{"id":64696,"date":"2025-12-18T23:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/64696\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T23:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:01:10","slug":"lehigh-valley-airport-therapy-dog-program-celebrates-10-years-of-passenger-support-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/64696\/","title":{"rendered":"Lehigh Valley airport therapy dog program celebrates 10 years of passenger support (PHOTOS)"},"content":{"rendered":"

On any given day, dogs and their owners can be found volunteering with Lehigh Valley International Airport\u2019s Canines Offering Passengers Encouragement (C.O.P.E.)<\/a> program.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 10th anniversary.<\/p>\n

It was enough to force a slight change in plans for traveler Mackenzie Chamberlain.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so cute,\u201d said the Sayre, Pennsylvania, resident headed to Fort Myers, Florida. \u201cI was gonna do work and now I\u2019m not because I\u2019m just gonna pet all the dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n

LVIA\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a wonderful experience for passengers,\u201d said Paula Bonstein, the airport\u2019s manager of customer experience. \u201cSometimes they have anxiety or they have fear of flying. And having the dogs around actually helps relax them and calm them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Airport staff and volunteers with Mercy School for Special Learning in Allentown offered travelers cupcakes, cookies and other gifts as part of Thursday\u2019s 10th anniversary celebration for C.O.P.E.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a nice relief for me and people that have therapy dogs because therapy dogs are for other people \u2014 they\u2019re not for us,\u201d Reibman, of Easton, said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing things for other people. They are not doing things for us. And that\u2019s what really is the most important.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s very laid back, and she has the perfect temperament to do this,\u201d said Miller, of Williams Township. \u201cAnd she really likes being petted, and she\u2019ll tell me when she gets tired.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll three of our saints have been therapy dogs, so we\u2019ve been doing it ourselves like 25, 28 years,\u201d said owner Jim Carlson, of Wind Gap, alongside his wife, Dee Dee Carlson. <\/p>\n

Michelle Wallace and her Cavachon \u2014 or Cavalier King Charles spaniel and Bichon Frise mix \u2014 named Louis have been volunteering at the airport for nearly three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a way to give back to the community,\u201d said Wallace, of Easton. \u201cIt\u2019s very humbling … just to help make somebody\u2019s day just a little bit brighter, better. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re different than service dogs. They\u2019re allowed to interact, so that\u2019s the big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas Stoudt, the airport authority\u2019s executive director, said the program fits in with the focus on ease and convenience for passengers at LVIA \u2014 airport code ABE.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s 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,\u201d he said. \u201cIt provides a lot of relaxation and comfort to passengers as they\u2019re traveling through.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On any given day, dogs and their owners can be found volunteering with Lehigh Valley International Airport\u2019s Canines…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-64696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}