“Meet Drago”
or “The Quest”
I just got done with my thirty two hour, 2,400 mile journey to pick up my new puppy from Rittermark kennels in Oklahoma. Man what a trip. It started out ok, my plan was to fly out with my pet carrier to make sure it would fit under the sit which it did, go over to Steve and Becky’s place, make my final choice for a pup, do the paperwork and fly back the following morning with the pupper under the seat as allowed by American Airlines.
I arrived ok, Steve picked me up at the airport and we stopped for a burger and beer at one of OKC’s finer establishments. Steve already had a pup in mind for me and I agreed with his choice. Steve and Becky got to know me pretty well from my thirteen week stay in OKC for school so he knew pretty much what I was looking for in a working line GSD.
The following morning I went to Steve’s to load up my pupper and drive to the car rental place to drop off my POS rental and Steve was going to drop me off at Will Roger’s International. Steve helped me carry my stuff to ticketing and that is when the problems started. In the opinion of the ticket agent the carrier was too small, apparently it is the policy that pets should have enough room in their crate to Square Dance and have guests over for tea. After much discussion and supervisors and supervisor’s supervisors I was given no option but to reschedule my flight and come back with either a shipping crate and my poor pupper to travel in cargo or find a larger pet carry on.
Steve was a hero on this. He drove me to PetSmart and we got both a crate and a larger pet carrier. So later that day we went back to OKC international, the airline agent issued me a hard ticket we hustled past the agent, damn if wasn’t the same one that turned us around before. She had her head down so we ran past her and got into the TSA line. TSA didn’t care that I had a puppy, First I had to empty my pockets and my laptop bag. I had to take my suspenders off and my shoes, I asked the TSA guy what about my puppy. He told me to take the puppy out and carry him thru the metal detector with me. So imagine this, a fat guy with no shoes on, no belt or suspenders to hold his loose pants up holding a puppy. I made it thru without embarrassing myself.
I got to the boarding nervous as any person pushing the rules could be and thought I was in the clear when we started boarding. I got stopped AGAIN by the agent. She asked be for my pet pass. Pet pass I don’t need no stinking pet pass. Apparently you do on American Airlines, got stroked for another hundred dollars. They took care of it in a second and I got to board.
I got my puppy under the seat with out any problems, got a dirty look from my seat mate and secretly prayed to Saint Francis that puppy would settle in and go to sleep. Steve and I had earlier played with him a lot and got him good and tired. As soon as we pushed off from the gate I texted Steve that we were good to go and he could take off and we wouldn’t need the crate. Both puppy and seat mate fell asleep as soon as we got weight off wheels. No troubles from OKC to Dallas on the one hour leg of the flight.
In Dallas/Ft Worth airport I had to carry my thirteen pound puppy and my over night stuff to the other side of the airport to catch the connection. They had a tram but you had to walk forever to get to the tram. I had an hour and a half lay over so I got a quick bite and a big cup of ice for the puppy, I didn’t want him loading up on water. So right there at the tram station I laid out my towel I liberated from the Marriot the night before sat my fat ass down and took my puppy out and let him lick and chew on the ice that Steve suggested I give him before we left.
For about an hour puppy and me sat on the floor and played with the toy that Steve and Becky packed with him. Talk about a stress test for a puppy! There we were in a busy airport on polished faux marble floors, all the strange noises, strange people coming up to him, wheeled suitcases and vehicles scooting past him and he just crunched his ice and played tug with me. That has to beat the Volhard Puppy test all to hell.
I asked the ticket agent if she could get me an aisle seat because of the puppy and she got me three seats to myself for the three hour flight, what a break, got to sprawl out and everything. Puppy started to whine a bit but nobody could hear him over the jet noise and the noisy toddler.
We got home at midnight, Mom and the kids were thrilled, I gave him a big meal from the food Steve and Becky had packed, let him run around a bit and potty and crated him for the night. He cried a little and went right to sleep for six hours with no crate accidents. I can’t thank Steve and Becky enough for their help for getting me home with my puppy. I can’t imagine too many other breeders helping their customers this much.
More to follow later.
Elko Aus Der Rittermark
Call name "Drago"
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“Meet Drago” or "The Quest"
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