Dog Jaunt

I have flown with Chloe on a Southwest 737-800, but while I remembered a tape measure, I hadn’t yet figured out that it would be a good idea to include a picture of Chloe’s carrier (in that case, her large SturdiBag) in my post about the available space. Thankfully, Dog Jaunt has sensible readers, including Claire, who traveled either to or from Phoenix on a Southwest 737-800 plane with Daisy, her tricolor Cavalier, and sent a picture:

How familiar the sight of that little Cavalier nose is — this could totally be a shot of Chloe, especially since Daisy’s in the same large SturdiBag Chloe travels in

I particularly like how Claire included the safety card in the shot, so it’s immediately apparent what kind of plane is accommodating that large SturdiBag so neatly.

Thank you, Claire! I’m adding your info and pictures to Dog Jaunt’s ongoing series of posts recording airplane under-seat measurements, and to Dog Jaunt’s ever-growing collection of pictures of carriers deployed under plane seats.

Reader Sarah added the following comment to a blog post I wrote in the early days of Dog Jaunt, about ideas for ways to keep your dog’s ID current while you’re traveling:

“I use loveyourpets.com for inexpensive ID tags (less than $4). I set up an email address on gmail that I include on the tag, in addition to phone and address. When an email is sent, it automatically triggers a chain of communication with me and my husband to let us know our dog has been found. It also sends a message automatically to the person who wrote the email, with some basic information about our dog. This summer, we will set it up to send a reply back in Turkish. Peace of mind.”

That intrigued me, and puzzled me too, since when I went to the site she mentioned, I found that it really only sells reasonably-priced ID tags — it doesn’t offer the features she described. I asked her for more details, and it turns out that she and her husband created their own alert system, and the process sounds simple enough that I think anyone could do it. Here’s what she told me:

“As for the tags, we get them from loveyourpets because they are super inexpensive, and have the added bonus of having one or two whole extra lines for text than other companies! While our phone numbers are on the tags, we opted to put a custom email address that would give quick information to whomever found our dog. On the tag, it says INFO! [email address].”

As she said in her comment, someone who finds her dog will see that e-mail address, and when they send a message to it, a response is automatically sent to the finder with info about the dog and how to return him to Sarah. A message is also sent to Sarah and her husband, alerting them that a finder has responded.

She began by setting up a dedicated e-mail address on Gmail:

“Once your Gmail account is created, go to settings and click vacation responder. This email sits in vacation mode permanently. We created the following message:

SUBJECT: You found me!

Hello and thank you for finding me! If I am alone, I am certainly lost. I am contacting my owners right now, but here is some information that can help me get back home.

My name is Pico. I’m 3 years old, and up to date on all my shots. I’m really shy, but would be very grateful if you helped me stay warm while I find my family. I have a skin condition called Alopecia, so please don’t be alarmed by my fur! I also walk funny from my knee caps.

If you found a little black fur ball, that’s my little brother Bartok. He’s 1 year old and up to date on all his shots. He’s super friendly. You’ll probably get some puppy kisses.

My mom is Sarah and my dad is [name]. Their phone numbers are [telephone number] and [telephone number]. We live at: [address].

I see Dr. [vet's name] at [veterinary clinic's name] in [city]. It’s in the [information about the clinic's location, including neighborhood and address]. Their phone number is [phone number].We are also both microchipped. If you give me to a law enforcement officer or any vet, they can help me get home very quickly. Thank you for finding me!

Pico and Bartok

When someone emails this address, they get this message as the automatic response. At the same time, I’ve set the forwarding settings to email not only our personal email address, but also our work and our phone text ‘email’.”

Sarah and her husband use this set-up all the time, she told me, but she “recently thought of how it could be useful while traveling. Since you can change the email response at any time, it could be updated with ever-changing local numbers while on the go and hotels/addresses. Also, it can be in the language of the country which you are traveling. While traveling stateside, it’s even easier, since the cell phone numbers don’t change.”

