Before a trip to the Netherlands with my daughter, all three of my dogs needed completely different plans.
Ginger was staying home. Wizard was going to a sitter. Thunder was coming with us.
And Thunder’s plan was definitely the most complicated.
We tested flying before the big trip
Thunder had flown overseas with us before, but in the past he flew in cargo. This time, he would be flying in the cabin with us, which was new for him.
So before committing to a long international flight, we did a short test flight the previous fall to make sure he could handle it.
Thankfully, he did really well.
But a short test flight and a long overseas flight are still two very different things.
There were plenty of details I was trying to plan around once we landed, including how long Thunder might have to wait before he could finally get outside.
I even tried to pee-pad train him ahead of time.
Let’s just say… he was not impressed.
Real life with dogs is rarely perfect
We can plan, practice, and prepare the best we can, but sometimes the plan is still a little messy.
That doesn’t mean we failed. It means we’re working with a real dog who has opinions, stress levels, preferences, and needs of his own.
Sometimes we want the perfect answer. The perfect food. The perfect training plan. The perfect supplement. The perfect routine.
But real life with dogs is rarely perfect.
A better goal is learning how to support the dog in front of us.
For Thunder, that meant preparing as much as I could, keeping things calm, watching how he was doing, and giving him time to settle again after everything was over.
Then we actually did it
A couple of weeks later, we were back from the Netherlands.
The trip itself was a lot. Long travel days, 5 a.m. wakeups, chilly rainy weather, and a whole lot of figuring things out in a different country.
But Thunder amazed me.
This was his first long flight in the cabin with us. We were lucky enough to have an open seat between my daughter and me, so Thunder had a little more room to lie on the floor instead of being squeezed right under our feet the entire time.
And he handled it all so well. The airport, the flight, the time change, the new smells, the new country, the long days, the weird schedule… all of it.
He really is such a solid dog.
I don’t say that because he’s perfect. No dog is.
But he has this steadiness about him that makes me appreciate how much confidence, trust, and preparation matter.
That short test flight was worth it
I was especially glad we had done that shorter flight first.
We didn’t just throw Thunder into a long international flight and hope for the best. We tested it first, watched how he handled it, and then made the best plan we could.
That didn’t guarantee everything would go perfectly.
It gave us information.
And I think that’s something we can do for our dogs in everyday life too.
Try something on a smaller scale when possible. Watch how your dog responds. Learn from what happens. Then decide what the next step should look like for that dog.
The more we understand our dogs, the better we can support them.
Thunder did amazingly well on the trip, but I was still very happy to get home, see all of our dogs again, and feel everyone settle back into normal life.
Originally sent to Rescue Dogs 101 subscribers on May 12 and 26, 2026. Published online in September 2026.
