Success! But sooo stressful!
Upon checking in at Washington Dulles, the manager of Virgin was assuring me that our dog would be well looked after, and that in his 7 years working for the company, he hasn't lost a dog. Great! Then he goes on to say that there was an incident where a dog chewed out of his crate. Why? Because human cadavers were placed next to his crate and he was attracted to the smell! Why on earth would you scare someone like this just as they were about to leave?
Shocking! I was a mess for 7 hours with horrible visual images of my dog in the cargo hold.
Fortunately everything worked out in the end, and we cleared doggy customs about 4 hours after we landed.
I will say that while we were waiting I saw a few dogs who had been in quarantine for three months at the heathrow facility. They looked a mess. Their coats were dull, and their nails were nothing short of neglect. SO relieved we didn't have to bother with that.
