Arete Pet Transport Review: International + High-Touch Domestic [2026]

Arete Pet Transport is a family-owned, Utah-based pet transporter that handles door-to-door ground moves for dogs, puppies, and cats across the United States. It is a smaller, owner-operated service rather than a large fleet or a marketplace, and it has built most of its reputation on the CitizenShipper platform. This review covers who they are, what they offer, what verified customer feedback shows, and who should consider them.

Routes, current pricing, and booking deposits are listed on the official Arete Pet Transport site.

Comparing operators? Our pet transport companies hub rounds up every service we have reviewed.

Who Arete Pet Transport is

Arete Pet Transport, which also operates under the name Arete Dog Supply, is a family-owned company based in Utah. According to its own materials, it specializes in K9 and feline transportation, with particular experience handling bully breeds and dogs that are harder to manage in transit. The company describes itself as a door-to-door service delivering across the USA, and it offers both shared community rides and solo private rides.

The company is active on CitizenShipper, the pet transport marketplace, where it is listed as a professional transporter. Its CitizenShipper profile reports six years of experience, more than 1,800 completed shipments, and a 4.8 out of 5 rating from over 200 customer reviews. Those figures come from the platform's own tally of completed jobs and verified buyer reviews.

One thing to verify before booking: confirm Arete's current USDA APHIS registration status yourself through the APHIS portal. Any operator transporting pets commercially for sale should hold the appropriate USDA registration, and checking it directly is the most reliable way to confirm a transporter is compliant.

What Arete Pet Transport actually does

• Long-haul ground transport across the United States
• Door-to-door delivery as the standard service
• Shared community rides and solo private (VIP) rides
• Climate-controlled vehicles, with pets riding in kennels for safety
• Specialty handling for bully breeds and harder-to-manage dogs

Arete transports pets in climate-controlled mini vans and provides kennels for use during transit. The company states that pets ride in kennels for added safety, and its CitizenShipper listing notes that shipments include $1,000 in pet protection coverage through the platform. Customers can bring their pet's own bedding or belongings to keep them comfortable on the trip.

Note on international moves: Arete's published materials describe a service that delivers across the USA, so it is best treated as a domestic ground transporter. If you need to move a pet overseas, confirm directly with Arete whether they can help. Moving to the UK instead of the EU? Post-Brexit, the UK requires a separate Animal Health Certificate (AHC) replacing the EU Pet Passport. See our UK pet transport guide for full requirements.

Services and pricing

Arete's booking model uses a credit card deposit to reserve a slot, with the balance due on delivery. The balance can be paid by Venmo, Apple Pay, CashApp, Zelle, or credit card. Pricing depends on route, distance, pet size, and whether you choose a shared or solo ride, so exact quotes are confirmed directly with the company. The figures below are the representative quotes recorded in our earlier review of Arete.

• Cross-country US (50 lb dog, private): $2,200–$2,800
• Cross-country US (50 lb dog, shared): $1,400–$1,800
• Mid-range (1,000 mi): $1,000–$1,500

Pros and cons

The biggest strength of Arete is its track record of consistent, communicative service. Across hundreds of reviews on CitizenShipper, customers repeatedly describe steady updates during transit, drivers who answer questions quickly, and pets arriving safely and clean. For a long-haul move, that kind of communication is often what separates a stressful experience from a calm one. The company's solo private ride option is also a genuine advantage for anxious pets, post-surgical pets, or animals that do not travel well alongside others, and its stated experience with bully breeds is useful for owners of dogs that some transporters will not accept.

The trade-offs are typical of a small, owner-operated transporter. Arete is a domestic ground service, so it is not the right fit for an overseas relocation. As a smaller operation, its schedule and routes are more limited than a large fleet, which can mean a longer lead time before a slot opens for your dates. Most of its verifiable reputation lives on a single platform, CitizenShipper, rather than being spread across many independent review sources, so buyers who want a broad paper trail have fewer places to check. Finally, a private ride costs more than a shared community ride or a low marketplace bid, so budget-focused owners should weigh that.

What customers say

Customer sentiment for Arete is positive but concentrated. The clearest signal is its CitizenShipper profile, which shows a 4.8 out of 5 rating from more than 200 reviews and over 1,800 completed shipments, a meaningful sample size for a transporter of this size. Recurring themes in those reviews are frequent communication, timely pickup and drop-off, drivers sending updates and walk videos during the trip, and pets arriving happy and clean.