Because the tags they get from loveyourpets are inexpensive, she doesn’t hesitate to get new ones for trips: “We just ordered new ones for Turkey this summer with a local address and phone numbers, as well as our email address. When we go we will add a Turkish version of the email.”

There are companies out there that offer similar features (and more elaborate features, too — blanketID, source of the tag Chloe wears, will also notify local shelters and help you create a poster when you report your pet lost), but Sarah prefers her system because she is contacted first when her pet is found, not the ID tag company.

A dog, with a tag, who’s been tagged! How could I resist? (Photo by James Saper)

Playing devil’s advocate for the moment, I’ll say that it’s my impression that the ID tag companies promptly pass along the found-pet message to the worrying owners; that the expense of a tag like a blanketID and its related services ($24.99) might soon be matched by the purchase of a number of tags, even inexpensive ones from loveyourpets; and that features Sarah’s system doesn’t offer but systems like blanketID do, especially automatic notification of local rescue resources (U.S. and Canada only, at the moment) and the easy creation of a lost pet poster, are very desirable.

That said, Sarah’s system is neat and inexpensive, and gives her direct control over what a finder sees. She’s not restricted by the structure a system like blanketID imposes, and that’s appealing.

Thank you so much, Sarah, for sharing the details of how to set up the e-mail address and the automatic notification system! Thank you, too, for letting me send a test message to you to see for myself how it works.

Reader Ahmé kindly sent me a report about her trip from Grand Rapids, MI to Naples, FL, via Atlanta. She and Thomas, her 17 lb. Miniature Schnauzer, took two flights on Delta, and sat in an aisle seat on both.

Thomas the Miniature Schnauzer, not yet in traveling mode

Thomas “has excellent manners and is quiet and easy going. He shakes a little when we are getting on the plane but settles down once we get situated. The first few flights he would scratch and turn when there was a lot of noise (take off & landing) but now after doing it a few times he is pretty settled.”

Ahmé bought a large SturdiBag for Thomas, and likes how it works for him. She “trained him to go in, turn around, and sit down on command. The ‘squishiness’ of this carrier is good for him because it gets him more space and he pushes it out a bit when he turns around. It is also good for the planes because it can squish down as needed and around obstacles under the seats etc. I also like that the carrier itself is fairly light (I can’t spare any more weight with the weight of my dog) and yet sturdy and strong.”

And now inside his large SturdiBag

Their first plane was a Delta A320 (SR), and they were in an aisle seat on the right side of the plane. “He fit well under the seat, put in front to back with an extra 1-2 inches of width available. Middle seat would have also worked.”

Ahmé sent a couple of pictures of Thomas’s carrier in place under the aisle seat — one view from the aisle, and one from above, past her knees. While the carrier looks a little long in the first shot, you can see in the second that it really doesn’t extend more than an inch or so past the plane of the magazine holder on the back of the seat, so it works.

Remember to disregard the “awning” over the entrance of the SturdiBag when you’re looking at its length — it’s just a flexible piece of fabric.

“Looking down, those are my momma’s knees”

Their second plane was a Delta MD-88, and once again they sat in an aisle seat on the right side of the plane. “He also fit under the seat, I put him front to back but he could have gone side to side too because there is no partition under the seats on the two-seat side of the plane (the other side of the plane had three seats and I think he would have fit in any of the three but I would choose middle or aisle again).”

Here again, Ahmé sent a couple of pictures of Thomas’s large SturdiBag in place under their MD-88 seat:

A side view, from the aisle

And the view from above — I might have chosen to orient the bag left to right if this much of it was showing, but it clearly didn’t perturb Ahmé’s flight crew

Thank you so much, Ahmé, for the wonderful photos and the report about your trip! I’m adding your info and pictures to Dog Jaunt’s ongoing series of posts recording airplane under-seat measurements, and to Dog Jaunt’s ever-growing collection of pictures of carriers deployed under plane seats.

Reader Gail has brought us so many great photos, including two on the blog of Puccini, her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, vacationing in Italy. At the beginning of April, she sent in two scoop law signs from Portofino and Sorrento, and now they’re joined by one from Lucca:

Gail saw this sign while she and Puccini “were out for our first passeggiata” after arriving in Lucca — how I envy her!

