I am flying my german shep/coolie who is 60lbs for the first time from hawaii to seattle! I just picked up the kennel today and I am taking to the airport to make sure it okay to fly! Any info or any other kennels for air travel would be great!

The Vari-Kennel is fine. I prefer to zip-tie it together as the screws have been known to loosen and drop off.

One thing you need to realize about a plastic crate – a dog can, if scared enough, push out the door. PLEASE drill a small hole in the lip of the plastic on the top and the bottom by the door posts and ZIP-TIE the door closed when you get to the airport. I say this due to two incidents — one, a b*tch who I was picking up at the airport was let loose in cargo — a 7 mile chase after and she’d run the pads off her feet and developed a fear of men (due to the cargo guys chasing and trying to tackle her) and secondly — the top winning Samoyed in 2001, won the 2000 Nat’l Specialty, and was flying home from Eukanuba when he broke open the door to his crate in the plane, crawled into an area without oxygen and died.

Giving water – I’ve found it best to freeze water in a plastic container and zip tie it to the door. The dog has access to water for hours but won’t get wet.