"It was like fighting the zombies..."

...or so Al said. The Saga of the Soft-Sided Dog Carrier began at the airport. We'd practiced at home putting Duncan inside the carrier, lured there by a biscuit, and he seemed patient (long-suffering). But then we got to the airport.



This was not a happy pup. He did not like being carried onto the plane in his Soft-Sided Carrier. He especially did not like being stored under the seat in front of Al. His nose appeared through the zipper at the top of the Carrier and soon his whole head was out. But it wasn't because he had unzipped the Carrier; it was because he had Broken the Zipper.

We had not yet taken off. Al held Duncan's head down, inside the carrier, and we tried to figure out how to keep it closed. Shortly thereafter, Duncan broke through the front mesh window of the Carrier. Al then had to hold closed the front side of the carrier (we couldn't both bend down towards it--you know how airplane seats are).

The dog continued to struggle. "It's like fighting off the zombies," Al said. "You block 'em in one place and they burst in another."

As soon as we were airborne we asked the steward if we could hold Duncan on our laps. The dog was clearly terrified, panting and stressed out. We got the OK, and he sat between us. The steward brought him a cup of water, which he drank. He was quiet for the rest of the flight.

At landing, Al looked at me. "Should we just leave it here?" he said, meaning the Soft-Sided Carrier.

"We should at least take it off the plane."

We hadn't yet seen the escape hole he'd chewed.



Our friend Tara, on our flight coming home from D.C., pointed out that the couple who had come over in Minneapolis to talk about the Westie breed (they own two) and who were also on our flight were Senator and Mrs. Larry Craig.