“Fido Lindo,” it says (or “Tidy Fido”), and indeed, there the pup is, giving some brisk kicks to clean up after himself.

I had initially typed “cheerfully giving some brisk kicks,” but Gail drew my attention to the dog’s speech bubble. Part of the problem may be his nose, swollen for some unexplained reason and no doubt sore, but I suspect that he’s cursing his absent owner, who should be there following the series of instructions and diagrams (“Insert in bag,” “Pick up,” “Turn the bag,” and “Throw the bag away”).

And in case you were wondering, those poop bags? “Non alimentare” — that is, not designed for use with food.

Thanks so much, Gail, for the pictures and the translations — I am loving all the signs you’ve been posting on Dog Jaunt’s Facebook page. If you want to see the others in the collection, click on the “scoop law” tag just under the title of the post, or type “scoop law” in the search box on the left.

Just over a year ago, reader Marci sent me pictures of her outing on the Calusa Queen (in Punta Gordo, FL) with Layla, her Yorkshire Terrier. She was also getting ready for her first flight with Layla, and ended up buying a small SturdiBag for her. Here’s what she had to say about that flight, on a Delta 757:

“Well, First Class is not the way to go. I flew on a Delta 757 in First Class with a small Sturdi Bag and it was very hard to get her under the seat. The life jackets are on a sort of shelf that is dropped down from the bottom of the seats. I was worried that I would be told to push her back in more but I would not have been able to, even when squishing the bag down. However, I think because it was First Class that they didn’t say anything. Also, the stewardess saw Layla in her bag as we came in and we talked about her dog, so that might have helped as well. First Class is great, and do-able with a small bag but there is no way you would be able to do it with a large.”

Marci wasn’t able to take measurements, but you know what size a small SturdiBag is (18″ L x 10″ H x 10″ W), and here is Marci’s picture of it in place under her seat:

A small SturdiBag not quite entirely under a First Class seat on a Delta 757

It’s not ideal, true, but it’s really not too bad — the front of the bag is even with the leg brackets of the seat, and that’s about where Chloe’s carrier ends up on our flights together. (Recall that Chloe has a large SturdiBag — two inches taller and broader than Layla’s carrier — and having heard Marci’s report, I would not attempt to fit it under a Delta 757 First Class seat.)

Marci also sent a close-up of Layla inside — through the mesh, you can see her face and her Pebbles-style top of the head ponytail:

Layla snoozing in her carrier

Thank you so much, Marci! I’m adding your info and pictures to Dog Jaunt’s ongoing series of posts recording airplane under-seat measurements, and to Dog Jaunt’s ever-growing collection of pictures of carriers deployed under plane seats.

Reader Hannah left a comment, oh, so long ago, on my post about the major U.S. airlines’ carry-on policies, reporting a conversation that she’d had with a Delta rep about traveling with her pup Oliver from Asia to the U.S. Kindly overlooking the fact that I only responded, ahem, two months later, she posted a follow-up report about their trip. The carry-on part is interesting, but I’m putting it at the end because the part that knocked my socks off was how she prepared for her flight — specifically, how she thought ahead about the fact that her dog, new to travel, might be anxious, and therefore noisy:

“Before the flight I put together 40-50 ziplock bags with Hershey Kisses and a little note about Oliver to give to passengers in my section. Everyone loved it and was super friendly about his whining (they could barely hear him anyways). No one even minded when we had a little escape incident (I like the SleepyPod and Oliver LOVES it, but it is pretty easy for him to nose his way out if it’s open a crack or if my hand is in there).

The flight attendants were happy to get chocolate, and they made sure I had plenty of wine in exchange! One flight attendant offered to give me newspaper so he could potty in the lavatory. The baggies really put passengers in a good mood at the beginning of the flight, and everyone started sharing stories about their dogs. One lady had two of her dogs flying in cargo on the flight, so it gave her a chance to talk about them.

