We've Moved dogs from Johannesburg to Cape Town and from Cape Town to Edinburgh by air in crates without any issues - a little doggie Valium does wonders. Works on the dogs too
Biggest issues really was the 6 months quarantine here which stressed them out completely - you go visit and then leave them
I assume no quarantine there - if at all possible get a family member there ahead of time to meet the woofer at the goods terminal and get them into your car and back home to some of 'their' stuff that smells familiar.
I wouldn't go for a long sea voyage - the 10 - 12 hours flight isn't that big a deal - dogs are incredibly resilient ...
Good luck - just don't leave that member of your family behind!!
I've no experience with shipping dogs, but we had 2 cats which have been crated by air several times to keep the "family" together. The longest trip was the Middle East but even that was 12 hours in total with the transit stop included.
On the vet's advice they had "catty valium" and they were very dopey at the beginning of the journey and were still under the influence when they arrived.
We also had cage training for a month before we left. We got them sleeping in the cages voluntarily before the journey.
IMO, by sea would be ten-fold the trauma.
