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\u201cPeople travel for all kinds of reasons,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes they\u2019re grieving. Sometimes they feel guilty leaving their own pets behind. Sometimes they\u2019re just stressed or bored during delays. The dogs give them something positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The importance of the program became especially clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, when therapy dogs were temporarily unable to work inside the airport.<\/p>\n
When people started traveling again, regular travelers familiar with the dogs at Albany International were begging for the canines to come back, Brown said. The animals\u2019 presence relieves stress when going through TSA checkpoints and the frustrations people face when they travel. It gives them an uplifting distraction. Often, he said, seeing the dogs prompts smiles and laughter. It makes the airport experience a pleasant one.<\/p>\n
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\u201cFor every person who loves the experience of air travel, there is someone else who finds it stressful. At an airport that welcomes more than 3 million travelers each year, anything we can do to ease that stress and bring a little comfort to the journey matters,\u201d said Matt Hunter, the airport\u2019s spokesperson.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Our) beloved therapy dogs have brought countless smiles to our travelers\u2019 faces and helped make the airport experience feel a little calmer, friendlier and more welcoming.\u201d<\/p>\n
On a recent weekday morning, passengers repeatedly stopped Brown and his dogs before the trio could make it more than a few feet through the terminal. People crouched down to pet Rosie and Ferra. Adults snapped photos. Others stood back and watched, lingering for a few extra moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see the stress leave their faces,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
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The airport\u2019s therapy dogs are screened before joining the program. Each dog must be certified through a therapy dog organization, have updated health records and demonstrate the ability to remain calm in busy public settings and not react to other dogs\u00a0\u2014 including service animals and dogs at the airport with law enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe make sure they interact well with people and don\u2019t react to public distractions,\u201d Brown said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Many of the dogs also perform tricks, something that is especially popular during delays and cancellations.\u00a0Rosie and Ferra can respond to written commands such as \u201cwalk\u201d and \u201cwave\u201d and solve simple math problems by tapping out answers with their paws \u2014 a skill Brown said developed accidentally while training one of his previous rescue dogs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI taught him to count using his paw because you can\u2019t have a therapy dog barking in a hospital or school,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThen I realized he could add and subtract.\u201d<\/p>\n
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This sounds unbelievable, we know, but check out the video accompanying this story, and you\u2019ll see the impressive skills\u00a0\u2014 including the ability to figure out the square root of numbers\u00a0\u2014 \u00a0in action.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The program\u2019s impact extends beyond passengers. Therapy dogs visit airport employees and support staff, who face their own long hours and, sometimes, stressful days behind the scenes.<\/p>\n
For Brown, the work centers on connection more than anything else.<\/p>\n
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\u201cYou never know what kind of day someone is having when they walk into an airport,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the dogs can make it a little better, then we\u2019ve done something worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Therapy dogs, Rosie and Ferra, greet travelers as they come through TSA at the Albany International Airport. Kristi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[30394,844,610,9,11,10,49,51,50,608],"class_list":["post-234427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-alco","tag-latestnews","tag-local","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}