Last night, despite a crazy, hurricane-force wind storm just east of the Rocky Mountains, United Airlines Flight #403 landed in Denver with Contact Point IndyGo Girl on board. Following a four-hour delay in Los Angeles and 45 minutes in a holding pattern about 270 miles south of Denver, Indy and her new daddy (my pal Don Hansen) made it home safely.
Thanks to sage advice from others who have made such treks, Don headed off to California loaded for bear (or pup, in this case). For the flight crew, Don filled giftbags with dark chocolates and included a thank you card from Indy, which featured her photo. He had potty emergency supplies. And, he carried some Starbucks gift cards to use as needed for fellow passengers … just in case Indy caused a scene. (Thanks to her size, she rode in the cabin with Don in a small, soft-sided carrier.)
Indy (a blue, tri, rough coat border collie) comes from Karen Moureaux in Fillmore, California. According to Don, Contact Point’s pups often go to agility, flyball, herding, and other performance homes. The litter even had their own lamb.
During the delay in Los Angeles, Don and Indy befriended the flight crew. With charm well beyond her weeks, Indy earned an invitation to visit the cockpit, which was a treat for Don who often logs time in flight simulators. The captain even let Indy borrow his hat and snapped these photos with his cell phone camera.
(That’s Don, looking over the moon in love with his baby girl.)
In his first message to passengers, the captain also welcomed “the very special border collie puppy named Indy” aboard.
Indy handled air travel like a pro.
When she got fussy about 45 minutes outside of Denver, Don says, “I grabbed one of the potty pads I had brought with me, a pack of Huggies diaper wipes, a Ziplock bag, and Indy’s carrier and zipped back to the lavatory.”
“We had to wait in line for about three minutes, and when I got in, quickly laid out the pad, removed her from the carrier and set her in the middle of it, only to have her sit down and look at me. I thought, ‘Drat, false alarm, …”
“Until several second later when the large yellow wet spot expanded from beneath her on the pad. What a little trooper! She held it until we got on the pad. I was so pleased. I quickly cleaned her up with a wipe, rolled everything up and sealed it in the ziplock bag and disposed of it in the trash. When I came out with her, I assured the flight attendant of how I’d contained everything, and she was so impressed!”
So despite really wacky winds, flight delays, and other travel hubbub, Indy arrived at her new home, ready to embark on her career as Daddy’s Go Girl.
She joins the Hansen Agility Team of border collies, which includes Don’s MACH3 Bailey and his wife Lori’s MACH2 Rusty and up-and-comer Blip.
P.S. Lori is famous for her Human Agility Training classes and DVD (http://www.humanagilitytraining.com/). Check it out!
What a pretty puppy. Soon those CP BCs are going to be everywhere. I know of a least two or three who live near me.
It was interesting reading about the things don did to prepare for his flight. I would never have thought of all that but now if I ever need to fly my dog, I’ll definitely try at least some of those ideas.