Flying with Dogs

[Stagger Lee]

OK, so I want to take my dog flying with me. It beats leaving him behind when I travel for long week-ends. My question is, does anyone have any practical knowledge of the effects of the engine noise of a Cessna 172 on a dog in the cabin? I tried buying him some earmuffs (Mutt Muffs...yes, they're real) but he won't leave them on his head. Likewise, any sort of earplugs get shaken/pawed out. So how to protect his hearing, and really, is it something that I need to worry about?

[Denny of Oakland]

I am not a dog-ear specialist, however I do now a little bit about airplane noise. Flying with you dog for short flights say up to two hours should not affect his ears in a CE-172 the noise level should not harm his ears. If you operate the engine at a reduced rate, slow the propeller RPM the noise level will also be reduced, it will not take much to reduce the noise level.

What I would do is if you can watch you dog’s reaction to different RPM levels and see if it bothers him/her. If the dogs lies down and tries to cover the ears, the lever is too high. It took me a while to train my dog to wear the muffs. We practiced at home and in the car while driving, after a while she got used to it. Of course, I went through a lot of treats as well. Good luck.