Commercial airlines are not deliberately cruel or even particularly careless when it comes to shipping dogs; they just aren’t set up to deal with pets efficiently. Unless a dog is small enough to carry on board the plane, air travel is risky.
The basic problem is that to an airline, your pet is just an especially bothersome piece of baggage. And as everyone knows, baggage slip-ups are inevitable. When a mistake means your luggage goes to Minneapolis while you go to Atlanta, you’ll survive the inconvenience. But if your dog goes to the wrong city or is forgotten on a luggage carousel, it may not.
