Dog travels from South Carolina to Australia to re-unite with owners

The COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted a lot of houses. Many people were stuck away from home. Similarly, a dog was stranded 10,000 miles away from his owners.

Pipsqueak, a wiener dog, belonging to an Australian family was sailing around the world with his family when the novel coronavirus hit the world. However, as Australia decided to close their borders, the Eilbeck family —Zoe and Guy Eilbeck, and their sons Cam and Max — had 48 hours to pack up their stuff, dock their40-foot yacht in Hilton Head Island in South Carolina and fly back to their home country.

However, they had to make a tough decision of leaving theirdachshund Pip behind as Australia has strict pet importrules.

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After making a few calls, the Eilbeck family made an eight-hour-long drive to their friendLynn Williams' house where they left Pip with a hope to come back for him in a few days. However, their hopes came crashing down as the Australian borders remained shut and the coronavirus restrictions got stricter.

Little Pip and his family, however, were determined to meet each other soon. So, the family started working on the required paperwork needed to bring Pip back, but was facing one hurdle after another.

"To export a dog from America, you need to get a US declaration to say the dog is in good health and has had particular blood tests to do with rabies," Zoe explains.

"This was being done in New York, which was now closed. So trying to get anything like that done was extremely difficult."

The family was finally able to conclude the needed paperwork and was excited to meet their dog, but Qantas, the air carrier, announced that the company won't beflying dogs to the country.

With limited options and red-tape limitations, Zoe turned towards social media and posted a message looki ng for people flying east to west coast in the US to help the family out. Upon reading the post, Melissa Young, who works for dog rescue foundation The Sparky Foundation, stepped in and helped Pip flew fromGreensboro to Charlotte, North Carolina, and then from Charlotte to Los Angeles with Pipunder her seat.

From there, Pip travelled solo from Los Angeles to Auckland throughJetpets. Upon reaching Auckland, Pip was quarantined for a night and was flown out toMelbourne the next day, where she was quarantined for 10 days, as per the rules of the state.

The family was getting excited to meet their part of the 'crew', but problems increased when the state of Victoria imposed a strict lockdownand the borders between Victoria and New South Wales were closed. Pip was then taken by Zoe's brother, who resides in Melbourne.

However, Pip's social media popularity came to her rescue asVirgin Australia contacteed the family and agreed to fly Pip home.

"Our greatest fear was that she wouldn't remember us after all that time. My kids were so worried that they got a hotdog and rubbed it on their hands. And then this tiny dog walks out through the hangar, strutting along. When she heard our voices, she came barreling into our arms. It was absolutely amazing to have her back after all that time," Zoe said.

"I'm conscious that she's a dog, but we think of ourselves as a bit of a crew," said Zoe. "Living on a boat you really have to work together. And even though she just lazed about and didn't really do anything, we still consider her a member of our crew."

The family has now put their docked yacht,called No Plans Just Options, on market for sale. However, the family hopes to sail again soon."It's been a really lovely story to be a part of. Especially during a pretty horrific time in the world for most people," Zoe said.