Maggie in Venice

ABOVE: When your Delta Air Lines 767 flight takes off, your pet may be left behind.

A reader called our attention to a new Delta Air Lines policy on pet travel: Effective June 9, 2012, Delta no longer accepts pets in the cargo hold--whether as cargo or as checked baggage--on its fleet of Boeing 767s. (See Delta's official statement.)

This is bad news for American pet owners who live or spend extensive periods overseas, including military families at the U.S. Army Garrison in Vicenza, which is served by the Delta route between New York's JFK International Airport and Marco Polo Airport in Venice.

To make matters worse, Delta is replacing Airbus A330s with Boeing 767s on some of its other internatinal routes, such as MSP-CDG, thereby making it even harder for military families, expats, and international travelers to fly to or from the Venice area with their pets.

Our reader tells us:

"I am just about sick with the red tape trying to figure out WHO will now fly our [dog] into Venice (at this point Delta, US Airways and Continental/United have said no).  Delta said their new policy is only non-stop flights and only to Rome. Continental/United said they only fly pets into Milan and as of May 6th if you are not military you must use a third party pet courier to take the animal to the plan even if you are on the same flight!  They won't accept pets from owners.  US Airways says no pets, period."

Note: Maggie is in the United States at the moment, and we're wondering how we can get her back to Venice without subjecting her--and us--to a roundabout, three-leg flight itinerary. (On our last transatlantic journey with Maggie, we were able to use a Delta flight into Paris Charles de Gaulle and connect to Venice on an Air France A320, but Delta's new 767 policy makes that routing impossible.)

Photo: Delta Air Lines.

During a recent cruise aboard Silversea's Silver Spirit, we spent a day in Ajaccio, Corsica (without Maggie, though next time we'll dress her up in an official-looking vest and bring her along as our service dog).

While walking near the port, we saw a dog coming toward us with its master in tow:

The dog was--you guessed it--a Bearded Collie, just like Maggie (but with a different color scheme).

The owner told us the dog's name was Tigre, and he told it to pose for Cheryl, who can't resist aiming her camera at any dog she sees.

After a few seconds of wagging and bouncing (the normal Beardie reaction to attention from people) Tigre settled down and looked noble for the camera.

Addendum: We suspect that the name "Tigre" was chosen for its irony. Tigre, like most Beardies, behaved more like an stuffed animal brought to life than a predatory jungle cat.

PHOTOS: Maggie after a bath and a drying session with three towels.

Bathing a Beardie isn't a casual undertaking: It's like shampooing a 30- or 40-pound string mop and attempting to dry it afterwards.

Our Maggie-bathing technique is fairly simple:

• First, we turn up the thermostat (unless it's summer, when we wait for a day that's warm without being humid).

• Next, one of us gets into the shower with Maggie, soaps her up with dog shampoo, rinses her, massages detangling conditioner into her hair, then showers off the conditioner. 

• After the shower, we say "Big shake!" and let Maggie shake off a quart or two of water before we release her into the bathroom. After she's shaken a few more times, we give her a rubdown with three or four large towels and turn her loose to finish drying.

Years ago, on a trip to London, we visited the pet department of Harrods and saw an item that we've always regretted not buying: It was a large toweling bag with a zipper and an opening for a dog's head. After bathing the dog, the bag's owner could place the dog in the bag and let the animal jump around until it was at least half-dry. We don't know if the bag is still being made, but on our next trip to Harrods, we'll have to look for it.