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

Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Pee ess from Carbón’s Mama Lady: Carbón is SO excited! Once he figured out we were at the airport, he’s been bouncing around like a puppy. It really is sweet - I love to see him so happy. 🥰

And his assistance dog game has been absolutely top at the airport. He’s been a little naughty lately and I’ve been planning on us going back to school for a refresher course this winter, but when he knows he’s in a place where he has to be on, he switches on. Smart boy. 😀
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
We made it to Cookie Man! And I got mucho cookies already! Ojalá!

Si, the flight was a leeeetle hard for me. I am not such a young Spanish gentleman these days, so it is getting less comfy for me to be on a floor for 12 hours. I made lots of impatient faces and Big Sighs to let ML know that she should be booking me my own business class seat (I would let her visit me from her place in economy).

On the bright side, the woman booked in the middle seat in our row used ME as an excuse to complain and get a free upgrade to another non-Señor-adjacent seat. That is a bit sneaky and rude but it meant that we had an empty middle seat and I could spread out a bit - the nice man in the aisle seat in our row was pleased too.

The important thing is that we got here, I have now had a good siesta, and for a few weeks I will be eating all the cookies I could possibly want! Qué bien!
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
M.F. said:
If there was a dog on the plane—and especially if it were Carbon—I’d ask to be moved to the adjacent seat!
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ML here as Carbón mainly ignores things like people not wanting to sit next to him. 😉

Most people really are lovely and are either neutral about sitting next to us or flat out act like they’ve won the lottery to be sitting next to a dog for 11 hours. 😀

However my routine is to always greet the people in my row as they board and ask if they are ok with a dog - neither fearful, allergic, or whatever else. On the rare occasion that they aren’t, I’ll offer to move and call the flight crew over to facilitate that.

But frankly you can tell very quickly who is looking for a free upgrade, because they don’t want YOU to move (and in my case I’m usually moving to a worse seat in the same cabin), THEY want to move. And usually as soon as they see the dog, they don’t try to find an overhead bin for their carry on, because they are now planning on not even staying in that cabin class.

The lady yesterday wouldn’t even make eye contact with me or reply to hello - just went straight to the flight crew. Easy! I talked to a crew member later and she reassured me it was nothing I’d done (or Carbón as he wasn’t moving a muscle during boarding).

United is kind of a pushover for giving any complainers a cabin upgrade. The last time it happened to me on Lufthansa, the captain (via the crew) told the complaining person that they could sit next to the nice dog or the plane would be taxied back to the gate and she could get off. Yikes. Don’t mess with the Germans!

That’s one of my favorite Carbón stories though because she spent 8 hours with a jacket over her head - didn’t eat, drink, or watch any movies.

Then two hours before landing she suddenly takes the jacket off her head, says to me that Carbón has been so good on the whole flight, and could she take a selfie with him to send her kids? Whaaaat?

Of course I said yes and she proceeds to kiss and cuddle and sit on the floor with him. The same woman who said that she would die of an allergic reaction if she wasn’t moved to first class immediately.

The flight attendants walking by seeing this (the petting and photos went on for a while) rolled their eyes at me so hard I thought they were going to have an aneurysm . 🤣

Anyway, most people are truly kind and if someone really is uncomfortable near a dog for whatever reason, I don’t want to force them to sit next to me. All’s well that ends well this time!
 
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