Brachycephalic or short-nosed dogs are dogs that have a much shorter snout than most dogs. Due to their short snouts, they often have problems such as breathing issues, overheating, and other internal and less obvious problems.
Overheating, or the inability to cool themselves properly, is a major issue for brachycephalic dogs that travel in the cargo hold area of planes. Traveling in an airplane cargo hold can be a very nervous endeavor for any pet, and while the area of the plane that they use to transport pets is climate controlled the experience could be too much for your short-nosed pet.
Many airlines have more stringent temperature requirement for transporting brachycephalic pets that you should pay special attention to. And while overall pet travel is very safe, your short-nosed pet is at a higher risk for problems.
Make sure you have your veterinarian check your pet out for air travel, never use sedatives, and don't fly your pet if you think it might be too much for them to handle. You know your pet and are in the best position to make a decision if it will do well on a plane.
Current as of February 2024
From May 2005 through February 2024, 145 of the 303 dogs that have died during air travel have been brachycephalic dogs.
You can find out about all of the pet related travel incidents on our pet incidents page.
Map of all airports that have reported an air travel, pet related incident.
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