hi everyone, I am from canada and moving to st maarten in january, my yorkie never took a plane. I have 2 options , direct flight but my baby can't stay in the cabine with me

or I can flight with american airline with my yorkie in the cabine but the time of flight is like 10h with 2 stops instead of 4 hours direct flight.. I don't know what to do. I need some advise. I don't want to traumatise him !
thank you