@goldendoodle BE CAREFUL with your fur babies. We just arrived Oct 1st, 2021. We flew from California (LAX), stopped briefly in Frankfurt, Germany to change planes, then to Faro, Portugal. We flew Lufthansa. We transported 2 dogs, an 85 pound Airedale Terrier (Brooklyn), and a Chihuahua mix (Phoebe), both 9 1/2 years old. Both were first time flyers and travelled in kennels under the plane, with the baggage. Travel time was 15 hours + about 2 1/2 hours at the airport pre-flight. Both arrived stressed, dehydrated (our vet warned they probably would not drink, though they had water bottle affixed to their kennels). Our Chihuahua mix was fine, upon inspection from the airport vet. Our Airedale wouldn't exit the kennel, so she had to be pulled out. She was unable to walk, no strength in her rear legs. Her right hip was rotated outward, we feared it was broken. We held up her rear torso so the airport vet could examine her legs, he stretched and massaged them, thinking she had just spent to much time laying in the same position. He determined there didn't appear to be any broken bones. Now a little history for Brooklyn (Airedale), she was an older dog and already having soreness in her hips, especially after a night's sleep, but she could walk before the flight. The vet helped us get her outside after processing paperwork. We had to use her blanket as a sling to support her rear torso, as she was immobile. After carrying her into our rental car, then our apartment, it was early evening, there was no change in her lack of mobility. She drank bowl after bowl of water, while lying on the floor. The next day we transported her to a local vet in Olhao, who did an exam and took x-rays. There did not appear to be any broken bones in her legs, but they saw what looked like spinal cord damage in her back, which the vet believed was pinching a nerve, cutting off feeling to her rear legs, basically she was now lame. We have no way to know if her kennel was dropped during transport, or exactly what happened. Medication and surgery were options, neither with any guarantee she would ever walk again. She spent the previous night panting, expressing pain the only way she knew how. This was the sweetest big teddy bear of a dog, who loved everyone she ever met, including animals. We couldn't bare to see her continue in pain like this with no quality of life. We made the heartbreaking decision no pet owner ever wants to make, and said our final goodbyes laying on the floor of the vet's office with her as she took her final breaths. Not the introduction to Portugal our family had dreamed of, though no fault of the country itself.
