Last week, I flew on CO, IAH to LGA. It was a very crowded flight and since I was able to go standby and get an earlier flight than my original connection, I was lucky to get a window seat in the very back, close to the lavs.

A few rows up, there was a lady with a VERY unhappy dog in a crate under the seat. The dog was crying intermittantly for some time. At last the seatbelt lights went off, and there was immediately a long line for the lavs. Dog Lady grabbed her pooch (in its carrier) and got in line. The FA told her politely that she had to leave the dog under the seat, whereupon Dog Lady snarled, "He s@#$# himself, okay? He s#$!#$ all over the carrier and am I taking him to the lav to clean up." And sure enough, you could smell it everywhere. The FA went to get some air freshener and towels, and in the meantime, Dog Lady slipped inside the lav, where she remained for the next 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, the head FA told passengers that this lav was now off limits and directed people to use the First Class lav. The FAs cleaned up the seat area and sprayed a lot of air freshener, and the head FA finally began to knock on the door and tell the lady she had to come out. He was, at all times, respectful and polite but also very firm.

Dog Lady finally came out with her pooch, and the FA directed her to the back galley where he gave her a very stern talking to --- again, very polite and professional, but instructing her that she should not have gotten the dog out of the carrier (I guess she had done it at her seat; I couldn't see) or taken him into the lav, which was now unusable for the remainder of the flight. He handed her a blanket and said, "This is what is going to happen now, and this is not open for discussion or negotiation. When we're done talking here, you're going to put this blanket over the dog carrier and it is going to remain there for the rest of the flight. I don't care how much he cries, the blanket will remain there and you will not open the carrier again for any reason. You are going to remain in your seat with the dog under the seat in its carrier for the rest of the flight. When we begin to deboard, you are going to stay in your seat until the rest of the passengers leave. At that time, two officials are going to come and talk to you about what's going to happen next."

Dog Lady was very upset and continued being rude to the FA, and he showed remarkable restraint, at one time warning her that he had the right to "escalate" this but he was choosing not to. He listened to her complaints but kept repeating his instructions to her. When I deboarded the plane, I saw that she was in her row, but NOT in her seat, and was in fact preparing to deboard ... wonder how that went over with the two CO officials who met her at the gate.

So this is a very long account, but my question is --- what should the lady have done, aside from not being rude to the FAs (who were very professional and comported themselves really well under difficult circumstances)? Had it been my dog, my instinct would have also been to clean it up and remove it as quickly as possible from disturbing other passengers. But apparently, taking it into the lav was a big no-no.

Felt sorry for the FAs, and the poor little dog, BTW.