Austin Varner (above) was able to get the pesky pup under control. (Michael Waddell)
FLEE COLLAR: Byrdie evades an airport pursuer yesterday (right) before owner Austin Varner (left) was able to get the pesky pup under control. (Michael Waddell; Getty Images)
A puppy took flight at La Guardia Airport yesterday, speeding down a busy runway and dodging planes and a posse of desperate pursuers.
Taxiing airliners ground to a screeching halt, giving their passengers front-row views of the spectacle that at one point saw a frustrated worker get down on his hands and knees in an unsuccessful attempt to convince the 14-month-old Rhodesian ridgeback, named Byrdie, to surrender.
In a final fit of desperation, Port Authority cops pulled the dog’s owner, Austin Varner, off her Delta flight and drove her out to the tarmac.
Varner, a 26-year-old Manhattan interior designer, said she was surprised at how far her dog had run. “It took a while in the car to get to her,” she said.
When they reached Byrdie, she was completely surrounded by workers,
“She was just standing there,” Varner told The Post. “She didn’t want to come to them. But she came right to me, and we got her.”
The runway dog show caused about 20 minutes in delays at the airport.
Byrdie broke free while being loaded on the plane in a kennel at around 10:20 a.m. — and the 70-pound pooch made a beeline down the tarmac.
“We can’t take off because there is apparently a loose dog (!) running around on the runway,” tweeted flier Robert Lund. “How did he get through security?”
An air-traffic controller barked into his radio, “We got a dog running like crazy down there.”
Varner was already on board the Memphis-bound Airbus A319 when a Delta employee approached. “They said, ‘We need to speak to you off the plane,’ ” Varner said.
“Your dog escaped,” an airline worker told her. “We have got her kind of surrounded, but we can’t catch her.”
“Get me out there,” Varner replied. “She’ll come to me.”
When they finally got back to the plane, workers loaded Byrdie in her crate — and they took no chances. It was shut “with 20 zip ties to triple-check she couldn’t get out,” Varner said.
Then a Delta worker handed Varner a pre-printed tag given to all passengers traveling with dogs in the baggage hold. It said: “Your dog is safely on board.”
Everyone laughed, she said.
Byrdie’s flight took off about 20 minutes behind schedule.
Byrdie is a frequent flier. Varner has taken her on four airplane trips over the past year.
At the home of Varner’s parents, Byrdie enjoyed a post-lunch siesta on their porch. “It doesn’t seem like she was fazed at all,” her owner said.