Lubbock couple finds pet chihuahua as stowaway in suitcase

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Jared and Kristi Owens were excited for their trip to Las Vegas last weekend. It was business as usual at the Lubbock airport, until check-in. At the Southwest Airlines counter, the last thing they expected to see was their dog.

“They put it on the scale and this bag is basically like five, five and a half pounds overweight. Really quickly we are like, oh, we have got to rearrange some stuff. Opens it up and literally, there’s our dog coming out of my boot, coming out of my boot with his head bopping up.”

Icky, the family’s tiny Chihuahua, had hidden inside Jared’s boot. Jared says despite their surprise, burrowing is something they expect from Icky.

“She’s the burrower, that’s what she does. She burrows in clothes, she burrows in, obviously suitcases now.”

Cathy Cook was the employee at the Southwest counter who helped Jared and Kristi, and even offered to watch little Icky while the family was gone. Jared says Southwest Airlines is lucky to have such a wonderful employee.

“They have got a heck of an employee in Cathy. 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. Never acted like that, they were extremely gracious. Like I said, she was willing to watch our dog for us while we were gone.”

Jared says he is thankful they were able to find Icky before they had actually boarded a plane.

“Thank goodness we found this dog because you would have gotten to Vegas and you probably would have had a deceased animal in your bag.”

Jared and Kristi say Icky is okay, and is still loving her new suitcase home.

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