I’d recommend this to anyone flying a long-haul. I didn’t give out the bags on the short flight (I was too mentally and physically exhausted to engage people) and everyone was quite crabby and grumbly about Oliver whining under my seat. I think it’s a great idea for short flights as well!

Here’s the note I included:

‘Hi! My name is Oliver. I’m a little mutt from the streets of Korea. Then I was sick and lonely in doggie prison until some humans came and rescued me. My human mom is taking me to America where I can run and play in a yard with grass. I don’t really know what that is yet, but she says it’s fun. She’s doing everything she can to make me be quiet during this flight, but I’ve never flown before and I’m pretty scared. I’m sorry if I whine or bark. If I could get out of this carrier, I’d give you LOTS of kisses. Since I’m trapped, here are some chocolate kisses for you!
Love,
Oliver
p.s. My human mom is named Hannah. She’s in seat 32D (to Detroit) or 6B (to Columbus) and has earplugs in case I bother you too much!’”

The basic idea isn’t new — I’ve written before about a reader’s suggestion to bring tasty treats for the flight attendants — but I love how Hannah thought big, and brought treats for an entire section of the plane. The note, too, is perfect. The only thing I might add is a picture of my pup, but really, it’d be icing the cake. That note would melt the most flint-like heart.

Photo by meddygarnet

I was about to finish this post and hit “Publish,” but I just can’t without reminding you — not that you need reminding — that chocolate is delightful for your fellow passengers, but deadly for your pup. Make sure she doesn’t get into those Kisses at your house or en route to the airport!

Hannah’s report re Delta’s carry-on policy

Delta’s web site doesn’t make it clear whether Delta is one of those airlines that counts your pet’s carrier as your carry-on, or as your personal item. The difference is important, because if it’s the latter, you can also board with a small, carry-on suitcase (which is all many passengers fly with; not me, but I loop Chloe’s bag over the handle of my wheeled carry-on for treks through airports). Delta’s site states that “Your pet counts as one piece of carry-on baggage,” leaving you no wiser than you were when you turned on your computer.

In her March 2013 comment, Hannah reported that a Delta rep had told her that she “would be allowed to take my dog in the carrier IN ADDITION to my personal item and carry-on.” She planned to call back closer to her flight date and ask again, and here’s what she told me:

“I called Delta back regarding my dog and carry-ons two days before my flight. The first person I talked to said that I could NOT take a carry-on suitcase (wheelie bag) and my dog — I could only take my dog and a ‘personal item.’ This, of course, made me freak out since I needed to transport thousands of dollars of camera equipment and electronics in my wheelie bag. I’m one for calling airlines twice in a row since their reps usually give different info, and I’m glad I called back on this one. The second time I got a more experienced and helpful rep who actually double-checked in a rule book about the issue (the first rep ‘asked [her] supervisor,’ and still came up with WRONG information). The second rep said that I could take my dog and my wheelie bag, since I would be putting the dog under the seat and the wheelie bag in the overhead compartment. That made me feel much better.

My experience in airports has taught me that no one actually polices carry-ons. (Do they? They have those FAA announcements, but I’ve never seen or heard anyone getting in trouble for having too many). Since I had so many treats and things for Oliver, I decided just to risk it and carry my purse, along with the dog carrier and my wheelie bag. If someone said something, I’d just play dumb. I tried to make it inconspicuous, and no one noticed for the whole journey. In fact, I saw a couple of other passengers with three bags/items. I had plenty of room under the seat for Oliver (we have a SleepyPod) and my purse (which is pretty soft, flat, and floppy — I wouldn’t recommend doing this with anything structured). He wasn’t cramped at all. I think we were on a Boeing 777, and it was worth it to pay a bit extra for Economy Comfort. On the second flight (only 30 minutes on a smaller plane), he still had enough room down there with my purse.”

It sounds to me like the answer is that both a pet carrier and a carry-on are allowed on Delta, since that was the answer Hannah got from the more experienced reps she spoke to (the original customer service representative she called has a mini Schnauzer of his own and they fly a lot together).

