On Wednesday, February 26, 2020 at 1:55:37 PM UTC-8, carbonprop wrote:
From the December 2019 issue of NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System Newsletter “Callback�

What’s in Your Back Seat?
This private pilot had an interesting learning experience departing an airport near the DC Flight Restricted Zone (FRZ) with a dog in the rear seat.
â–* I departed this morning on a Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) flight plan, and my intention was to maintain 1,400 feet until [laterally] clear of [Class] B airspace, which would keep me clear of the Flight Restricted Zone and all [Class] B airspace. At approximately 1,200 feet in my climb, my dog, which had been harnessed in the back seat, leapt into the front passenger seat. In doing so, he hit the dash, somehow managing to clear my flight plan out of my Garmin 430. He pulled my GDL 39 out of the cigarette lighter (my backup navigation), he knocked my tablet (also my backup navigation) onto the passenger side floor, and he ripped the microphone port of my headset out at the connector. I didn’t initially realize that had happened, and I could still hear the radio because the listening port was still plugged in. In trying to keep my dog off of the controls, and flipping the autopilot off to hand-fly, I inadvertently made a climbing turn to 2,200 feet and may have broken into Class B airspace. Upon recognizing this, I immediately descended and made my initial radio call to Potomac. At the time, I thought they had acknowledged my call, but in retrospect, I don’t think they did. A few minutes later as I was still trying to re-trim the airplane, Potomac was trying to reach me, and it was clear to me they couldn’t hear me. It was at this point that I realized my microphone port had been unplugged, and the cord was now wrapped around my 50 pound dog, which was dead weight on top of it. I finally freed the cord and made contact with Potomac. In doing so, my concentration was broken, and when I looked at my position, I was either in or very close to violating the FRZ. I immediately turned around and again made contact with Potomac. At this point forward I stayed clear of Bravo and the FRZ.

I, many times, flew 205 pounds of Labrador Retriever, two separate packages, in a Cessna 340A from San Diego to Minden/Lake Tahoe. Soon as the engines started they both fell fast asleep. Only once, descending through the turbulence around Minden on Summer afternoons, did one of the labs ever come forward to offer any help. But they are trained so I just said "place" which means go lay down on your bed and he did. One other time, the other lab was awoken by turbulence and she just looked out window for a few minutes before going back to sleep. On all but two flights I did have another person on board to watch dogs. It all comes down to decision making. Do you know how your animal will behave, what is your plan if animal I snot calm...