FERGUS LANDS IN FLORIDA 20 JUNE 2008

Charlotte Anderson writes: Fergus has arrived, amidst much drama . . . . . . and he is soooo cute. But he is so skinny! It's like there's no meat on his bones. His ribs feel like they are poking through his skin. I left him in the downstairs bedroom in his crate, with the crate door open but with the bedroom door closed so that Kizzie can't get in and terrorize him. I put a clean, soft blanket (in fact, it was the one Brenda sent with Chance) in for him, along with a "warming soother" for comfort, along with some water and a little food. I thought initially that I could leave the door open with a puppy gate as a barricade, but Kizzie immediately jumped over that. Fortunately, I had the foresight to to keep the crate latched when I tried that. Kizzie is anxious & curious (so much so that she barely noticed the new toy I gave her), but seems not at all aggressive. I just went down and peeked in on him, and he has left the crate. I put out a little rug & a cushioned pad for him so that he doesn't have to stay on the cold floor. I left newspapers out, as well, but I assume he will take advantage of the opportunity to "baptize" my newly refinished terrazzo. Tonight has been an adventure. The drama of his transportation did not stop with finally getting him on the plane for Tampa. Being the obsessive-compulsive that I am, I called to check on the flight status about 7:00 p.m. There were some problems locating it because the flight number was not the same as it was last week. My call was directed to Houston (as in, "we have a problem") for information. The flight was delayed, but he would definitely be on the flight to Tampa, and would arrive at the cargo terminal just a bit later than scheduled. Continuing with my o-c behavior, I began trying to determine exactly where Continental was located at the cargo terminal because when I went to pick up Joey at United, I discovered that United shares a location with another airline and did not have its name displayed. I was assured that Continental's name would be prominently displayed. That should have satisfied me, but it didn't. I was determined to learn the exact location. I was given a phone number, which I called and received recorded instructions to leave a message and someone would call me back. Over an hour later, not having heard from anyone, I renewed my efforts, with the Continental folks getting quite exasperated with me. To mollify me, they finally switched me to someone in Tampa, who snippily assured me I would have no difficulty finding their location, but that if I wanted any more information I would have to call back tomorrow because the cargo business office was closed. Uh, oh . . . I explained I had a dog scheduled to arrive at 11:57 p.m. and that the flight was delayed and that I needed information on picking the dog up. Seems that the cargo area itself closes up shop at 11:00 p.m. and that I won't be able to pick the dog up there. (The Continental folks exasperation with me was beginning to pale in comparison to mine with them.) I was instructed that the dog would be delivered to the passenger baggage area and I could pick him up there. That seemed easy enough, I said, and asked if I could just pull up to curbside and retrieve the dog. Oh, no, you can't do that. You will have to park in the garage and come down to baggage claim to get him and schlep him back to the garage. That seemed a little inconvenient. I asked if some accommodation couldn't be made, especially since they had provided us with the wrong information . . . as recently as about 30 minutes earlier. Oh, no. Can't be done. Not allowed to park at curbside and come in. Officers will send me on my way. However, if I wished, I could have someone else drive the car around & around while I went inside, provided proper identification, and waited for the dog. Patiently I explained that had we been given correct information in timely fashion I might have arranged to have someone with me to assist in such a procedure. It was now after 10:00 p.m. and it was a little late to make such arrangements. Surely there must be something they could do to help me out. The person I was speaking with did not want to deal with me anymore and transferred me to a "lead" agent (this is all in Houston, remember). After a very long wait, the "lead" came on and we started all over again with the saga. Finally, she decided to contact someone in Tampa and bring her in on the call. That done, I was again told there was nothing to be done, but they would make certain a skycap was available to assist in schlepping the dog to the parking garage, but not to worry, I would have an hour's free parking. Oh, and by the way, the plane has been further delayed and will not arrive until 12:50 a.m. . . . and the baggage claim closes at 1:00 a.m. Okay. I just want this done with. I'll be there. At their request, I give them my cell phone number (which I'm certain had already