Woman heads to trial on charges she abandoned dog at Pittsburgh airport

An Armstrong County woman has been ordered to stand trial on charges that she abandoned her dog at Pittsburgh International Airport this summer.

Allison Lyn Gaiser, 44, of East Franklin waived her preliminary hearing Monday morning in front of District Judge Leonard J. Hromyak, court records show.

Gaiser, who is representing herself in the case, will be arraigned in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court on Dec. 1. She faces two counts of neglect of animals, two counts of cruelty to animals and one count of abandoning a dog within the state.

Allegheny County Police said Gaiser abandoned a dog near the airport’s short-term parking lot before getting on an Aug. 4 flight to a resort in Mexico.

The dog, a brown and white male French bulldog, was found unattended in a stroller about 5:30 a.m. that day. It wore a dog license and had an identification microchip.

A county police officer found the dog sitting in the stroller outside the moving walkway enclosure next to glass exit doors in the short-term parking lot, according to a criminal complaint.

The dog was not restrained. A bag of dog food was found in a bowl under the stroller, but there was no water.

Police said a review of surveillance cameras showed Gaiser pushing the dog in the stroller as she entered the moving walkway from the long-term parking lot at 4:23 a.m. She went to an airline ticket counter.

The complaint said an airline employee told police that Gaiser tried to bring the dog with her on a flight, but the dog was denied boarding as it did not meet the criteria for an emotional support animal and did not have a proper kennel, as required.

After going to the ticket counter, Gaiser was seen pushing the dog in the stroller back toward the moving walkway, the complaint said. At 4:50 a.m., she headed to the area where the dog was found. A minute later, she went back into the landside terminal and to the ticket counter without the dog or stroller.

A county police sergeant was waiting for Gaiser when she returned to the airport Aug. 10. Police said she admitted to leaving the dog behind because the airline would not let it on the plane because it wasn’t an emotional support animal. She said she made arrangements with her mother to pick up the dog at the airport.

Although Gaiser allowed police to review text messages between herself and her mother, police said it was apparent that no immediate arrangement was made for her mother to pick up the dog from the airport.

Police said Gaiser’s mother told them she found out about her “grand doggie” being left at the airport on Aug. 5, when Gaiser’s ex-husband shared a news story about the dog.

The dog had been in the care of Animal Friends in Pittsburgh’s North Hills. County police previously said the dog was doing well and is in a foster home. No update was available Monday morning.