Fear of Dogs and Airports
 

I have a fear of dogs as I was bitten by one when I was a child and since then I have developed a strong phobia about them where I dont even find them cute. Yesterday at Seattle airport the authorities were walking around sniffing the passengers and luggage. When the dog came near me and started licking my shoes and sniffing around I had a really hard time to keep my composure and not freak out or scream like a little girl and then raise red flags. My feet were literally trembling and armpits were getting sweaty but I just held my breath till it was over.

Can you deny a dog search and ask for something else like those people who opt for patdown vs a body scanner?

If you're just walking through the airport and a dog comes by, I don't see why you couldn't just walk the other way or duck into the bathroom. If you are otherwise unable to get away, you could certainly explain the situation and ask them to keep the dog away to avoid a full-scale freak out from you. Of course, they'd probably do a pat down or something.

I think (s)he was taking about the customs control beagles... which are cute but if you are afraid of dogs probably not nice and hard to avoid.

I think if you tell them to keep their distance as you are terrible afraid of dogs but they are welcome to do a full body screening it should be ok. Not sure you want to go down that road, since the full body screening might not be a very pleasant exercise as well....

Best option is probably: "Look I'm really really afraid of dogs, it can sniff me but please keep it on a very short leash". Worked for my mother in law who is also very afraid of dogs more than once.

Yes it was at the baggage carousel area. Full body screening? Heck they can strip search me for all they want if that will do. They can search me with a Tiger and I would be less scared. But I would do anything to avoid any dog encounters in the future. :D
Hopefully somebody here can confirm if they have ever been successful in asking for a alternate means of search that doesnt include dogs.

Sounds like you may have "Cynophobia".

To be honest, in the last 5 years I have traveled dozen of times to US (mostly ORD, EWR and SFO) and I just once have been encountered by the beagle brigade in SFO ;)

And at that time they even asked me "Is it ok if the dog sniffs you carry-on?" It didn't even control me, just my small carry-on and backpack which I conveniently placed on the floor for the happy sniffing small fellow.

It helps to wait a long time at the immigration desks and the luggage is already offloaded from the belts. They will sniff most of the bags but not necessary every person walking around. So if you arrive and they are done with it, good chance they will leave you alone for good.

What precisely is the fear of the dogs at customs? Being bitten or attacked by them?

Even if they detect drugs (or whatever the particular dog is trained to smell), they're trained to just sit down.

I could understand how one with a prior bad experience with a dog would be apprehensive about someone bringing their pet onto an airplane or in an airport...likely an untrained dog, in an unfamiliar environment, etc. But I seriously would not worry one iota about the dogs trained and used by law enforcement.

If you're afraid of dogs, there doesn't need to be a reason for it (as in, dog looks dangerous, snarl teeth, whatever..) - you're simply afraid of it.

I've also a (very mild) sense of being afraid of dogs, as in feeling uncomfortable when there are dogs roaming around me, but from what OP states, his fear is much stronger, so I totally understand when he does feel really bad when a dog is near him and even touching him.

Well, I'm afraid of some dogs too...I'm just saying that *these* particular dogs are completely safe to be around.

I'm afraid that if the OP sought some sort of "opt out" or outwardly tried to avoid the dogs, the customs officials would assume he/she was smuggling something. It would go far beyond the usual pat down you get when you opt out of a Nude-o-Scope at a regular checkpoint. Probably lengthy questioning, full body and luggage search...and some or all of that still done by the dog.

That was my worst fear and I was trying my best to be idle and remain cool yet thankfully it all went ok and perhaps their behavior detection wasnt up to par that day lol but I was hella nervous. :D Like I said I would be less scared if it was a Tiger but the Dog took me to whole another level especially once it started sniffing me and licking my shoes. Im sure the dogs are perfectly safe but at the end of the day they are animals and sometimes unpredictable. Anything could set them off for all I know.

Behavior detection is a myth.

In any case, hopefully the experience got you just a tiny little bit more comfortable with dogs.

It seems like many people who visit the fine state of Washington these days could be quite fragrant to canines when leaving SEA airport...

Fear of Dogs and Airports
 

As others have said, just be honest to the CBP officers, explain yourself, and offer to cooperate in whatever way they need. If you have nothing to hide, they can let the dogs sniff your luggage while you stand away from it, then quickly sniff you.

This is something both the dogs and handlers are well trained to deal with and they will appreciate you being straightforward.

The beagles just search for food products. That shouldn't mean a strip search if you try to avoid them.

