A friend and neighbour of mine — let’s call her Gertrude — wonders whether you can send a small dog across the country by courier.

FedEx specifically prohibits Live insects, animals, birds, reptiles and plants, including cut flowers… so they’re out.

As far as I can tell, UPS has no such restrictions (although their Irregularly Shaped Items page doesn’t not specifically address the special requirements needed package a dog.)

Similarly, the confusing DHL website would appear to have no information on dog-related shipments; they can, however, tell you the literacy rate in Croatia, which often comes up when shipping dogs.

At Purolator you can ship tires and pails at no extra charge, but alas not live animals, birds and insects (besides which, I imagine that like “glass and ceramics,” a dog would not be “compatible with Purolator’s high speed sorting and handling process.”

Just when I was despairing that I would not be able to assist dear Gertrude, I found the Independent Pet and Animal Transportation Association International, which sent me to PetFlight, “a very personalized service where we like to think our client is the pet, and the family is the loving people who pay for the service.”

So there you go.

(If you ever find yourself needing to ship animals, the IATA has a very helpful page of information.)