I do not own a dog...

[hollysmom]

69. consider the big picture

If you have ever been on a boat or a large bus you know the ride is rougher the further you are from the center of gravity, which is why the inside car is comfortable, but the on top, you will rock and jerk around, no matter how tightly a case is tied down. You can get seasick on things other than the sea. Dogs tend to like inside car rides, sticking their heads out for a while, not hours,. but my experience is they do not like to be jerked around, I could tell that by the different way my husband and the way I drove with the dog in the car. Slam on your breaks and you have an unhappy, if not injured dog.

Some dogs love crates, but do they like being in a crate on the floor or bouncing around for hours? When animals fly in crates (something I would not like to do to my dogs as so many get injured, lost or killed that way) there is some turbulence on take off and landing, but not for the entire trip unless there is something seriously wrong with the plane.

When judging this trip, you have to take into consideration, the lack of bathroom breaks for the dog, the lack of water for the dog, with possible dehydration, the lack of food, the distance from the center of gravity, the speed and the ability of the driver not to mention the air pressure on the animal. Truthfully, it would be less painful to travel the way cattle do on trains.
I think since the dog was given away, that there was no real attachment or affection for the dog - some monied people don't feed or walk or wash their dogs, they have servants or people they like to fire for that. Some people consider an animal an interchangeable accessory and it sounds like this family did as well. Reminds me of the South Park with Paris Hilton's dogs constantly committing suicide.