A domestic dog move runs about $300 to $3,000. An international one runs about $2,000 to $7,000. Those ranges are wide because a dog move is priced on the dog, and a beagle and a bullmastiff are not the same shipment even on the same flight.
This page explains what actually moves the number, with the figures we publish on our own route pages rather than a vague “it depends”.
Size Is the Price, and Almost Everything Else Is Rounding
Airline freight is the largest line on most dog moves, and it is not priced on your dog. It is priced on the crate, using the space the crate occupies rather than what the scale says. A crate is sized so the dog can stand without the ears touching the roof, turn around without contorting, and lie down with the legs extended, so the crate follows the dog and the price follows the crate.
This is why two quotes for the same route can differ by a factor of three, and why a quote given before anyone asked for your dog’s measurements is a guess. It is also why the cheapest thing you can do for the budget is measure early: a dog that lands just under a crate size threshold costs meaningfully less to move than one just over it.
There is a second effect that surprises people. Above a certain crate height the crate will not fit through the cargo door of a narrow-body aircraft, which removes every route flown by one. Fewer routes means less competition on the lane, and less competition means a higher price. Size does not just make the crate bigger, it makes the market smaller.
What a Dog Move Costs by Size
These are the bands we see, and they hold reasonably well across most routes. Treat them as the shape of the answer rather than a quote.
A small dog under roughly 20 pounds may fit an in-cabin carrier, and where an airline allows it that is the cheapest route by a distance, often a fee in the low hundreds rather than a freight booking. The catch is that the limit is enforced at check-in on the carrier’s dimensions, not on your dog’s weight.
A medium dog, roughly 20 to 50 pounds, is a cargo booking in a mid-sized crate. This is the most common shape of move and it sits in the middle of every range on this page.
A large dog, roughly 50 to 90 pounds, needs a crate that starts to limit which aircraft can carry it. Expect the upper half of any range, and expect fewer route options.
A giant breed above roughly 90 pounds is a different conversation. The crate is often custom, the aircraft list is short, and on some city pairs there is one workable flight a week. Price follows scarcity.
How Much Does It Cost to Fly a Dog?
A dog flies in one of three ways, the cost is different for each, and the dog’s size usually decides which one applies rather than the owner.
The cabin is the cheapest and the most restricted. The airline charges a flat fee each way, published on its own site, and that fee does not change with distance: an hour in the air and eight hours in the air cost the same. What decides eligibility is not a number on a scale but whether the carrier fits the space under the seat in front of you, and every airline publishes its own maximum carrier dimensions. In practice that means a dog of roughly twenty pounds or less with the carrier included, and a dog anywhere near that line should be measured in its carrier before anyone books a ticket.
Checked baggage used to be the middle option and it has been closing. Several major carriers now accept animals in the hold as checked baggage only for active military and State Department personnel traveling on orders, so a route a friend used two years ago may not be open to you at all. This is the option that has changed most in the last two years, so check the carrier’s current position rather than a summary of it. Our Delta pet policy guide and United pet policy guide set out where two of the majors now stand.
That leaves cargo, which is how most dogs above cabin size travel. Cargo is booked through the airline’s freight division rather than the passenger reservation line, often through an approved agent, and it is the only one of the three where the price is quoted rather than published. It is also the one priced on the crate rather than the animal, for the reason set out at the top of this page, which is why a crate measurement is the most useful thing you can hold before asking anyone for a number.
So the question has three answers rather than one. A flat published fee in the cabin, an option in the hold that may not be available to you at all, and a quoted freight rate for everything else.
When Breed Changes the Route, and the Route Changes the Price
Most airlines refuse snub-nosed breeds in the hold, because the shortened airway that makes a bulldog snore makes heat and stress genuinely dangerous at altitude. Bulldogs, pugs, boxers, shih tzus and their crosses are usually on that list. Our guide to breed restrictions covers which breeds carriers actually refuse.
The cost consequence is not a surcharge, it is a different move. A snub-nosed dog that cannot fly cargo travels by road, and ground transport prices on distance and time rather than on crate volume, typically $400 to $1,200 domestically. On a short route that is cheaper than flying. On a coast-to-coast route it is competitive. On an international route it is not an option at all, which is why an international move with a brachycephalic breed starts with which carriers are possible rather than with dates.
Domestic Dog Moves
Within the United States, a dog move runs about $300 to $3,000. The spread breaks down roughly as ground transport $400 to $1,200 and air $300 to $2,500, with the air figure covering everything from a small dog in the cabin to a large dog in cargo on a long route.
What pushes a domestic move toward the top of that range is size first, then distance, then season. A summer move out of a hot airport can cost more simply because the workable departure times are limited and the direct flights fill.
