This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Cliff Brush, a full-time content creator who lives in South Florida with his big, fluffy Goldendoodle named Brodie. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.
I worked in a corporate job as an accountant and a business consultant for six years before the pandemic hit, and like a lot of content creators, that's when it all took off. So I resigned, and now I travel the world full time with my best friend who's a giant Goldendoodle named Brodie.
Before he was born, I never had a social media presence, Brodie forced my hand. Everywhere we went, people would always want to take pictures and videos of him. He was just such a character and was getting so much attention. I figured if people love him this much out in the real world, they're going to love him on the internet too.
I always wanted a big dog, and Brodie just didn't stop growing. I always say it's like Clifford the Big Red Dog — the more love you give him, the more he grows.
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Before content creation, I always had a strong desire to travel, but with most typical nine-to-fives, you just don't have that luxury. The first thing I did when I resigned from my job was take a road trip with Brodie across the country.
After that, we started traveling for fun. I wanted to show Brodie the West Coast, so we went to Los Angeles. Then I wanted to show Brodie New York City. Now it's really become an event, and we're invited out by brands or by these large events that want Brodie there.
Now we're traveling once or twice every month. It's a fun opportunity, I can make good content out of it, and Brodie will have a good time, which is very important to me. Brodie has to be able to appreciate wherever we're going.
The most asked question on any of our travel videos is 'How do you fly specifically with a large dog?'
Brodie is my service animal, which grants him access to being in the cabin of any airliner. That's how we're able to fly in the cabin with a large dog.
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Brodie has probably been on over a hundred flights in the last two years, so we've had time to try every single arrangement to figure out how am I most comfortable, how is he most comfortable, and how are the people around us most comfortable.
Flying economy is pretty much out. Since Brodie is so large, I can't just get one economy seat. We used to do two economy seats side by side, but it's still really tight. Now we pretty much always do a first-class seat. Sometimes I get him his own seat in first class, but just one first-class seat really works.
Brodie goes right underneath my legs and he'll sleep the entire flight. He'll pop his head up when it's lunchtime to ask for some food maybe, but that's it. People are always surprised when they watch me walking onto the plane, like "Where's he going to go?" But he'll tuck in underneath the legroom in front of the seat and behind the seat, and it's enough, surprisingly, and he's comfortable.
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Another option is a full row in economy, so all three seats side-by-side. We can make that work but it's not preferred.
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The main thing with Brodie is he wants to be by my side
Brodie just wants to be with me. He's also just such a chill dog. He's had a little bit of training but it's really just the disposition that he was born with. He's so agreeable and he's down to do whatever. As long as he's by my side, he's okay with it.
He'll just sit there on a flight from Miami to LA and not make a peep the entire flight. When we get off the flight other passengers will see him and say, "I didn't even realize there was this giant fluff flying two rows ahead of me."
Other passengers have also been overwhelmingly positive. I've only had one negative experience where I went to sit in my first-class seat and the person next to me wasn't happy there was going to be a dog next to him. He was making kind of a big scene but, fortunately, there was a big Brodie fan a few rows ahead who happily wanted to switch spots with him, so it worked out.
Most people are pretty pumped. In comments on my posts, people often say, "I would do anything to be on a flight seated next to Brodie."
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If the dog is not a service animal, they won't be granted access rights to the cabin if they're a large dog. Small dogs are allowed in the cabin if they can fit in a carrier underneath your seat. It really is the biggest holdup for pet parents who want to travel with their large dog. You can fly them in cargo under the plane, but I personally wouldn't feel comfortable doing that. Beyond that, it's difficult. There are some smaller airlines that will allow dogs, but they have very specific destinations and routes.
Obviously, if you have the disposable income, you could fly private. There are services that cater to dog owners but it's also very specific destinations and timing, and is very, very expensive. Other than that, it's traveling the old-fashioned way: driving across the country.
As traveling goes, hotels have actually been bigger roadblocks for us at times than flying. But there are pet-friendly hotel options, and certain chains we always try to book, like Hilton.
Traveling with a famous dog means taking lots of pictures with fans
We fly so much and we usually use the same airline, so a lot of the flight attendants know him by name, even some of the pilots. On one flight the pilot was a big Brodie fan. He took a picture of Brodie and let him go in the co*ckpit with the pilot hat on. Once we took our seat he announced over the speaker that the plane had a very special guest, Cliff and Brodie, and that he just sent his daughter the picture of Brodie and she was ecstatic.
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A lot of the TSA agents even know Brodie because it's just this big puppy dog coming through. Sometimes I'm allowed to guide him through the metal detector. A lot of times they just want Brodie to walk through himself. So he'll walk through and then he'll just sit there and wait for me. He's been patted down a few times. They've got to make sure he is not smuggling anything in that big fluff.
And then going through the airport, it's just a lot of Brodie fans taking lots and lots of pictures. It's probably one of the places we get recognized most out in public. It's really easy to spot Brodie and then realize who he is. So we just have to get to the airport for our flights a little earlier because we have to stop and take lots of pictures. Brodie has to get pets and hugs and that takes up time.
If we have to take an escalator, I pick him up like a big teddy bear and I hold him. He loves being carried around and I like carrying him too, so it's fun and it is a sight to see.
It's important for people to know that a lot of service dog handlers won't want their dogs pet while they're working.
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But Brodie is so much more. First and foremost, he's my best friend. He's a family member. But he is also sort of a celebrity that people really, really, really want to meet. And then they get this one opportunity when they see Brodie out in public and are just begging to pet him or take a picture. I'm going to let them do that. I'm going to let Brodie get some cheer. I always do. I've never said no to a picture.
The most surreal part and the part that I still can't get over, is that everywhere we go, people recognize him and they let us know how much joy he brings and our content brings to them. We also do children's hospital visits to kids who get a lot of joy from Brodie and his content. And then they get to see him in real life and give him a teddy bear hug. And I would say that's the most rewarding out of everything.
