John MacEnulty is an American from St. Louis, Missouri who lived in Germany for a year with his wife, daughter, and their nine-year-old dog Joey. When John’s mother passed away, the family decided to return to the US for good.
After settling all their affairs, they booked a flight with United Airlines, the same carrier they used when they moved to Germany a year earlier. They had used the airlines’ pet cargo program before and were confident that it would be suitable for their long travel again.
But when the day of their flight back home arrived, they learned that the program was suspended. The death of a dog in their cargo, and several other incidents involving animals a week earlier, made the airline make that fateful decision.
Left behind
The family was dismayed to learn that their pet was not joining them on their flight. But they were relieved when they found another flight he could travel with. It would be leaving half an hour after their flight. Unfortunately, when they arrived at the O’Hare International Airport, they received an email informing them that Joey could not board his flight.
The transport company said that the dog was being aggressive and showing signs of separation anxiety. He had already destroyed two pet carriers and injured his nose in the process. The company didn’t want to take any more risks.
John tried looking for other airlines, but without a vet’s approval, no one would take him.
Two weeks
Joey was placed in a pet hotel near the airport in the meantime. John and his family were worried, so he decided to fly back to Germany as soon as possible. The whole ordeal was costing them a lot of money, so they raised funds online. Thankfully, they were able to reach their goal.
For the next two weeks, Joey stayed at the hotel until his owner could finally smooth things out. John got a vet willing to give the dog Xanax to relax the dog. They were then able to get an airline to agree to transport Joey.
Source: John MacEnulty IV via Facebook
