Therapy dogs like Tucker at the Edmonton International Airport are helping travelers take a paws.
And as Monday marked International Dog Day — CityNews highlighted the paw-some job Tucker, along with his co-worker Faith have been doing — their role, very important — a way to de-stress before take off.
“There was a young woman who was very afraid of flying,” said Janet Waltho, Volunteer, Pet Therapy Society of Northern Alberta. “She was sitting, waiting for the plane and shaking.”
Tucker, able to come to the rescue for nervous travelers.
“She got down on the floor with him and cuddled with him for about five minutes,” explained Waltho. “She was crying, she was shaking, she was scared.”
“But at the end of that five minutes,” added the volunteer. “She said I can get on the plane now.”
Edmonton International Airport is the first airport in Canada to have a pet therapy program.
Something they launched back in 2015.
Good news for travellers who might find travelling ruff — more dogs than usual were seen at the airport Monday.
An adoption drive with the Greater Edmonton Animal Rescue Society (GEARS) took place, hoping to bring in more volunteers and adopters like John Tucker.
“I was fascinated with what they were doing,” explained the adopter and foster from GEARS. “I inquired a little further and I became a volunteer.”
“That led into some fostering,” he added. “Not a lot because I don’t know if I could, I wanna keep them all right.”
“Many people are kind of looking for a way to help,” said Erin Isfeld, Manager of Corporate Communications at YEG. “You hear a lot about dogs who are either in distress or looking for a home and so this does provide that great outlet for them.”
“Hopefully, today we’ve got some passengers who might take home a dog,” she added. “Maybe they want to adopt one, or maybe it gives some thinking a little bit more about that.”
“Hopefully we find a new home for some of them,” she said. “And we’ve got some really great stories to share.”