My experience...the Beagle started to approach me and my bag and did a sharp turn away from me. The handler coaxed him toward me and he wouldn't comply. I don't know for sure what was going on but I have a big fluffy white kitty (Siberian Forest Cat) at home that has rubbed all over my suitcase! I personally think the dog was avoiding the cat smell. It might be worth a try for you...borrow a suitcase from a cat owner or get one to mark yours for you:)

I think you might be missing the point. When someone has a fear that rises to the level of a phobia, logic and rationality go on vacation. Whether it's fear of the dark, closed spaces, heights, etc. one's fears are very real.

The OP has a fear of dogs. Whether a particular dog or set of dogs is safe is simply not part of the calculus.

I love dogs, ever since I was a kid, we had a medium sized dog for years... but still a seeing Boxer, Great Dane, Rottweiler or Doberman pulling on its leash towards me to 'say hello' makes me feel uneasy... wagging tail or not ;)

So, most will argue it is safe to be around those as they are "friendly" but can't help it... I just keep my distance out of respect.

So even though I love those beagles I can see how a person being afraid of dogs might not want to get closer to them than necessary.

How about St. Bernard? :)

As a former Beagle owner, you only have to be scared if you're made out of table scraps ;)

They are okay, seen too much Heidi comics when I was small. Actually I have couple of friends with really big dogs and it is not a problem as I know them. I just stay away from big dogs I do not know (and their owners). Stay away out of respect is the manly way to express 'I'm afraid' ;)

brownybouchet

Join Date: Jun 2004

Posts: 4

Thanks for sharing!

Surely there are people out there who specialize in helping people defeat (or least diminish) this phobia, right? I'd at least want to get to the point where a well-trained customs beagle was not a source of concern for me. The *dog* can't detect that you're nervous, but the agents watching you probably can.

I have a fear of wasps and hornets. (Bees, for whatever reason, don't bother me in the slightest.) Fortunately, customs agents haven't found a way to train and use those yet. :)

I am the same way about snakes so you have my sympathy. I know my phobia is irrational but I can't control it.

Would knowing how well those dogs are trained ease your fears?

At the opposite end of the dog issue, when we were in PHL recently, my son pointed out a working dog that was my favorite breed and the handler noticed. The agent (I don't know if he was DEA or local law enforcement) came over to us and asked my son if he would like to pet the dog.

This surprised me greatly. My son knows to never approach a working dog because they are doing their jobs. It was a neat experience for my son because it opened a dialog with the agent about what he was doing (looking for drugs) and about the dog's name and training.

people are also afraid of germs. spiders, mice, men, crickets, snakes, loud noises,peanuts, etc. etc. the rest of us just have to work around the few with phobiae.

the beagle at IAD is at least 10 years old, and pretty small for a beagle.

Just a heads up, many airports are now having "calming" dogs walk through the boarding areas of airports. It is supposed to distress the passengers. Many breeds of dogs used including labs and golden retrievers. I know they have them at SJC, LAX, SAT, MIA, OKC and SMF. They are trained and pass behavioral tests before they can be included in the program.

Certainly hope this is a typo and Goldiemom meant "de-stress," especially as the OP has a phobia of dogs!

Right after 9/11 I remember there was a news article that Irish Wolfhounds were used for the same purpose.

Sorry, typo. Should be de-stress the PAX! I guess studies have shown that does calm MOST passengers. I have a golden retriever and he does calm me!

I have friends who have goldens that volunteer at SMF with their dogs. I have contemplated getting more training for my golden so he can volunteer at SMF. I know many people who are afraid of dogs. We have taught our dog to ignore people unless they approach us. If people who are afraid of "big" dogs just ignore us, our dog will ignore them.

Some of the dogs at Heathrow are trained to search for cash i..e large quantities in carry-on bags. The couple in front of me and I had a good chat with the dog handler about it. General conclusion was that these dogs could be really helpful for young single women (like me). :D I was just flattered that they put me in the young category. :p

Yes the patrol @SFO is quite benign. In Australia, however, the beagle brigade is as much a ritual as it can became a nuisance. On one particular occasion in PER an empathy-free officer and his oversized werebeagle managed to push several children and teenagers over who had backpacks and were waiting at the luggage carousel when the backpack was jumped by the doggie. They kept going until one brave and miffed parents used the full repertoire of Strine swearwords to tell the office what kind of person he was and how his mutt was perceived.

The other week they had all of the security lines routed so that the dogs could smell everyone. There's no denying it. The security people are free to go wherever they want in the airport.

Get some treatment for your medical condition. You're going to the airport to fly 5 miles above the ground in a giant tin can and you're afraid of a small dog in an airport. There's treatment for that.

Where was this? In North Korea?

