DENVER -- On a recent Monday morning at Denver Airport, dog
handler Wendy Rouder was walking the terminal with Biju, her 11-year-old
bichon-poodle mix. Attired in a checkered vest that commanded "Pet Me,"
Biju was a center of attention.
First to heed the pet-me call was Kay Lee, a middle-aged
woman awaiting her flight to Hawaii.
Then came 3-year-old Hawaii passenger Juliana (her parents
declined to provide a last name), who reveled in the canine touch.
"The kids get so excited and delighted," said
Rouder, who brings Biju twice per month to walk the terminals of Denver
Airport. "And the parents get pretty grateful that their kids, for the
moment, are calming down and enjoying themselves."
On this late October day, Biju was just one of 15 dogs
scheduled to show up at Denver Airport on behalf of the Canine Airport Therapy
Squad (CATS) program, which is celebrating its third anniversary.
CATS is just one of several dozen pet-therapy programs at
U.S. airports, but with 114 enrolled dogs, as well as one cat, it has already
become the largest such program in the country.
Lisa Dittberner, the airport's manager of volunteers, said, "We
wanted to provide an exceptional program for passengers as they travel through
our airport. In the three short years that this program has existed, we have
put hundreds of thousands of smiles on employees' and passengers' faces."
The (ironically
named) CATS program is only the most sizeable example of a trend that has
exploded at U.S. airports in recent years.
San Jose's Norman Mineta Airport created the first airport
pet-therapy program in order to soothe customers' nerves in the wake of the
Sept. 11 attacks. But in 2013, a dozen years later, when Los Angeles Airport
launched its Pets Unstressing Passengers program (which goes by the far less
confusing acronym PUP) it was just the third airport pet-therapy program in the
country, according to the program's director, Heidi Huebner. The second
program, she said, was launched at Miami Airport in 2012, and it featured just
one dog.
Desta, a 9-year-old goldendoodle, is one of the stars of the SJC K9 Crew at San Jose's Norman Mineta Airport.
The PUP program now has 100 dogs, up from 20 when it
launched. But more than that, Huebner said, LAX has helped fuel a proliferation
of airport dog-therapy programs. She herself has consulted with 60 airports
since she first made a presentation about PUP at the American Association of
Airport Executives conference in 2013.
"People see the benefit of what these dogs can do,"
Huebner said. "Science proves that they can actually lower blood pressure.
They can help people if they are feeling nervous or panicky to actually bring
the [anxiety] down. And people actually talk to each other and start laughing
and sharing where they are traveling to or showing pictures of their own
animals on their phone. I like to say we create mini-friendships or mini-families
for the moment."
Toni Hatfield, liaison to San Jose's SJC K9 Crew, said her
organization, too, is contacted by airports around the world that are
interested in establishing a dog-therapy program.
In their deployment, the various therapy programs are quite
informal. Volunteer handlers and their dogs simply roam airport terminals, and
passengers are free to approach.
But the programs do have safeguards. In Denver, for example,
each dog receives certification through the Alliance of Therapy Dogs, a
nationwide organization. Dogs are also brought in for a site visit to make sure
they can handle the crowds and smells of an airport as well as airport
facilities, such as elevators.
One challenge with therapy-dog programs, said Denver's
Dittberner, is that people have grown accustomed to the idea that you're not
supposed to touch dogs you see at an airport. After all, dogs in airport
settings have traditionally been working dogs, such as service animals or
canines deployed by the TSA and law enforcement agencies to sniff out
explosives or drugs.
The "pet me" vests are designed to break down
those inhibitions. In addition, Dittberner said, handlers keep a lookout for
visual cues of interest from airport guests.
Vera, a cocker spaniel mix, shows off the "Pet Me" vest she wears at Denver's airport. Photo Credit: Robert Silk
Sometimes, though, the dogs seem to sense when an airport
customer is in want of a bit of affection, according to Hatfield.
"I can't tell you how many people tell handlers, 'The
dog knew I needed this,'" she said.
As airport pet-therapy programs have become larger and
better known, some airports have begun using the franchises to generate
goodwill around their communities. Denver's CATS dogs, for example, appear at
events in the area. The airport also posts daily Twitter announcements about
which dogs are coming and issues CATS trading cards. The Bernese mountain dog
Shogun, for example, is from Lafayette, Colo., loves hiking and napping, and
its pet peeve is being left behind.
The SJC K9 Crew's dogs also have trading cards.
But for Rouder, the real pleasure comes in seeing the
positive affect Biju has on flyers.
"That, for me, is the best part," Rouder said. "Passengers
who just delight in the dogs."