Der Spartacus flew to Seattle, Washington on Tuesday and now resides in Redmond with his new family. Being that our former-traitor-coach, Mike Holmgren now coaches for the Seahawks, it is important to remember that Spartacus will always be a GREEN BAY PACKER DOG at heart. If there is any doubt, offer him a cheese curd....
We headed off on our journey at 7:00 that morning and picked up my friend, Sue, at 7:30. We needed to have him at the airport in Chicago no later than 12:30. We were able to use the Continental Petsafe program, flying him in a temperature controlled cabin and although he did have one plane change, this was the best we could do. I had frozen two trays of water for him, but those were melted by the time we arrived and I just poured bottled water in. The frozen trays are a good idea if you have a nearby flight, though, or a means of keeping them frozen until flight time. He had plenty of absorbent bedding (a rag rug and fleece bed) and I smuggled a chew tire in with him. You aren't supposed to leave toys in and I was hoping they would either not notice or not remove it, because a 6 hour flight is a long time for a baby without anything to occupy his time. Better that than having him eat his bedding!
Spartacus marched through the baggage terminal on his leash, as if he owned the place. I, as usual, also had treats on hand (this time Bil-Jac liver treats) and when he was placed in his crate I imagine he just thought we were going for another ride. I apologized for his stinky companions, as someone was apparently shipping ferrets! I was happy to get the phone call from Christoph, advising that Spartacus had made it safely and unconcerned about his journey.
You can read all about the adventures of Der Spartacus, who is going to be trained as a Search and Rescue dog, on the blog at: http://bichselde.spaces.live.com/
And now, the photo you've been waiting for...ME! The mystery person behind the camera. Here I am, holding Spartacus just before putting him in his crate at the airport. He looks like a happy little boy, doesn't he, and you just have to love those pink speckled bellies! And now you know what the puppies have to look at every morning, and they don't even drink coffee!