Arete also comes up in Facebook pet transporter review groups, where breeders and buyers ask for and share experiences. The mentions we found were generally favorable, including repeat customers thanking the company for safe puppy deliveries. We want to be honest about the limits here: outside of CitizenShipper, the volume of independent, verifiable third-party reviews is modest. We did not find a substantial body of BBB or large-platform Google review data to corroborate the CitizenShipper score, which is common for smaller operators. Treat the CitizenShipper rating as the strongest evidence, and ask Arete for recent references for your specific route.

How Arete compares

Against larger relocation specialists, Arete is the more personal, ground-focused option. WorldCare Pet Transport is built around international moves and air cargo logistics, so it is the better choice if you are crossing borders or oceans. TLC Pet Transport is another door-to-door ground operator with a similar high-touch positioning, and owners deciding between the two should compare lead times and route availability for their specific dates. Compared with a marketplace approach, where you collect competing bids, Arete is a single fixed quote rather than an auction, which trades the chance of a lower price for the certainty of a known operator.

For a side-by-side look at every operator we have reviewed, see our pet transport companies hub.

Who Arete Pet Transport is right for

Arete is a good fit for owners and breeders who want a domestic, door-to-door ground move with a consistent, communicative operator and who value a known transporter over the lowest bid. It is a strong option for anxious pets, post-surgical or elderly pets, and bully breeds, especially when booking the solo private ride. It is less suited to overseas relocations, to anyone who needs to travel on very short notice, or to budget-first owners who would rather collect competing marketplace bids. As with any transporter, confirm current USDA registration, insurance, and a clear written quote before paying a deposit.

The bully-breed and difficult-dog specialty

Arete's clearest differentiator is its focus on K9 and feline transport for bully breeds and difficult-to-handle dogs. This is not a niche to overlook: many transporters quietly decline pit bull-type breeds, dogs with reactivity, or animals that are hard to load, and breed-specific airline embargoes make ground transport the only practical option for some of these pets.

What the specialty means in practice:

• Experience handling reactive or strong dogs, rather than a generalist driver learning on your animal
• Ground-only routes that sidestep airline breed restrictions entirely
• A family-owned operation where the same small team handles your pet, which reviewers credit for the calm, clean arrivals they describe

If you own a breed that airlines embargo or that other transporters hesitate on, this specialty is the main reason to shortlist Arete. For the broader picture on ground options, see our ground pet transport guide.

How Arete runs a transport

Arete operates a coordinated ground service with a few defining operational choices:

• Two-driver teams running 24/7, so the vehicle keeps moving while one driver rests, shortening total transit time on long hauls.
• Minivan transport with climate control and continuous driver care rather than crate-stacked vans.
• A firm health-certificate requirement: every animal needs a valid USDA health certificate before travel, so line up your vet visit early.

Booking is handled directly or through its marketplace presence, where you can read independent review history. Confirm your pickup and delivery window in writing, since 24/7 team routing means timing is built around the run.

Reading Arete's review record

Arete shows up as a top performer on CitizenShipper, with a very high rating across 200-plus reviews and well over a thousand completed shipments. When a marketplace operator carries that combination of high score and high volume, it is more meaningful than a perfect score on a handful of reviews, because the rating has survived hundreds of real trips.

Common praise themes:

• Puppies and dogs arriving clean, calm, and happy
• Constant contact with photos and videos throughout the trip
• An efficient, compassionate team, especially with anxious or strong dogs

Because the verified history lives on a marketplace platform, you can filter reviews to routes similar to yours before booking, which is a real advantage over operators that only show curated testimonials.

Best fit and what to confirm

Arete is a strong fit if you:

• Own a bully breed or a dog other transporters won't take
• Want a vetted, high-volume operator with verifiable reviews
• Prefer ground transport over air for a strong or reactive dog

Confirm before booking:

• That your USDA health certificate will be valid for the travel dates
• The pickup and delivery window, since 24/7 team routing schedules around the run
• Total price in writing, including any multi-pet or long-distance adjustments

Compare it against other vetted operators in our best pet transport companies roundup.

Arete Pet Transport FAQ