Transporting dog from airport to apartment/house

I had my dog examined by a USDA-certified vet. (Your dog must already have a microchip.)
The vet filled out USDA Form 7001.
Take form 7001 to main USDA office in your state to get it endorsed and pay the fees. Mine was in Richmond, the capital of VA. Long drive!
Buy huge airline-approved dog crate with airholes also on the BACK of the crate. Crate must be big enough where when she stands upright, her ears don't touch the ceiling of the crate. I had to buy an XL for my Golden Retriever.
Buy food and water dispenser to be attached to the crate door.
Put your smelly clothes into the crate so your dog can get a whiff of you throughout the journey.
Weight the dog crate. Measure the L, W, H dimensions.
Call your airline (mine was Turkish Airlines) to inform them __ahead of time__ that you will be traveling with your dog. They will ask for your ticket/reservation number, the crate+dog's weight, the crate's exterior dimensions. They will tell you how much you will have to pay for your dog and his crate as this will be considered excess baggage.
Bring dog and crate to airport on day of travel early. I arrived 3 hours before departure time.
Check in to the airline counter with your dog. They allow the dog to be on a leash outside the crate.
The crate will be checked by TSA.
Wait with dog until they tell you the dog needs to be loaded, at which time you put your dog into the crate and they wheel him away.
Before takeoff, ask flight attendant to get confirmation from the pilot that your dog and crate have been loaded in the cargo hold and that they have adequately pressurized and climate controlled.
When you arrive in Istanbul's Ataturk airport, get a cart. Retrieve your bags from baggage claim, load them on cart. Go to the area where your dog will be coming out from (oversized luggage area). Load your dog+crate, put your bags on top of the crate. Preferably you have a partner. I was alone so it was much tougher.
Call or Whatsapp (you may need to borrow someone's phone or get free wifi from Starbucks at the airport, but it will cost you a lot of hassle and time) the Pet Taxi which you have made prior arrangements with to transport you, your dog, his crate, and your luggage to your destination. I used Petobüs Pet Taksi. They quoted me 160 liras from Ataturk Airport to Goztepe area. Tolls included. (http://pettasima.com/). You can make the reservations online via live chat. I don't know how well they know English. I communicated with them in Turkish.

So...

Did anyone check the USDA form I so painstakingly obtained? NO! (but you gotta have it!)
Did my dog really use the food and water attachments? NO! (but it's required, though the airline didn't even check it.)
Did any security person inspect my dog, his crate, or his paperwork on arrival at the Istanbul airport? NO!

Roughly how many hours did my dog have to hold his pee/poo for? About 16 hours. He did fine, though. I had him go just before entering the airport. We had him go at the cellphone waiting area at Dulles airport. 3 hours (before flight time) + 11 hours (flight time) + 2 hours (retrieve bag, retrieve dog, wait for pet taxi, load stuff into taxi van, drive across to Asian side of Istanbul in very heavy rush hours traffic) = 16 hours

Hope this helps.