GMascelli
En-Route
I remove one of the back seats so she can have the baggage area or come up to us up front. If we are packing bags for the flight I'll remove both seats so she has room.
Flying with a dog in a Baron
- Thread starter Toby
- Start date
I remove one of the back seats so she can have the baggage area or come up to us up front. If we are packing bags for the flight I'll remove both seats so she has room.
Toby -
When I still had my German Shepherd, Piper, he was my flying buddy for a long time. He flew well, got really excited while taxiing, usually stood up and stared out the window. As soon as we took off, he'd get bored and just lay down and go to sleep.
HOWEVER, we had a scary situation in a Cessna 182, where the door popped open, he was in the backseat, and I got scared. I couldn't close the door (even though it was only cracked open a bit), so I reached back and grabbed Piper's collar and held him tight to keep him from checking out the new noise (lest he fall to his death, 6500 feet below).
The situation scared the crap out of him, probably mostly because of my actions. But as such, he never flew well again. He was scared to death, and would shake every time he got into an airplane.
I lost my flying buddy that day
That scenario is why mine is locked in with a harness and seatbelt. Plus, I want to make sure she doesn't jump on me or jump into the front and distract me for any reason.
RuffWear makes nice harnesses.
Not too many agencies in my neck of the woods use German Shepherds much any more. We almost always used Belgian Malinios around here (although a couple of agencies use a Dutch Shepherd). Lighter, more nimble and would fit in the back of a small plane easier.
Mine was in a plane a few times, he did the same thing he did in the patrol car. Paced back and forth from side to side in the seat a few times, then laid down and snoozed until we stopped moving.
Yeah, I've noticed that too. I like Malinois and Dutch shepherds too, they are on my list of dogs breeds I might have one day, along with Rhodesian Ridgebacks. But I've had German Shepherds for so long I understand them, and we know a good breeder in Germany. I had a long-haired German Shepherd and people frequently mistook her for a Belgian Tervuren. I was starting to think about a slightly smaller dog like a Malinois because one of my male German Shepherds was deathly ill, and I had to carry him quite a bit, and he weighed 100 pounds.
Anthony
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Anthony
I used to fly with my German Shorthaired Pointer "Mauser". Large dog, tall and about 75 lbs. I did put a harness and seatbelt on him just to be safe though. He wouldn't do too much, but I wanted him to STAY in the back seat just in case. Plus I think it is safer if you hit some turb.
Toby
Cleared for Takeoff
I hope the Baron doesn't have electrical problems. :wink2:
Hi Toby.
Hi Anthony! Ah, I will never, ever write about that. Boo, bad memories, go away!
Seriously miss flying, but at least I can relive it vicariously through writing.
Toby
Cleared for Takeoff
Handsome.
Toby
Cleared for Takeoff
GSP. "Mauser"
That is one debonair dog. I wish I could make the photo larger.
I'm so glad there are so many pilots with dogs out there. I'll surely have other dog questions as I go along.
No worries. It used to be funny sometimes I'd be talking to someone and he woke up and popped his head out at the cuff or collar and people would kinda freak..."There's a rat in your sweater!"
ausrere
Pattern Altitude
Years ago. But not that much has changed.
I agree with those who don't think the name Bounder is a good name for a police dog. All the dogs we had and most I've trained with all had short strong sounding names like Nuko, Narco, Turbo. You want the name to be something quick and easy to say with a strong sound to it because the handler would be yelling it in very loud excited situations and the dog hears it better when his attention is directed at the bad guy.
And most are trained in German or Czech commands too. No confusion that way over whether the handler is giving the dog an order or the bad guy. You don't want a suspect getting bit because he moves to get down when you yell "Down" to your dog. Bad guy doesn't know what "Platz" means typically. So if your character adopted a retired police dog, they would have to learn the commands.
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poadeleted20
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The FAA has yet to approve of instructing from the wing position, even though I kinda like the idea in some situations.
Richard
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Ack...city life
Name him Henning. That would be awesome!
I've had 8 German Shepards. Two certainly did whimper. Both couldn't stand riding in the car although did love riding on the truck bench seat or bed.
Toby
Cleared for Takeoff
I just met Nitro, a retired police dog! What a great dog, very playful. I learned a lot about life in the K-9 bureau from his owner, who still works for the police dept. but not in K-9, unfortunately.
I was originally considering Zorro, Zeus, or Hulk. Kojak is another good one. Bounder came to me in a dream, but I may change it. Thanks for the info.
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe
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Light and Sporty Guy
Valentine the Wonder Rat Dog (Rat Terrier) is an excellent flier - she hops up on the wing, climbs in the back and she's good to go. Watches out the window while we taxi and take off (barks at interesting people), then curls up for a nap during the trip portion. Wakes up and becomes alert when we descend for landing. Never a problem (though she did go zero-G like in the video of the flying dog once, in moderate turbulence; Tommy then held her until it eased up).
Her arthritic legs make her less able to leap up on the wing, unfortunately, but we just help her up.
Her arthritic legs make her less able to leap up on the wing, unfortunately, but we just help her up.
timwinters
Ejection Handle Pulled
Hence the reason why you should never allow your police dog to listen to the news these days. Lest (s)he think (s)he's been a very bad dog dog when the reporter starts talking about Herman Cain's tax plan.
Think about it..I'll wait.
NoHeat
Final Approach
Ja, Ja, Ja.
Anyway, our dog will never have this problem as we have no TV. Which is a real blessing to both man and beast, especially in election years.
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timwinters
Ejection Handle Pulled
neither do we...not since we moved three years ago. That's getting ready to change though.
Ken Ibold
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I have flown several dogs -- all of them Samoyeds -- a total of hundreds of hours. All of them have just curled up and gone to sleep. Except the first time we took one. We had a Lance with club seating. One seat was up front with me, two of the kids were in car seats in the rear facing seats, and my wife was in one of the rearmost forward facing seats. Rainy (or El-Al's Rainbow's End, if you will) was in the baggage compartment with her head stuck between the two rear seats. A couple hours into the flight my wife went to get something out of her purse ... and realized Rainy had been drooling nonstop into it for quite some time. Ick!
timwinters
Ejection Handle Pulled
Hence the name Rainy I presume?
Dave Siciliano
Final Approach
That must have been one of the other Dave's. I thought she was mixing up brand C as the dog with the Baron.
Best,
Dave
ausrere
Pattern Altitude
lol. We used PHOOEY! instead.
AdamZ
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Adam Zucker
Have had multiple dogs as flying companions and all loved to go along, just like going in the car. Usually curled up and went to sleep when the wheels came up.