International Dog Moves, With Real Route Numbers
International moves run about $2,000 to $7,000, and the destination matters more than the distance. These are the ranges we publish on our own route pages, for a typical dog rather than a giant breed:
The United Kingdom runs about $1,600 to $4,500. France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal and Ireland all sit around $1,500 to $4,200, because EU entry rules are uniform and the lanes are competitive. Japan runs about $2,200 to $5,500, where the 180 day rabies titer wait shapes the timeline more than the price. New Zealand runs about $4,500 to $9,000. Australia runs about $5,500 to $12,000, and there the quarantine rather than the flight is what you are paying for.
Mexico is the outlier in the other direction at about $800 to $2,400, one of the cheapest international routes available. Our cost calculator breaks any of these down line by line.
How Much Do Pet Transport Services Cost?
This is the question underneath the question, and it deserves a straight answer. A full-service move is not a separate product with its own price tag bolted on top. It is the same flight, the same crate and the same government fees, arranged by someone who does it every week rather than by you doing it once.
What you are buying is the part that goes wrong when it is done once: the crate sized to the aircraft rather than to a chart, the vet sequence ordered so the certificate is valid on travel day, the endorsement submitted in time, and a second route held in reserve for the week an embargo lands. The alternative is not free, it is the same costs plus your time and the risk of a refusal at check-in that puts the whole move back a month.
If your move is a small dog, a short domestic hop and a flexible date, you may genuinely not need us, and we will say so.
The Line Items You Will Actually See
Airline freight or the cabin fee is the largest line and the one that moves most. An IATA-compliant crate runs roughly $65 to $378 at retail depending on size. USDA APHIS endorsement starts at $101 for an international move. Veterinary fees for the exam, vaccinations and any required tests are set by your clinic. Ground legs at either end price on distance.
A rabies titer test, where the destination requires one, is set by the laboratory and adds a waiting period measured in months rather than a large cost. Quarantine, where it applies, is charged by the destination government and is the single biggest line on the routes that have it.
Where People Overspend
Buying the crate late is the commonest one. A crate bought in a hurry is bought on availability rather than on fit, and the wrong size either fails at check-in or books you into a larger freight band than you needed.
Booking your own flight first is the second. The dog’s route is constrained by aircraft, season and breed, and a human ticket bought before the dog’s route is confirmed is a ticket that may have to be changed.
Leaving it late is the third and the most expensive. Every option on this page is cheaper with six weeks of notice than with two.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to fly my dog in the cabin?
Considerably, where the dog fits. An in-cabin fee is typically in the low hundreds against a freight booking that starts higher. The limit is the carrier’s dimensions under the seat in front, it is checked at the counter, and it rules out most dogs above roughly 20 pounds.
Why does the same route quote so differently for two dogs?
Because freight is priced on the crate rather than on the animal, and crate size follows the dog. A large crate can also rule out narrow-body aircraft, which removes routes and reduces competition on the lane. Size affects both the rate and the number of people bidding for your business.
Does a snub-nosed breed cost more?
Usually it costs differently rather than more. Most airlines will not carry brachycephalic breeds in the hold, so the move becomes a ground move, which prices on distance and time instead of crate volume. On short routes that can be cheaper. Internationally it can close the route entirely.
What is the cheapest international destination for a dog?
Of the routes we price, Mexico is consistently the lowest at about $800 to $2,400. The EU destinations cluster around $1,500 to $4,200. Australia is the most expensive at about $5,500 to $12,000, and that is quarantine rather than airfare.
Can I save money by doing it myself?
Sometimes, and we will tell you when. A small dog, a domestic route and a flexible date is a move that can be handled alone. An international move with a titer test, an endorsement window and a crate that has to match an aircraft is where doing it once costs more than having it done.
How far ahead should I start?
Four to six weeks domestically. One to four months for most international moves. Six months or more for destinations that require a rabies titer test and a waiting period, such as Australia, New Zealand or Japan.
How to Read a Quote, and What Should Be in It
A quote that is one number is not a quote, it is a guess with a decimal point. Before you compare two of them, check that both are answering the same question.
A real quote names the crate size it assumed, because that is the largest variable and the one most easily understated. It separates airline freight from government fees, because the fees are fixed and the freight is not, and a quote that blends them hides where the money actually is. It states which airline and which routing, because a cheaper number on a route with one weekly flight and a connection is not cheaper once a delay costs you a night of boarding. And it says what happens if the flight is refused: who rebooks, at whose cost.
Two quotes that differ by a thousand dollars are usually not disagreeing about price. They are disagreeing about crate size, or one of them has left the endorsement, the ground legs or the arrival handling out entirely. Ask what is excluded before you ask why it is cheaper.
Moving a cat instead, or as well? The numbers are different enough to be worth their own page. Our guide to what it costs to ship a cat covers cabin travel, multi-cat moves and the rabies-free destinations that add months to the calendar.
Where These Numbers Come From
The route ranges on this page are the ones published on our own cost pages, which are built from airline tariffs and current government fee schedules and re-checked monthly. Figures verified September 2026. Government fees change without notice, so treat any number here as the shape of the answer and the cost calculator as the current one.
Related reading: what pet shipping costs in general, broken down by method rather than by species, and how we handle a dog move end to end.
Last updated 7 September 2026