Pup Causes Delays At LaGuardia After Escaping From Cage, Running Onto Tarmac
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A crafty pooch caused some minor delays Wednesday morning at LaGuardia Airport after she escaped from her cage and took off down the runway.
The dog, a 30-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy named Byrdie, somehow got out of her cage around 10 a.m. while she was being loaded onto a Delta flight bound for Memphis.
"Being the peppy puppy she is, she decided to take a little exercise run on Runway 31," Port Authority spokesman Ron Marsica told 1010 WINS.
WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reports
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Port Authority personnel took chase and at one point, a man was seen on his hands and knees trying to coax her to him. But the young dog wanted nothing of it and was seen bolting in the opposite direction.
After about 10 minutes, officials pulled her owner off the plane and onto the runway and "Byrdie came right to her," Marsica said.
"Byrdie was very responsive to her owner," he said. "Not so responsive to our Port Authority police and operations people, but I don't believe they take it personally."
Byrdie's excursion caused quite a stir from passengers watching from afar, who posted messages to Twitter about the delays she was causing.
"Dog on runway @ laguardia causes mayhem," tweeted Scott Anderson.
"We can't take off because there is apparently a loose dog (!) running around on the runway," tweeted Robert Lund.
Planes were held up for about 10 minutes during Byrdie's adventure, but her plane didn't leave without her. The Memphis-bound flight took off about 20 minutes behind schedule with all of its passengers, and pup, on board.
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