On any given day, dogs and their owners can be found volunteering with Lehigh Valley International Airport’s Canines Offering Passengers Encouragement (C.O.P.E.) program.
Thursday offered a few more four-legged companions than usual, as 16 of the local therapy dog teams were on hand to celebrate the initiative’s 10th anniversary.
It was enough to force a slight change in plans for traveler Mackenzie Chamberlain.
“It’s so cute,” said the Sayre, Pennsylvania, resident headed to Fort Myers, Florida. “I was gonna do work and now I’m not because I’m just gonna pet all the dogs.”
LVIA’s owner-operator, the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority, started C.O.P.E. in December 2015 to offer comfort for those nervous about flying or just a break from the stress of travel.
“It’s such a wonderful experience for passengers,” said Paula Bonstein, the airport’s manager of customer experience. “Sometimes they have anxiety or they have fear of flying. And having the dogs around actually helps relax them and calm them.”
Airport staff and volunteers with Mercy School for Special Learning in Allentown offered travelers cupcakes, cookies and other gifts as part of Thursday’s 10th anniversary celebration for C.O.P.E.
All of the dogs and their owners are members of the Alliance of Therapy Dogs. Sherman and owner Sue Ann Reibman have been C.O.P.E. volunteers since its inception. Reibman also tests dogs and their owners for the alliance and enjoys visiting with the passengers.
“It’s a nice relief for me and people that have therapy dogs because therapy dogs are for other people — they’re not for us,” Reibman, of Easton, said. “We’re doing things for other people. They are not doing things for us. And that’s what really is the most important.”
An Irish setter named Harley who was on hand Thursday is a champion show dog who had a litter of puppies six months ago. Volunteering with C.O.P.E. is a second act of sorts for owner Lydia Miller, who is retired from the FBI and narcotics work.
“She’s very laid back, and she has the perfect temperament to do this,” said Miller, of Williams Township. “And she really likes being petted, and she’ll tell me when she gets tired.”
The airport has 28 current C.O.P.E. dogs out of 59 throughout the history of the program. Each has a baseball card, of sorts, with the dog’s name, breed, birthday and a few details about them. Abbey the St. Bernard, for example, enjoys stealing water bottles from the recycling bin and is known to bark at cars.
“All three of our saints have been therapy dogs, so we’ve been doing it ourselves like 25, 28 years,” said owner Jim Carlson, of Wind Gap, alongside his wife, Dee Dee Carlson.
Michelle Wallace and her Cavachon — or Cavalier King Charles spaniel and Bichon Frise mix — named Louis have been volunteering at the airport for nearly three years.
“It’s a way to give back to the community,” said Wallace, of Easton. “It’s very humbling … just to help make somebody’s day just a little bit brighter, better.
“We’re different than service dogs. They’re allowed to interact, so that’s the big difference.”
Thomas Stoudt, the airport authority’s executive director, said the program fits in with the focus on ease and convenience for passengers at LVIA — airport code ABE.
“There’s a lot of travel options in our region. We think ABE really stands out as a really low stress travel environment, and this is another way to enhance that,” he said. “It provides a lot of relaxation and comfort to passengers as they’re traveling through.”