Golden retrievers bring comfort and joy to holiday travelers at the airport

By Jessica Plautz From Mashable

There are few things more reliably stressful than braving the airport during the holiday travel season.

In the hopes of combating some of that stress, United Airlines has organized visits from comfort dogs at its terminals in Chicago’s O’Hare airport and Houston’s George Bush airport, beginning Saturday.

“I’m glad that our flight isn’t delayed, but if it was, this would be so uplifting,” one passenger told ABC13 in Houston. “They’re so sweet!”

Having dogs greet flyers is not limited to the holidays. In Los Angeles, for example, the Pets Unstressing Passengers (PUP) program has been running for more than a year. In Florida, FLL AmbassaDogs has about a dozen dogs that greet passengers.

Since dogs make great therapy animals, they’re a natural fit for airports.

United planned to continue dog visits to the airports in Chicago and Houston through Wednesday.

LCC K9 Comfort Dogs provided the dogs in Chicago, while Therapy Dogs Incorporated visited Houston.

IMAGES:

A comfort dog greeting passengers at Chicago’s O’Hare airport on Sunday. IMAGE: KERNOOCHES

https://twitter.com/united/status/546088907813957632/photo/1

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