By Erin Hunsader
Staff Writer
BROWN COUNTY – Who could resist a ‘pet me please’ sign around the neck of a giant, fluffy, chocolate brown Newfoundland pooch named Baillie?
Travelers can find this friendly 115-pound pooch, along with a few other therapy dogs, strolling through the terminals at Austin Straubel International Airport as part of its newly-launched therapy dog program.
The PawsAero Therapy Dog program, which started last month, aims to spread puppy love to passengers who may be anxious about flying, or who just want to pet a pooch.
Airport Director Marty Piette said the program was started following a visit from a therapy dog named Fritz.
Piette said after seeing passengers’ love of Fritz, it made sense to have a few more furry friends on board full time, especially during the holidays when traveling can be chaotic for passengers.
“When they moved out of the area, we began to look at what our options were to not just continue the program, but to make it even more impactful, which led us to establishing PawsAero,” she said. “So now we’ll have multiple dogs, allowing us to expand the program to cover more peak travel time.”
The program will start with four therapy dogs – Baillie, a Newfoundland; Blue, a mini-Australian Shepherd; Rizzo, an Australian Shepherd; and Tucker, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel – with several more in the process of being certified and approved for airport volunteer work.
The dogs are accompanied by their pet parent, and will be identifiable by their PawsAero gear.
Their locations will be identified by signage throughout the airport.
Baillie’s handler, Glory Reed, started training dogs when she retired.
Reed said she had a few pups before Baillie, but Baillie is the smallest and easiest to train.
“Because she’s my third therapy dog, I knew what to do,” she said. “I started when I got her as a puppy… She is now 4. My other therapy dogs weren’t quite as easy to train. She was easy because she’s so laid-back.”
Between belly rubs and furry snuggles, Reed said Baillie can be found sprawled out on the floor.
Still, she said training a dog to do what Baillie does can be a challenge and takes persistence, no matter what size.
“(The dogs) have to be able to be around people and not be distracted by loud noises (like you might hear in an airport),” she said. “Then teaching them to do the basics – to sit, to stay, to go down, to be able to stay with a person if I need to walk away… When you train dogs you have to be constant with them. You can’t say sit down and stay and think it’s going to work. Even now we reinforce and do training at home.”
Reed said Baillie is a busy pooch.
The airport isn’t the only place she shares her doggy snuggles.
“We go to a couple schools, we’re also on a hospice volunteer team and we go to the nursing homes,” Reed said. “We’re starting at St. Elizabeth Hospital in the cancer ward in December.”
While Baillie made her way through terminals A, B and C, Reed said it is easy to see why Austin Straubel wanted to adopt the PawsAero program.
Several passengers stopped in their tracks when they saw Baillie.
“You can come and say ‘hi’ to her,” Reed said to encourage them. “Her name’s Baillie,”
As a therapy dog, Baillie puts in a full day’s work.
“When she gets a lot of activity in a day I will take the next day off,” Reed said. “I don’t want her to burn out.”
Reed said passengers will sometimes share their own pet stories.
“It’s so nice, especially with the kids,” she said. “Like yesterday, this little boy came in and laid down next to her. He’s like the whole length of her body. He hugged her and she licked his ear.”
Reed said she loves the work and thinks Baillie does, too, and is happy to be back at it.
“With COVID and everything, it’s so nice to get out and do this again,” she said. “You know, like everybody I’ve been in the house a year and a half, too. We’re certified, but we weren’t allowed in any of the places.”
Stress reliever
Piette said research supports the positive effects therapy dogs have on people in stressful situations.
“Studies have shown that dogs can reduce stress and increase the levels of happiness hormones,” he said. “Travelers will be encouraged to pet the dogs.”
He aid the pups follow the Pet Me Please Oath, which states: “We are here to help. We can calm fears and lick away tears. If we make you smile, we have done our job. So, pet me please.”
The PawsAero program is open to certified therapy dogs and their pet parents, especially during the busy holiday travel season, game travel and other busy times.
Those interested in participating in the PawsAero program should contact Susan Levitte at [email protected]