She squished her little body (all 77 pounds of it) under the seat in front of me as I adjusted my seatback and tray table into the upright and locked position. We settled in and waited — OK, I fidgeted and waited; she fell asleep. We were on our first airplane flight together, headed from Sacramento, California, to Denver, Colorado.

I was nervous, but I’m pretty sure flying didn’t even register on Trego’s freak-out meter. She’d down-and-undered before. She knew what to do.

Her little face rested on my foot during take-off. She looked up at me just once, as if to ask me what I was so worried about. You, little puppy, I thought. I am worried about how you’ll handle being 30,000 feet in the air. And crashing. Yep. Definitely worried about crashing.

A few minutes after the fasten seatbelts signs turned off, a flight attendant named Katie took a seat next to us. She asked a few questions; I launched into my “She is a service dog in training…” speech. Soon I was focused more on helping Katie (and the children in the seats in front of us who had turned around to learn about the puppy on the plane) understand what puppy-raising is and why Trego was learning how to be a flying dog than I was on my fear and worries about where Trego would pee once we reached Denver.

An hour and a half after we left Sacramento, the fasten seatbelt signs came back on and my stomach began to churn again. Surprise! Trego was fine.

I gripped the armrest; she slept. As the plane touched down, Trego opened one eye. That was the climax of the flight for her.

We waited for the rest of the plane to deboard, then made our way toward the doors. Trego showed off a little for the flight attendants, heeling perfectly down the skinny skinny aisle of the plane. As we stepped into the airport, she whined a little, asking for a patch of grass, then licked my hand: See, Mom, no big deal, No big deal.

4 Responses to “Proudest moment yet”

1. Lisa Says:
   September 12th, 2009 at 4:17 pm

   YAY Trego - we are proud of you!!!!
   Your sis Ellie and her PR Lisa!!!

   p.s. We’re proud of you too Becka - that’s a stressful first! Been there, done that!

2. Letha Says:
   September 12th, 2009 at 6:00 pm

   Sassafras and I will be flying from Omaha to Phoenix and back in October. It was good to read about your experience. I hope Sassy does as well as Trego.

3. Heather and Ellie Says:
   September 12th, 2009 at 6:36 pm

   WOW! Trego sounds like an amazing pup. Not worried at all. Good job! I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to take Ellie on a plane, but if I do I know I’ll be real nervous.
   I love your writing too!!

4. Swirly Says:
   September 14th, 2009 at 10:04 am

   What a cutie.

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