Safe travel vibes for Merlin please

I'm at the airport on the way to Miami and they just rolled him away to board the plane before I do! He has so sad, but everyone was so nice and his airline kennel is covered in stickers lol

They never even checked his health cert... Weird. I'm just so nervous!!!!!!

Safe travels little buddy! Don't you wish you could hide a gopro camera in his crate!

Vibes that BOTH of you arrive safely!

Also, he's so seriously grown up these days.

Safe travel vibes!

Safe travels Merlin and Fran!

Alllllllll the vibes for safe travel!

We have arrived! It was a LONG night, but flight went smoothly (other than spilling water all over this crate)

Nerve wrecking more-so for me than him I'm sure lol

Glad everyone made it safe and sound!

So glad everything went well other than being a bit damp!

(ad it totally would be awesome if you could put a webcam in their crates...)

Glad he made it safely! If you don't mind me asking, aren't service animals allowed to ride with their people in the cabin?

He would be and honestly, I could have had him with me. But I decided that it would be best to go the pet route for him in this phase of his training. The flight was quite long and I don't think he was quite ready to behave and lay down for the 3+ hours... I just didn't want him to be "one of those service dogs" you know?

He's young, and we've taken longer car rides together but that's with stretching his legs and a bit more space so yea, YES THEY CAN, I just decided not to because of his training status

I was wondering about this as well, but didn't know if it would be rude to ask so I kept my mouth shut.

I applaud you for being so responsible about it and realistic! Most handlers cannot/will not do that. You rock. You have your dog's best interest at heart and that is obvious.

That was very responsible of you (and kind to the other plane patrons)! I hope I didn't offend you by asking. I love Merlin and am happy to hear that his training is progressing, even if he's still a goofy teenager sometimes at this stage!

On a semi-related, but totally separate note - I recently heard about a service dog on board a plane that defecated in the aisle twice and caused some plane patrons to start vomiting and dry heaving from the smell. The plane ended up making an emergency landing because the crew ran out of cleaning supplies! That dog owner certainly didn't act as a good ambassador for service animals... which is a shame.

Glad everything went well!
Awesome thinking on your part, very considerate to both Merlin and the other passengers. I'm guessing it's probably a lot easier for a dog to settle in their crate opposed to having to lie down in a new place.

I was actually going to mention that as well!
From what I understand, the dog was sick and basically couldn't contain himself - whether the handler knew he was sick beforehand or not, I don't know.