Just because a fat fraction of security folks are paid mercenaries/henchmen who do whatever abominable instruction their believe they received doesn't mean that they have the right to do this ... in the civilised world.
I guess that is the same for the women who get groped @ security? What is a bit of involuntary fondling compared to exploding 10km up the air in an aluminium (not 'tin') coffin, right?

No, means no. That applies to groping in the same way as being touched by a smelly predator. It's not up to a single party to "enforce consent".

I'm not sure how it would go if a dog attempted to sniff your luggage and you decided to play the "rights" card. In pretty much any civilized country that uses dogs in this way, it will probably land you in a windowless room for a few hours.

There's no question they do have the right to detain you and then search the crap out of you and your luggage with the finest-tooth comb they have.

I second the advice to at least get to the point where you can let the dog do its job without appearing nervous about it.

Not sure what groping has to do with this (the dog and its handler don't touch anyone), but attempting to evade the dog seems like a way to almost guarantee a very thorough subsequent groping in that windowless room...

I haven't encountered the doggies outside of Australia and the US yet. And in Oz, I have decline letting a doggie sniff my bag and it wasn't a big deal. They didn't really like it but obviously the Beagle Brigade hears worse day in and out.
At customs they have the right to search anyway, if you comply or not. To detain? I guess not so much, even if you are not that cooperative.

For the agricultural barriers as for most Australian states or Hawaii, I don't know their powers. I asked the officers in question twice and always got very evasive answers. I reckon their backing is limited.
Are you carrying goods you should not?
Then its not a search ... if they are just hanging around and inhale the airport's air. The case I referred to in post #30, that doggie touched everyone.
Oh, so you do support it. I had no idea.

*shrug* Then try to walk or run away from border agents and see what happens. I'm sure there are time limits as to how long they can hold you without charging you with a crime, but I believe they have the right and ability to physically stop you and hold you for some period of time. They'd have this right inside at airport just as they would in territorial waters or along a land border.

No idea. I've never tried to smuggle food (or anything else) into or out of Hawaii. That's the main spot we find the domestic ag checks in the U.S., although maybe Caribbean travelers run into them as well.

No. Hence no need to avoid the beagles.

I have no idea how you even inferred that from my post. You can certainly dispute it, as I'm just speculating what customs officials would do if I was a suspected smuggler. But I didn't really take any position on their search or arrest procedures. It sounds to me like you have some sort of agenda already.

Falso dichotomy. The options are not dog or detention but dog sniff or cursory inspection or upon reasonable grounds of suspicion search with or without dog.

Declining a certain search method much alike declining giving a certain testimony is not cause of suspicion. And only the latter is grounds for prolonged detention.
Without suspicion you cannot be held at all in the civilised world. But of course the agents have every right of inspecting what you are brining.
Well one is crossing an international border where the agents likely and rightfull have a lot more power.
By the way you offered it as the only option to those who are afraid of dogs. Whereas luggage and clothes can of course be searched without groping. New Zealand routinely does it with sniffer devices and X-ray.

My apologies if you did not mean it in disrespect.
But the two are not the same. If they suspect you of being a smuggler they will detain you even if the dogs did not find anything (I recall this famous case in ORD with a Jamaica traveler where the jury awarded her a record settlement). A friend of mine was offered the choice of a cavity search or full body X-ray by UK border agents.
But not liking dogs doesn't make you a suspect.

CBP's use of dogs to screen passengers and passengers' belongings is not greatly increasing at airports; but TSA's use of dogs is increasing a lot.

Not joking when I say this: I strongly recommend that you own a dog. Nothing better than that to get over your dog phobia.

Our daughter was bitten when a small girl, and we purchased our first dog about a month later. Now, 25 years or so later, she wouldn't dream of not owning a dog. No animal bonds more strongly with their owner, and dog ownership is now one of the greatest joys in our lives (I wouldn't have had an interest in owning a dog before our kid was bitten).

I know current and former dog owners who are very terrified of many a dog even if never their own dogs.

For those who travel internationally a lot, pet ownership isn't always a great option. I know dogs and cats that get so annoyed by their owners' absence that the welcome back was not always so welcome. :D

At least CBP mostly uses small dogs. French airport security used to love to have something like big German Shepherd type dogs sniffing outbound passengers' feet -- more so right after the failed shoe bomber nutcase was caught flying out of Paris.

And if you grew up around having a bunch of guard dogs, it's not like you necessarily learn to believe that they are harmless toward strangers.

Interesting seeding procedure, almost outlandish...
How sure are you about this? Homo sapiens can get fairly attached and my parrots are sticky like superglue. I guess it comes down how you define and quantify "bonding".