While I prefer not to ship cargo I will continue to do so as needed!
I've had two bad experiences in shipping in the past, but those were that the dogs got on the wrong planes and I recovered them because of their tatooing and microchips and they were adult dogs.
As far as puppies, last March I had a Yorkie flown to me from Budapest, Hungary via Lufthansa Airlines and she came off the plane like she owned the place. Clean, happy and quite content. Even the bow that the breeder had placed in her hair was still there w/o a hair out of place. While I felt the crate was much larger than it should've been, she was just fine and was only 11 weeks of age.
ps, I've seen A LOT of dogs shipped (mostly European Conformation and working German Shepherds, pups too) and it's been done many MANY times w/o a hitch.
pps, I would recommend AGAINST drugging or sedating them in any way, if they receive too much medication for their tolerance level then they often cannot regulate their own body temperature properly.