A Texas couple recently found their Chihuahua hiding in a suitcase while checking in for a flight out of the Lubbock Airport. “She’s the burrower, that’s what she does,” the dog’s owner Jared Owens told a Texas news outlet.
Jared and Kristi Owens were standing at the Southwest Airlines counter last weekend. That’s when an employee discovered their dog, KCBD-11 reports.
The Chihuahua, named Icky, had snuck inside Jared’s luggage.
When it was time to weigh their luggage, Jared said one of the suitcases came in more than five pounds overweight. What he and Kristi didn’t expect to see inside, however, was their pup.
“Really quickly, we are like, oh, we have got to rearrange some stuff. [She] opens it up, and literally, there’s our dog coming out of my boot, coming out of my boot with her head bopping up,” Jared told KCBD-11.
Luckily for the couple, Jared said an airport employee named Cathy Cook offered to take care of the dog while her owners were away on their trip.
“They have got a heck of an employee in Cathy,” Jared said of the Southwest worker. “She went above and beyond and never made us feel, you know, they could have turned us in saying we were trying to smuggle a dog to Vegas or something, and never acted like that. They were extremely gracious.”
Chihuahuas sometimes instinctively burrow, according to the National Canine Research Association of America. In the past, the breed used the skill to help find food and seek shelter.
