day or two. The cockatoo however was really messed up for a while and was screaming "Bed tired" at 11am for about a week...
:)

The first night we had no furniture and we were sleeping on air mattresses. The dogs thought it was great fun. Neither my wife nor I slept much that night. The upside was that the following day when the furniture arrived the dogs were far too tired to be interested.

Slightly OT, I just returned from VCE and I was thinking how much my dog would enjoy walking the city. The dogs were incredibly well-behaved and better adjusted than many dogs here in the US where many stay in yards. I would say at least 50% of the dogs were not on leash, they just followed their owners. I saw many dogs on the vaporetti (don't know if it's actually permitted or the crew just looked the other way) and in the shops. I was amused when a couple of dogs from different shops would wander out and play together and then go back to their stores. Then, the dogs would just lay down in the middle of the street and go to sleep. Pedestrians would just step over them.

Same thing in Dubrovnik and in Greece.

Thanks for your post. As a frequent visitor to VCE, I have observed what you described; well-behaved dogs, off-leash and interacting well with other dogs and people. Of my 3 dogs (2 pugs & a yorkie), I know that the Yorkie would love VCE. My concern was about jet lag. Really appreciate your post; now convinced that the little guy would love a trip to Italy.

We're going to Rome and Venice next year. I didn't even consider bringing our dog as an option, but it sounds like Italy is very pet friendly.

My dog flew TATL this year and did fine. The time difference (8 hrs) never seemed to phase her.