'My heart broke': Metro Vancouver woman whose dog arrived dead after flight wants answers, action from airline

A Metro Vancouver woman is looking for answers following the untimely death of her dog aboard a flight last summer.

Warning: Disturbing content

VANCOUVER -- Monique Collette dreamed of the day she’d get to bring her two dogs home to B.C.

She had adopted her small mixed-breed dog, Chocolate, as well as a golden retriever she named Maverick, during the three years she spent teaching English in China.

“We were like a pack,” she said. “Everywhere I went, my dogs went and came with me.”

Collette got Maverick as a puppy, and said he had a goofy and loving personality. He also responded well to training, learning to sit and wait for his food, and shake a paw. Collette said Maverick was so obedient, she would sometimes tie her smaller dog to him if they were off-leash, and he would always steer her back when called.

“He loved playing fetch. He was obsessed with his ball or sticks,” she said. “My dream was to bring him back to Canada...and let him run wild on the beach, and bring him to big fields.”

Her dream ended with a tragic loss last summer. She was making plans to return to Canada, and had hired a professional pet mover to help make travel arrangements for Chocolate and Maverick. The dogs ended up travelling before her, in July of 2020, on a China Southern Airlines flight.