i am flying from seattle to denver for thanksgiving, i want to take fender with me. i have never flown with a dog before. i am flying on united. when i called they said the dog had to be less than 9 inches to fly with me, otherwise he has to go with the cargo. fender is about 20 lbs. and taller than 9 inches! it is only a 2 hour flight so i reserved the space in the cargo. any advice? am i doing the right thing?

We have only flown dogs 6 times, but everything has always been ok - just had one problem when Tex went to Cleveland (from San Diego) with my husband for a show in Dec. before 9/11 - the connecting flight from Pittsburgh was snow delayed. Bob spent the night in the Pittsburgh airport while Tex was comfy in the airport kennels. The next day they didn't get Tex to the plane in time and they called me to tell me they had my dog in Pittsburgh. I said, "You have my husband too!" and they explained that Tex had missed the flight - did I want them to put him on the next flight or would I pick him up? I informed them that driving from San Diego to Pittsburgh to pick up the dog would be a bit difficult, so please put him on the next flight! Duh… they called me, didn't they notice they were calling across the country? But it worked out fine, Tex was there about an hour after Bob... poor dog really had to pee but was otherwise ok.

Terry

I have flown down from Northern California to Southern California to visit my mom and attend some dog shows with Rio. I have used United each time. Rio is about 19 pounds and 16.5 inches at the shoulder. I use the large Sherpa and she flies in cabin. I always make sure she is in her Sherpa when I check her in and so far, I have not been asked to remove her from her Sherpa. I think the 9 inch requirement that you were told about is that the bag can be no taller than 9 inches which means a basenji sized dog must lay in the Sherpa and can not stand up. I have heard some people have had counter help that will not allow a dog that can not stand up in Sherpa to fly but it seems to vary airport to airport and airline to airline.

What do you do if your dog has to go potty while on the plane?? My C3PO will get whiney if he has to go outside to relieve himself.