Talk to your vet.

That's a long flight. Have you talked with the airline to see if they have a counter-to-counter service when shipping pets? When using the service pets are not treated as cargo and are loaded last and taken off first. During lay-over they are taken to an area separate from cargo and are offered water or treats (per your instructions). Upon arrival at your destination, you will go to a specific area to retrieve your pet.....not cargo.
Counter/counter costs a little more but it's worth every penny for peace of mind.

BTW, have you double checked with the airline to confirm they'll take the dog? With the high temps across the country, many airlines won't ship pets.

Here is a link that might be useful: tips for traveling with pets

Be careful, if you do give your dog something, not to mention it to the airlines or likely they will not let you bring your pet on the plane (airlines are pretty strict about no drug/sedation policy for pets).

PS Benadryl rarely makes dogs even the least bit calm or sleepy, but some are sensitive and will react.

I had given our dog Benedryl before for longer car rides as she isn't a big fan of that either! It helped a tad but not much. I had asked my vet and she said if she has benedryl before then, it would prob be fine.

In the end I didnt give it to her! As I mentioned above, it really did not do much for here.

We flew on Continental and they work with a company called Pet Safe! The dog does not go in the regular cargo, it goes in a special handling area down below that is temperature and pressure controlled, so they can fly all year round! Not sure if all their planes have that special cargo area!

In the end it all worked out well! 2 cats (who flew with us in the cabin) and our dog arrived safely!!

Ensure you know the rules of bringing ur dog into another country! And what the airline rule is!! As they do differ!

I believe the physical for the airline has to be within 10 days!!!

Here is our process for Nicaragua:

To check what your gaining country requires goto http://www.aphis.usda.gov/regulations/vs/iregs/animals/ and scroll down and pick the List of Countries

form 7001: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/library/forms/pdf/APHIS7001.pdf

1)Animals had their physicals at the vet! Vet filled out USDA APHIS form 7001. The 2 cats could go on 1 form and the dog went on another!! our vet gave us 5 copies!! Duplicates would prob suffice!!

2) Sent that form 7001, copy of Rabies cert AND Nicaragua needed 3 statements from the vet. Its on the 1st link I provided. Was a simple copy and paste on to the vet letterhead!! But each country prob has different requirements!! I had to Overnight it to Virginia head USDA vet, in our case RIchmond! And provide them with a Postage paid return envelope!! Not cheap,lol Plus was $36 for the cats and $36 for the dog, Ttl $72.

On the sheet the USDA provided me, it said it did NOT require to be stamped from the Nicaragua Consulate! WRONG, it did!! Luckily I reside just outside DC, so caught the metro and went to the Nic consulate! Otherwise it would have had to be overnighted there and another postage paid return envelope!!

And yes the Pet Safe people wanted to see all that paperwork ! As well she checked to ensure the date on the Form 7001 was within 10 days of our flight! I Watched/listened as she did her checklist!!

So ensure you read over that USDA Aphis country requirements. Have the correct cage size!! I did a trial run to make sure all was well! Met a couple who last yr ran into trouble--their cage was to small! Luckily the Houston airport had a larger size cage for sale!! DCA did not have any cages for sale as far as I know!

Was a hassle booking the dog as Petsafe is different from Continental and they only take soo many animals onboard, 4 for our plane! And only TWO could book well in advance, the other 2 only like 3 days from the flight! So when we were booking flights would have petsafe check a block of dates to make sure it was available, then phone Continental to ensure they had openings! And of course they only take soo many cats onboard as well,lol

As well ensure you buy 1 or 2 of those water containers for the cage!! What they told us to do was fill them with water a few days out and freeze them!! And in Houston on our connecting flight, they would replenish the ice! As well we bought a cushion for the bottom of the crate! Of course some dogs may just chew them up, but ours left it alone!

The biggest hassle is just that you have a 10 day window to do the paperwork! get it mailed and returned to you! And that 10 day window is an airplane regulation! Cheers

I'm glad it worked out well for you. Our family has traveled internationally quite a few times with pets, and it can be very trying. When my daughter and her husband moved to the U.S. from England they brought a dog and cat. The cat was easy, but the dog was huge and very high-strung and timid. They contracted with an agency in the U.K. who supposedly make all the arrangements and transport the dog to the port at the proper time and assure it is boarded. They missed the first flight, and rescheduled it. They got the dog there for the second flight, but the port personnel failed to load it on the plane and it sat at the terminal all day. It made the plane the third go-around but that threw it into a U.S. holiday they never thought about and the dog landed on the 4th of July. I drove to the next state to pick it up, and found I had to go to the cargo port and when I got there, the customs inspector was at the main airstrip and about to go off duty. It was an act of God he made it to the dog in time for me to pick him up that day. God knows how long he'd been crated and it was very, very hot and the dog wasn't used to American weather. The cargo personel were wonderful, and fed him tid bits and checked his water but I was not allowed anywhere near him and the whole process took hours and hours and I was afraid I may have to take a hotel there and wait until the next day. I shudder when I remember it.

The whole move to Nicaragua, the hardest part was the animals,lol!! Booking of the animals was a pain! On 2 occasions I called Petsafe to confirm our reservation! 1st time they were like, sorry, no reservation!! But I have a Reservation #!!! So had to rebook it!! 2nd time they saw the dog, but thats it,lol No destination! So did it over again! Keeping in mind, they only allow so many pets on a flight! Good times, not! Petsafe said it was because of the upcoming merger between United and Continental!

But the actual loading of our dog seemed to go well! She was the last thing they loaded on the plane and the frist off!! We saw the PetSafe vans!! And the planes captians came across the intercom to let us know our dog was on the flight!! So that part of the process went very smoothly! Our layover was in Houston. We gave them 30 min after landing, then called Petsafe, who then called the Houston Kennel, who said she was doing well. So if one disregrads the booking process,lol Petsafe id a good job! And for the most part their operators were nice, had a few grumpy ones,lol

Sorry about your dogs European vacation! I'm not sure how I could handle loosing my dog due to travel!!