Dont do this

Loren and our dog Karli departed for the USA a few days ago, leaving me here in Girona with a nearly healed elbow and no distractions for a few weeks of training before getting back into racing.  We drove to the airport to drop them off in the morning, Loren a bit nervous flying Karli in her crate down below with the luggage.  Traveling with just yourself and a carry on back can be nervewracking itself, but keeping track of the dog as she gets loaded and unloaded is a big chore.  We have the routine down pretty well now though so thats nice, and Karli the world traveler is a seasoned pro in the airplane and her crate, so nothing to worry about there.  After we checked them in, I went down into the cargo security area to put Karli and crate through security before loading on the plane.  The crate went through the scanner, Karli went through the arch way and into the crate.  As I put Karli into her crate I put her leash in as well.  The security guy noticing the bag on the end of the leash opened it up to find, like I told him, poop bags, and, to my surprise, a mace canister.  Loren carries it with her for night time dog walks and we forgot that it was in the bag.  So basically to the security guy I was attempting to sneak some mace into the create.  Oops, sorry forgot about that.  Well just throw it away and we’ll get on with getting the dog out the door, right? No. This was a big deal.  Why we couldnt throw it away and run it all through security again was beyond me.  45 minutes, 3 checks of my passport (and i wasnt even traveling) and arguments in Spanish with 3 different security people,  I was cleared of wrongdoing (barely and we got Karli out the door.  The best part is in the end, they gave me my can of mace back!! can you believe that?  I should have used the mace on that idiot.  Im super enraged at this point because its taken so long my wife had to leave to go through security as her plane was taking off in 15 minutes.  I sprinted out the door and through the airport just in time for a quick goodbye before I dont see her for 3 weeks.  Not the best way to do it but at least theres no time to get to emotional.  Luckily that was all the bad luck for the trip and they made it back to CO no problem.

Karlis ready to fly