westminster whippet

[fireworksinjuly]

the search has been called off.....
http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5335294?GT1=7840

[britishbandit]

That is ridiculous, they are giving up the search after only 24 hours!!!

[calgal]

I don't know why the owner wasnt taken to the area the dog was last seen so she could start calling her. That poor little thing is probably dead by now, especially if she went on into the swamp area.

[Novel]

If I was that owner I'd sue the airline for every penny I could...

And, if I were in that situation, and it was Topper out there, I'd be on a plane to that airport within the hour to get out there and look for my dog!!

Edit to add: I've been thinking about the suing... I guess I am an American, and my feelings kind of got away from me. Suing is not the answer, really, no one is truly at fault. The crate may have broken, the dog may have wiggled it's way out, the airline can't be held responsible for fencing in an airport, can it? It just seems in the light of the other horror stories I've heard about shipping via airplane, it is an accident waiting to happen, and if you choose to ship, you must accept those risks.

[paw prints]

Oh. My. God.

I would live there at the airport until i found my dog.
And yeah, I hope she sues the airline too.

[maggie'smom]

sounds like there may be more tothis story than we have been told! $150,000 show dog just "runs away"? and no one is looking for it?Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Novel]

I don't think it's that no one is looking for it, this is New York, I'm sure that there a lot of other things that are requiring the time of the people that were involved in the search. Even if it was my dog, and I knew I was taking officers off the street that should be out doing things more in line with their job, I'd tell them to call it off too!
I would say you could probably value most show dogs that are at the Westminster level at $150,000 or more, that does not seem unusual.
I'm sorry that the crew could not catch the dog earlier, but have you ever tried to catch a whippet? It's like trying to catch... a wild rabbit. These dogs are fast, and the poor thing was probably scared out of its mind with the strangers, the noise, the smells, etc.
Unfortunately, because they do not allow you to lock crates prior to them being boarded on the plane (for many reasons, most of them good) this type of thing has the potential to happen much more often.
The poor dog, it's just a shame. I hope the little guy is still found, alive and well, but, domestic dogs, especially pampered ones like we know we do to our show dogs, are just not cut out for living on their own, especially not in New York in the middle of February!