been provided) and was given the number for "Ada's" direct line. At midnight, 50 minutes before I had to be there, Ada called. The flight is arriving at 12:20 a.m. and the dog would be at baggage pickup about 12:30 a.m. It's a good thing there's not much traffic that time of night . . . and a better thing there were no police officers along the way. When I was about five minutes away, I called Ada to inquire whether it was very busy at curbside. She said it wasn't. I asked her to have the skycap waiting with the crate and I would park and take my chances on a ticket. After all, how much could it be. She didn't know, but did tell me that my car would be towed within minutes of arriving and that I really should go to the parking garage. I told her I would drive by to see if the skycap was waiting and would take my chances. Well, by now it was very busy at curbside. I had barely slowed down before an officer was at my car, telling me to move on. So, I just stopped. I rolled down the window and told him I needed information. He told me I couldn't park there. I insisted on asking my question, i.e., exactly which door was the correct one (or some such thing). I told him I was picking up a dog, a rescue who was probably traumatized & terrified. He decided I could park and go inside (that is something I have never, ever heard of happening before . . . there are many horror stories about people attempting to wait a few seconds at TIA). He put some sort of pass on my windshield so I could do that. I went in, found Ada and gave her the proper identification. Yes, the dog was there, but had been taken somewhere in the back. She would get the skycap and have him meet me at my car. I went back out and assured the officer the dog was on his way out. I put the top down so that the crate could be put in and then waited. And waited. Finally, Fergus arrived and was placed in the car. I went over to thank the officer for his help. He assured me it was okay. He didn't mind helping people who were nice. Then he and another officer came over to see Fergus and make over him. I explained about rescue & puppy mills & they were suitably outraged. After I put the top back up and started to leave, they stopped all the other cars coming up so that I could leave without difficulty. Marsha Aarons responds: Charlotte, I laughed as I read this because our experience picking up Duffy at Greater Pittsburgh Airport was very similar. Only this time it was American Eagle. I went online to check status of the flight. He was supposed to arrive in Pittsburgh at 10:40 p.m. I had begun checking at about 9 p.m. to see if he had left O'Hare. The website tracking said nope, hadn't left, flight delayed. Checked again at 9:30, flight status . . . still delayed. Well, there was a big country music concert in our downtown that night [with] Kenny Chesney and several others. In order for us to get to the airport we have to drive through the downtown. Many of the concert-goers would be leaving on the same road we had to take to airport and I had visions of us getting stuck in traffic for hours. So I told my husband, let's go NOW as the concert had been going on all day and I had no clue when it would be over. We got to the airport at 10:30 p.m. and the flight status board said flight on time. Wahoo . . . Duffy would be there by the time we walked down to baggage claim M as I had been directed by American the day before. We got down there and it was like ghost town USA. No one was there. I mean, no one . . . no baggage agent, no baggage, no nothing. Door to agent's office was locked & dark. Desperate, we went over to the open door of another airline that had humans in it, lights on, etc. They said the flight had been removed from the board so it must be in. Fortunately I had the number of American Airlines baggage for somewhere else in the country. They said flight wasn't in and wouldn't be in until 11:30 p.m. I decided to go back upstairs to the terminal and get some coffee to wait for Duffy. Security told me everything in the airport was shut down. I would have to walk all the way to a hotel connected to the airport. Suddenly, caffeine wasn't so important. Go back downstairs. The agent for American suddently appears and looks as though she had been on a dinner break. She says flight won't be in until 11:50 p.m. and that the dog would be brought out to waiting area. Ok . . . all systems 'go' now. At about midnight, someone brought Duffy out on a huge cart along with a few pieces of luggage. Fortunately my husband came with me as I would have never been able to get his kennel over to the parking garage and would have run into the same problem you did. Oh, I should mention that within a few minutes of getting to her office after what looked like a dinner break, the agent left again and didn't come back until Duffy had been brought out. I suspect she was taking her coffee break . . .

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