Sunday afternoon will never be the same after the latest experience on shopping for animal stuff at our local pet superstore with JudyRae. "Malcolm" the Red, a Doberman who counts himself as Jude's best friend is going on a trip. He is going out to the great northwest portion of the United States to see if he is going to like living there. "Malk" weighs in at about eighty-one pounds of active young male. The people at the airlines told Jude the size shipping crate she would need to purchase to ship him as excess baggage on her next trip out. Hence the trip to the pet superstore. She has again fallen victim to the great Delta departure from the Chattanooga.

For those of you who don't know and are interested read the next paragraph. For those of you are aren't skip and go on to the further adventures below. Federal guidelines are very strict with the temperatures conditions and the size of the shipping containers for live animals. The animals must be able to stand up and turn around or lie down comfortably for the shipping crate to be classified as suitable. It must be sturdy and approved for airline shipping use. The door must fasten securely. Bedding, food and water for flights within the continental United States is optional and strictly left up to the owner. The flight that the animal is traveling on cannot sit on the runway and or land if the temperature is above 85' or below 55'. The animals name, the owner's name and address and telephone number or numbers must be plainly marked and attached to the outside of the shipping container. The airlines are restricted from opening the shipping container unless the animal appears to be in dire distress. They may only be flown in pressurized baggage areas.

With all this in mind we return to the pet superstore. Since the area the store covers is huge it did take awhile to find where the shipping containers were on display. Once there the quandary begin. The crates range in size for the tiny Chihuahua to the Great Dane....which one which one? Well the two largest crates varied by about 4-6 inches on all dimensions but the price doubled. Now price here was no object she was just trying to decide whether the ex-large would be big enough or if the giant crate was needed. Since we hadn't brought the dog she decided to do the next best thing. Try the crate on for size.

I swear there was no one within several aisles until Jude crawled into the giant dog shipping crate sitting on the bottom shelf turned around and closed the door. I heard the snickers start about the time she asked me what I thought. Evidently many people had wandered up and watched intently as she had gotten down on all fours crawled into and turned around and sat down.

I heard an elderly gentleman remark to two younger women, "Well that is one way to test one out!" Non-plussed Jude crawled out and checked out the next smaller size. By now we had attracted male store personnel..who asked if we needed any help. I smiled and shook my head and muttered doggy person!

It did raise an eyebrow when the crate was taken to to truck...shining on the tail gate is a sign that says....Professional Kennels....he just smurked!