Thanks so much for your comment, Hannah — the tip is brilliant, the news is useful, and I know how much effort it takes to write a long message like yours. Thank you for your work, and your willingness to share info that will make other travelers’ trips easier!

This is not the first Parisian scoop law sign I’ve posted. Nearly three years ago I started Dog Jaunt’s scoop law sign collection with this (blurry) placard from the Marais, and chortled over the owner’s trowel (now that I look at it again, I wonder why I didn’t notice how he’s also shooting a death ray at his dog with his left hand — granted, his pup is clearly not attending to business, but that seems extreme).

Nowadays it takes way more than a mere garden tool to make me cherish a scoop law sign. Happily, the marvelous @gastrognome, Naomi Bishop, was up to the challenge (recall that she brought us, two weeks ago, a sign from Avignon that combined solid good sense with a dog wearing a mullet). Here’s what she found when she rummaged some more in her photo collection:

I was stunned. Is it even a scoop law sign? Would its audience (this is Paris, after all) necessarily make the connection between loving their dog, being responsible for him, and picking up his poop? But the question that really has to be asked is why is there a small Eiffel Tower on that dog’s head? (There are other questions, sure, like why is he wearing a bow tie, and is that a plummeting snake over his left ear, but they’re less pressing.) Why?? And why does it have, as Naomi pointed out, a Christmas tree topper on it?

There are no answers. This sign is as enigmatic as modern French literature, and I love it. Thanks so much, Naomi! Happy Friday to you all — have fun with your pup this weekend, and if you have a chance, send me a picture! If you want to see the rest of the scoop law sign collection, click on the “scoop law” tag just under the title of the post, or type “scoop law” in the search box on the left.

This was by far the most popular Dog Jaunt giveaway ever — 85 of you entered to win, and that means the comments section on the giveaway post contains a wealth of excellent dog travel tips. I have learned so much over the past week — thank you, and thank you, too, to the kind souls who praised the blog.

The Kobi carrier in the delectable chocolate-and-pink colorway. Photo by Kobi Pets.

The randomly-chosen winner is Davinah S., entrant #5, whose tip was to “Try to find flights that leave late in the evening! A good long walk, and your dog will already be a bit sleepy because their bedtime is soon!” Congratulations, Davinah! Please send me an e-mail at m-a@dogjaunt.com and let me know your shipping address, and which color combination you want for your carrier (charcoal/black or chocolate/pink). As I mentioned, I’ll have Kobi send the carrier directly to you, and I’ll send the mesh luggage wrap (still not available on Kobi’s site, or elsewhere) separately from Seattle.

Thank you again to everyone who entered! So many of you will be bummed not to have won, and I’m sorry about that. If you’d like to purchase one for yourself, Amazon sells the Kobi Pet Carrier: All sizes, both colorsand the large costs $114. Despite what Amazon says, that’s the same price that Kobi sells the large carrier for (why is $129 grayed out in the Amazon listing?). If you’re signed up for free shipping from Amazon, you may decide to go that route, but please note that Kobi also offers free shipping. And that leads me to my final thank you — thanks to Kobi Pets for letting me know about its new, larger carrier and mesh luggage wrap, for sending me a set to try out, and for agreeing that I could give them away to a Dog Jaunt reader!

Almost a year ago, I wrote a depressed post about Priceline and the companies that seemed to be in its market space (Hotwire, Last Minute Travel, Hotel Tonight), concluding that none of them offered useful services to travelers with pets. Thanks to reader Adrianne, I now know that the situation has improved.

Mind you, “Name Your Own Price” is still not an option for travelers with pets, since the bidding pages do not include any opportunity to narrow your focus to pet-friendly hotels (you can only choose your neighborhood and star level). The same is true for the site’s “Last Minute Deals” feature (which may just be the new name for Name Your Own Price).

