The Labraventures of Carbón, Spanish (ex-) foster dog extraordinaire

Umm, well, never having been in an aeroplane in my life, I've no idea of the places you are talking about. I do though hope you can get the best place for you and Carbon @Emily_Babbelhund .
If I was to find myself in the situation you describe, I'd be absolutely delighted to have a Lab encroaching on my space, eating my food and generally being delightful company, fingers crossed you get someone beside you who feels the same.
 

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
tuck your coat down the side of the aisle? :)
Heh, heh..."coat". I'm going to California. No coat. B)

But I will be bringing Carbon's travel mat (which is just a micro fibre beach towel) and it would probably do the trick.

I'd be absolutely delighted to have a Lab encroaching on my space, eating my food and generally being delightful company, fingers crossed you get someone beside you who feels the same.
I hope we'll get someone like you next to us too. :fingers:
 

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
But extra room on the window?? I don’t think so. The wall curves,
I didn't mean there was extra room. The curved wall gives something comfortable for the dog to back up against and the window position means no danger of stepped-on paws. For myself, I don't need much leg room: the advantages of being short! :D

I also don't usually get up more than once or twice on a long haul. I just wait until the other people in the row go. With Carbon, I'll try to get up even less as I don't know how we're going to handle the loo run. I like the window seat because I can turn towards the window and try to ignore the 300+ other people on the plane.

I wonder if the bulkhead seat will have enough room for him to lie horizontally in front of you rather than vertically as you would expect with a window seat? Though guess he may then be encroaching on the other two people's leg room.
Exactly: he can't lay horizontally as it would put him in the footpace of other people. Brogan didn't have room to lay vertically, Carbon may. In that case, I'd have to keep my legs on either side of him to keep him in place which is tough proposition for 11 hours. Decisions, decisions!

Re: horizontally in the bulkhead, I've already told this story, but... Berlin to Malaga and we were in bulkhead with the entire row full. Entire plane full so no chance of changing the seat. Tiny Air Berlin plane. Brogan had no choice but to lay horizontally, which meant his head/upper body in my foot space and the back end in the foot space of the passenger in the middle seat. Very cheery short and stout Bavarian lady who promptly removed her shoes and used Brogan as a furry foot rest. I was both appalled and relieved that she didn't kick up a fuss! :LOL:

(Brogan was A-OK with it, by the way).
 
He gets under the chair and out again so easily! So flexible! Like doggy yoga! I think I need to start training Snowie to do that.

And wow! The progress of wait, let’s go. Amazing! And he gets a treat for jumping onto the sofa!! :)
 

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
By the way, I had a very good conversation with our trainer about the aisle/bulkhead vs window seat dilemma. She came down on the side of the aisle/bulkhead with some good reasoning. Essentially she thinks that having the more open space will be a better experience for Carbon on his first flight. And she liked the idea of using a rolled up mat/blanket/whatever to make a barrier. She also echoed @snowbunny 's idea on using chin rest (or nose targets) to keep Carbon distracted from the dreaded food trolley.

So there you go! Three weeks from right now we'll be landing in Denver!
 

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
How is your poorly leg now and how much longer to you have to keep that boot on?
It's doing fine, thanks for asking. Tomorrow is six weeks since surgery so I'll be able to legally drive again (yay!). However not sure how long the boot has to stay on. I got all huffy about the billing at my surgeon's office and cancelled my appointment for tomorrow which would have been my final check. That means now I have to find a new doc. Now sure how that's going to work. :rolleyes:

I've tried going with just a cane to walk but it doesn't really fly and I definitely can't walk without the boot yet either. I'm just hoping I can ditch the crutches before traveling, but frankly I'm not holding my breath.
 

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Did a little experiment on poor Carbon by messing with his potty and meal times yesterday afternoon and this morning. Usually I feed him around 4pm (ridiculous, I know but that's the schedule his stomach seems to want). Then he gets his second and last potty walk anytime from 7 to 10pm.

Yesterday I took him for a longer walk at 4pm before dinner and in a new area. He did great with potty on cue in a new place, fine with walking but kind of lost it on a settle that he'd done like a champ that morning on a full tummy.

Last night no problems with not having a wee after his meal and also zero problems with going out again for a wee 17 hours after his last one.

A step too far: I took him out before breakfast. He was - for Carbon - a jerk. I kept having to remind him not to walk in front of me, to wait, etc.

All that to say that I'm now happy that he'll be totally fine with the 12 hours without a wee on the plane, but unlike Brogan he will need his meals preflight and in flight for him to feel - and act - his best.

Not really a surprise - you don't mess with a Labrador's meals!
 

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Did a little experiment on poor Carbon by messing with his potty and meal times yesterday afternoon and this morning. Usually I feed him around 4pm (ridiculous, I know but that's the schedule his stomach seems to want). Then he gets his second and last potty walk anytime from 7 to 10pm.

Yesterday I took him for a longer walk at 4pm before dinner and in a new area. He did great with potty on cue in a new place, fine with walking but kind of lost it on a settle that he'd done like a champ that morning on a full tummy.

Last night no problems with not having a wee after his meal and also zero problems with going out again for a wee 17 hours after his last one.

A step too far: I took him out before breakfast. He was - for Carbon - a jerk. I kept having to remind him not to walk in front of me, to wait, etc.

All that to say that I'm now happy that he'll be totally fine with the 12 hours without a wee on the plane, but unlike Brogan he will need his meals preflight and in flight for him to feel - and act - his best.

Not really a surprise - you don't mess with a Labrador's meals!
 
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