Most Canadians return home from the Dominican Republic with a nice tan. But Jena Butts returned to Toronto with a dog. Jena came across the homeless pooch in Puerto Plata and fell in love with the canine who now goes by the name of Winston. Jena decided to bring the doggie back to Canada so that he could have a stable home and regular meals.

Too bad Winston almost died en route to Canada.

Indeed, when Jena landed in the wee hours of the morning at Pearson, her luggage soon followed — but little Winston was AWOL.

Jena searched and searched for her beloved rescue dog, but it was nowhere to be found. What further added to her stress level is that Jena says Air Transat employees and airport personnel didn’t seem concerned. Winston was just another piece of lost luggage — except for the fact that he’s a living thing, not an inanimate object.

Twenty-one hours (!) later, a customs officer found Winston. He was dehydrated, covered in urine, and near death.

Luckily, Winston was revived and he has since gone on to live happily ever after — no thanks to the chaotic hellhole that is Pearson International Airport these days, a realm of endless delays, cancelled flights, and literally tons of lost luggage.

Lesson learned: if you love your pet, don’t put it on a plane until things return to normal, unless the current situation is the new normal for the foreseeable months — or even years — to come...