Narrowing my search for a new puppy. There's a potential pup 3 hours from NYC but I have no experience with puppy transport.

I could fly up and back myself or hire a transport company but does anyone have experience or pointers doing this?

All advice welcome and appreciated.

Yes, often a small pup can be a "carry on" on a small soft crate. We've flown a pup that way, and flown a dog in a crate in special cargo before. You can also hire personal transport drivers.

Our preacher's wife raises some high dollar dogs and ships them all over the world. I reached out to her for advice. Will advise.

If you do choose to transport your new pup yourself, make sure to book your flight with the carry-on pet service/add-on sooner rather than later.

When my wife did this last year to pick up our new Boxer pup from Kentucky, AA was only allowing 1 pet per class (business, coach). Also note that there may be an additional fee for this. At least there was last year when she went through it.

Of course if you're flying someone other than AA, their policies may be different.

I was able to get in touch with my contact who does this quite regularly with her very expensive puppies she ships.
Advice given:
If you use an airline like AA they won't ship dogs with flat faces due to breathing issues.
She exclusively uses American A.
They won't ship if departing location, or stops or destination locations are <30 degrees.
If the pup is > 12 weeks old they will require a vet letter in rabies vaccination.
Dog should be microchipped.
You will need some various other forms from the vet as far as breed verification.
Crate should have a pad in it. Not just paper towels or newspaper.
Crate will need two bowls attached to front door. Need to supply some kibble for food.
Said all info can be found on AA cargo on website.
She ships to various law enforcement and military agencies all over and has never had a bad experience.
She says she won't use a ground shipper or transport because they put multiple dogs together and in her professional opinion they don't take care of the dogs well.
Vet will need to supply a health certificate. It will be good for 10 days.
Hope this helps you.

Yeah, to be honest, our preferred approach is usually personal handoff. We meet halfway or something. Or we work with people in our breeder and show or competition network to arrange ground transportation by people we trust. I'm sure there are reliable transportation services bit they would need lots of solid referrals and references.

Unusual circumstances had my fiance right near the breeder in upstate NY but it was not difficult just putting the puppy in a carrier and flying it back to Colorado.

When I was younger, I bought a puppy from an Out-Of-State breeder once. The breeder had her flown in to my location.

I was so excited to get her. I picked her up at the airport, opened the carrier, and she bolted into my arms.

It was then I realized she'd had explosive diarrhea from being scared during the trip, and it was covering her from head to toe.

Good memories.

What breed?

catahoula pup, will be about 9-10 weeks old if this should happen....leaning towards flying myself there and back but flights aren't working out for a 1 day trip right now ( IAH to Scranton ). Thinking about maybe flying in out of Newark and meet halfway (?)

Son, Daughter and I flew our lab pup back on Southwest from Denver. He just about sized out of the approved carrier for underseat placement.

Not sure how the rules have changed since 2017.

Sent a puppy to Connecticut recently and they flew into Austin and I met them at the terminal the next morning. They had to purchase a pet pass for like $100 before the flight and I believe they had to check in at the desk as opposed to using the kiosks. No health certificate was required but needed proof of age and vet records showing vaccines to date.

They used American Airlines