Dogs Ease Traveler Stresses
Jennifer Billock August 30, 2017
It’s becoming a zoo inside some airports, but it’s all for the good mental health of travelers.
Missed your flight? Don’t worry—you could nuzzle up next to a completely adorable animal at the airport to help calm you down. Therapy dogs are making a splash at airports across the nation, helping to ease the stress of traveling weary passengers experience on the daily, everything from missed flights to security pains to getting through the crowds to a last-minute changed gate. So far, more than 30 airports in the US and Canada are offering these therapy dog programs.
“When you’re here at the airport, they’re not always traveling for a good reason and the dogs seem to relax them and make them feel good,” Paws for Love’s Debbie Braun told WKBW.
Niagara Falls International Airport (IAG) in Buffalo has more than 300 volunteers now; the Paws for Love program started in 2005. San Diego International Airport (SAN)’s Ready, Pet, Go program is already comforting up to 200 passengers for every two-hour shift the dogs in the program work. In Vancouver and Rochester, the airports just brought in dogs for the first time this month.
“I had a procedure on my arm yesterday, and we had a stressful flight coming out on Monday,” Julie Cocozziello, a passenger traveling through the Rochester airport, told the Post Bulletin. “This was a great thing by the airport, to relieve those tensions.”
Some airports have expanded beyond dogs, as well – both Albany International Airport (ALB) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) have brought in miniature pigs as extensions of the dog teams.
[Photo: Shutterstock]
Inconsiderate of those that are allergic. Inconsiderate of those that have phobias or otherwise just ding like dogs. Can't they just wait until they get home to cuddle with Fido?
Wow, real dog lover!! Considering the only airlines coming in to KIAG are SPIRIT and Allegiant, it's no wonder they need therapy dogs!!
So when the little monster bites another passenger, I want the dog and the owner sued and put to sleep together.. which moronic airline will allow this lability/.