Choochy

What can we learn from Choochy’s travails?

The story about Choochy has been going around.

She’s the poodle that caused chaos and flight delays at Boston’s Logan International Airport on Saturday after escaping from her travel kennel while being unloaded from a flight.

The story had a happy ending: after police, firefighters, and other airport personnel chased her around airport grounds, Choochy was finally lured to safety with snacks.

How does a dog escape at the airport? I bet it happens more than we know.
Maybe the kennel got jostled and the door popped open. May the latch was faulty or not closed right. Maybe Choochy figured out how to open the door. Or maybe a well-meaning baggage handler opened the door to give Choochy a little water or a reassuring pat on the head – and the pooch vamoosed.

I’m sure we’ll hear more about Choochy’s travels, but in the meantime I want to pass along a tip I learned this summer while serving as courier for Joplin, a Canadian guide dog being adopted by a family in Seattle.
The kennel owner who sold me a replacement carrier for the one lost by the airlines attached a small pail filled with frozen water to the inside door of the kennel. “This way the dog can lick the melting ice and get something to drink. And this way, no one needs to open the kennel door to give the dog some water – and run the risk of having the dog escape.”