Separated due to the pandemic, a small dog journeys 10,000 miles to reunite with her owners

The best dogs always find their way home. For Pipsqueak, the dachshund, it meant a 10,000-mile trek to be reunited with her family.

Pip, a little dachshund, was stranded in South Carolina at the height of the pandemic after her owners had to abandon their global sailing adventure and return to Australia.

With borders rapidly closing, Zoe and Guy Eilbeck, along with their sons Cam and Max, had less than 48 hours to pack up their 40-foot yacht after docking in Hilton Head Island.

Australia’s strict pet import regulations meant their loyal dog Pip couldn’t accompany them back home.

They thought it would be fine. A quick reunion with tail wags before they were back out on the open sea.

Zoe made a few last-minute calls to ensure a friend could care for Pip, and the family said their goodbyes, expecting a brief separation of only six weeks.

But things didn’t unfold as they had hoped.

Left behind

The Eilbecks first met Pip in 2018 while docked in Messina, Sicily, during the middle of their four-year sailing adventure.

Pip quickly embraced life on the boat, relishing her time on deck and bonding with her family.

Zoe knew from the start that bringing Pip back to Australia would be a long and complicated process, thanks to the country’s very strict border regulations.

“I knew Pip would need to be imported, and that she’d have to spend 10 days in quarantine,” Zoe explains to Dinogo Travel.

When the time came, their plan was to fly her from the South Pacific island of Vanuatu, just a short flight away from Sydney.

However, as the coronavirus spread in early 2020, the Eilbecks made the decision to head to South Carolina to find a safe harbor for both their yacht and Pip.

On March 27, Zoe rented a car and drove eight hours to North Carolina, where she handed Pip over to her friend Lynn Williams before catching a flight back to Sydney with her family.

“Pip went from living on a sailboat to being on a bison farm,” Zoe laughs. “That’s something that always makes me chuckle.”

Unfortunately, Williams already had two dogs on the farm and couldn’t take on another for long, so she put out an ad to find a new caretaker for Pip.

Ellen Steinberg, from Hillsborough, North Carolina, was one of three people who responded to the ad.

“The arrangement was that Pip would choose who she wanted to live with,” Steinberg tells Dinogo Travel. “My dog Frankly and I won the 'contest,' and Pip joined us a few days later.”

Because the ad provided little information about why the Eilbecks had to leave Pip behind, Steinberg admits she made some snap judgments about their decision.

“I heard about a family who left their dog behind while living on a boat and flew back to Australia, and I immediately formed an opinion about who they were,” Steinberg adds.

“But as soon as I spoke with them, I realized how incredibly caring they were. I had just misunderstood without knowing the full story.”

While Steinberg cared for Pip, Zoe was waking up at 4 a.m. every weekday to tackle the mountain of paperwork needed to import a dog from the U.S. to Australia, all while staying connected with Pip through video calls and messages.

“I was always snapping photos and sharing them on social media,” Zoe says. “Pip started gaining her own following.”

It quickly became clear that due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, the Eilbecks wouldn't be able to return to the United States. Pip would have to make the long journey to Australia on her own.

The lengthy import process

The bureaucratic hurdles were made even more challenging due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.

“To export a dog from the U.S., you need to get a health declaration and ensure the dog has undergone specific rabies-related blood tests,” Zoe explains.

“The testing was being done in New York, which had shut down. So getting any of this paperwork completed was incredibly challenging.”

Steinberg was constantly taking Pip to her local vet for vaccinations, paperwork, and blood tests to ensure she met all the necessary requirements.

After finally securing an import permit for Australia, they learned that Qantas, Australia’s national airline, had stopped flying dogs into the country.

After numerous calls, Zoe discovered that they could still import Pip by routing her through New Zealand and booking a flight from Los Angeles to Auckland with the help of the pet transport company Jetpets.

By this time, Steinberg, who had cared for Pip for three months, needed to visit her family and handed the dog over to her friend Stacey Green.

“When Stacey got Pip, she completely fell for her, to the point where I didn’t think I’d ever get her back,” Zoe laughs.

But they still faced the challenge of getting Pip from North Carolina to Los Angeles. Although flights were available, they were frequently canceled.

Shipping pets as cargo had become problematic. Many U.S. airlines prohibit transporting animals between May and September, the hottest months in the Northern Hemisphere.

