A woman from Toronto said that a dog she rescued from the Dominican Republic suffered psychological trauma after being left in a corner of Toronto Pearson International Airport with its belongings for nearly 21 hours.

Gina Potts had just spent three months in Puerto Plata, where she found a stray dog and fell in love with him.

She decided to bring the animal (the dog) named Winston back to Canada and find a good home for him.

Potts arrived at Toronto Pearson International Airport at around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday.

Around 2 a.m. her dog came out - but Winston did not.

She said: "(I) talked to some people who have luggage as they were there and I said 'I'm still waiting for a dog,' and they told me there was nothing else there."

At about 3 a.m., a customs agent advised her to go home and contact the airline later, as there were no more staff around her.

Potts said: "I was very angry and didn't understand how there could be no one at the airport to help me find my dog, this is a living being." 

Potts spent the rest of the morning trying to contact the airline, Air Transat, to find out if Winston had arrived in Toronto or was still in Puerto Plata.

After about 21 hours, customs at Pearson Airport spotted the crate.

 Potts said: "He was found in a corner with lost bags."

Explaining,  a customs officer had taken Winston out of his cage to give him water, but the animal was still covered in urine until she reached him.

She said: "He is extremely shocked." "I definitely will not be traveling with dogs for some time now."