In fact, Priceline’s new pet travel booking site, ilovedogfriendly.com, does not include a Name Your Own Price feature. (When I wrote to the PR rep asking specifically about that feature, I was told “As we feel that its better for pet parents to book a vacation based on their dog’s needs, we do not offer the name your own price tool. As you mentioned in your post, pet policies vary from hotel to hotel, so our systems works with the traditional price method of booking.” It’s a deft answer, but given Priceline’s resources, and given its need to distinguish itself from an array of existing similar services, I think a better approach would have been to develop a booking system that allows pet owners to choose a hotel that suits their needs and allows them to take advantage of Priceline’s best-known feature. The sad fact is, though, that I do not run the zoo.)

Adrianne’s note told me that Priceline now has “the Express Deals. It’s similar to the Name Your Own Price option and I have noticed pricewise it’s pretty close to what I would have bid in the past. It shows the area of town, star level of the hotel, and tells you the amenities and if they allow pets. Just like the Name Your Own Price you don’t know what hotel you get until you pay.”

And indeed, I confirmed that the site’s Express Deals feature (“up to 50% off”) can be used by travelers with pets. When you’ve told Priceline your city and travel dates, you’re sent (after a one-two punch from William Shatner) to a page where you can refine your results by, among other things, clicking on “Amenities” and then “Pets Allowed.”

If you have a tricky pet situation (e.g., large pet, multiple pets, non-dog pet, pet subject to breed bans), you’re still not going to be able to use this service satisfactorily, because you won’t know the listed hotels’ precise pet policies. However, if you are a traveler with an easy pet (i.e., one small dog), you’re in good shape. If a hotel takes any pets, it will take yours.

That’s progress, and I appreciate it. But I look forward to the day when Priceline (or a competitor) dedicates some funding to a tool that will make bargains available to all travelers with pets.

It’s just a glorious day here in the Pacific Northwest, and, fittingly, this week’s clicks are a bouquet of cheer and inspiration. The first one is from the PNW, in fact — Go Pet Friendly hosted a great guest post about staying at the former officers’ quarters of Fort Worden, just outside Port Townsend, a drive and a ferry ride away from Seattle (remember the movie An Officer and a Gentleman? yep, that’s the place). Four of the little houses are dog-friendly, and when you’re sick of the gorgeousness there, you can poke around lovely Port Townsend.

A view in Port Townsend (photo by Robert Sanzalone). The Palace Hotel, a former bordello, welcomes small pets.

Their guest post may have highlighted the PNW, but Team Go Pet Friendly is actually in Texas, and they posted this report from Marfa, an extraordinary artist’s colony in an otherwise quiet part of the state. Return to the West Coast to check out Have Dog Blog Will Travel‘s recommendations for a dog-friendly visit to California‘s San Luis Obispo County (three counties north of Los Angeles, and the home, among other things, of some seriously good wineries). Veering northeastwards, Montecristo Travels visited the eye-catching Hog’s Back Park and Falls in Ottawa, which looks like a great place for a walk and a picnic.

And that’s it for North America. All the rest of the links are an ocean away, starting with some recommendations for dog-friendly boutique hotels in Spain (treasure them — every dog-friendly tip you can find for Spain is precious), and specifically in Granada, Sevilla, Ávila, Valencia, and Cáceres. Speaking of Spain, reader Laurel has arrived in Barcelona with her sweetie and Lilly, their Jack Russell Terrier, and she’s writing tempting and picture-laden blog posts about it. Here’s the main link to Inspiring Moments – scroll back to May 2, then move forward from there (well, scroll every which way! but the Barcelona posts are May 2 and following).

And then it’s over to the U.K., by way of the island of Jersey, where Phileas Dogg‘s Vee and the Travelling Bear spent a week consuming ice cream and going on walks. Arriving on the mainland, the first stop is the dog cemetery at Edinburgh Castle. The second link is old, but new to me, and how can I pass up telling you about a book of dog-friendly walks in Derbyshire and the Peak District?

Manfully resisting the temptation to segue to the next link by suggesting that you sail to the U.K. (just look at how I resisted doing that!), I merely suggest that you check out this post on Something Wagging This Way Comes about how blogger Pamela is helping her dog Honey get comfortable with some of the alarming things she’ll encounter when they start sailing together. And when you return from your own voyage, return to a home with a dog-friendly garden, with help from this sensible Mother Nature Network article.