Zoe took to social media, posting a message to find someone traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast who could help.

This is when Melissa Young, a worker with the dog rescue organization The Sparky Foundation, stepped up and offered to fly across the country with Pip.

After ensuring Pip was comfortable with her, Young flew from Greensboro to Charlotte, North Carolina, and then on to Los Angeles, with the dachshund safely under her seat.

Pip was then handed over to Jetpets, who took care of all the necessary paperwork and declarations overnight before putting her on a flight from Los Angeles to Auckland.

Once she was on the plane, all of Pip’s temporary caretakers, along with the Eilbecks, anxiously followed her flight as it crossed the ocean.

“We were all glued to the screen, watching the flight slowly make its way across the globe,” says Zoe.

Pip arrived in Auckland on July 23, where she went into quarantine overnight before flying to Melbourne. There, she spent an additional 10 days in quarantine, as required for all pets entering Australia from abroad.

Her flight to Sydney was scheduled for August 3, but when Pip arrived, Victoria had implemented a strict lockdown, closing the borders between Victoria and New South Wales.

Zoe’s brother Rob, who lives in Melbourne, offered to care for Pip for a few days. The dog was booked on four separate flights to Sydney, but each one was canceled.

By this point, the story had gained attention from local media, and after a feature in the Sydney Morning Herald, Virgin Australia stepped in and agreed to fly Pip home.

A fresh start

When Pip finally arrived at Sydney Airport on August 11, five months after her family had last seen her, the Eilbecks were there to welcome her, joined by a film crew and several local journalists.

It was an emotional reunion.

“Our biggest worry was that she wouldn’t remember us after all this time,” says Zoe.

“My kids were so nervous that they rubbed a hotdog on their hands. Then this little dog walked out through the hangar, strutting with confidence…”

“As soon as she heard our voices, she came running into our arms. It was truly incredible to have her back after such a long time.”

After such a long separation, the Eilbecks are overjoyed to have their “crew” reunited.

“I know she’s just a dog, but we always see ourselves as a little crew,” Zoe says.

“Living on a boat means you really have to work as a team. Even though she mostly just lazed around and didn’t do much, we still consider her an important part of our crew,” says Zoe.

The family has since relocated to Scotland Island, a suburb on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, to continue their “water lifestyle,” with their sons back in school.

They make regular trips to the mainland in their aluminum fishing boat, affectionately known as a “tinny.”

“Pip loves it, because she’s a boat dog at heart,” Zoe adds.

“She’s right back to doing what she loves best – lounging on our deck, offering licks and spreading joy,” says Zoe.

Selling the yacht

Had their journey continued, Zoe believes they would likely be in French Polynesia now, or perhaps heading toward Fiji.

However, their yacht, No Plans Just Options, is still docked exactly where they left it back in March.

The family has come to terms with the fact that they won’t be sailing it back to Australia anytime soon, as the country remains closed to travelers.

They’ve made the tough decision to put the yacht up for sale and are now focused on making the most of their new life on Scotland Island.

“This is our next adventure,” Zoe says, emphasizing that travel restrictions and mandatory quarantines have made international sailing “slow and challenging.”

“We’ll be back to sailing in a few years,” she adds.

The Eilbecks have stayed in touch with all of Pip’s caregivers, who continue to follow her journey through the family’s Instagram account.

“I feel like we’ve made lifelong friends,” says Steinberg, who often sees comments like “we miss Pip” on her social media posts.

“It’s been a truly heartwarming story to be a part of, especially during such a difficult time in the world for so many people,” Steinberg adds.

Pipsqueak's journey back home

March 27: The Eilbeck family docks their boat at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Zoe drives to North Carolina, where she entrusts Pip to her friend Lynn Williams.

April 4: Pip settles into Ellen Steinberg's home in Hillsborough, North Carolina.

July 19: Accompanied by pet rescuer Melissa Young, Pip flies to Charlotte, North Carolina, before heading to Los Angeles.

July 21: After spending a night in a hotel, Pip embarks on a 13-hour cargo flight from Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand.

July 24: Pip makes the journey from Auckland to Melbourne, Australia, where she is placed in mandatory quarantine for 10 days.

August 11: Pip finally travels from Melbourne to Sydney, where she is joyfully reunited with the Eilbecks.