Flying is stressful these days. This squad of therapy pets is here to help.
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DENVER — When English Labrador retriever Galway dons her purple checkered vest and makes her rounds through the airport terminal, she’s officially on duty.
But unlike most working dogs, Galway’s uniform invites people to pet her. In fact, that’s her whole job.
Galway is one of more than 115 dogs (and one cat) in the Denver International Airport’s Canine Airport Therapy Squad, or DEN CATS.
The DEN CATS program is the largest of its kind in the United States. They have the Guinness World Record plaque to prove it.
Started in 2015, the volunteer program enlists owners of certified therapy pets to mingle with passengers in the airport concourse and terminals and invite them to spend time with their pets.
Video: Carly Rose, Andrea Kramar
Denver International Airport is the third busiest airport in the country and the sixth busiest airport in the world, serving more than 82 million passengers last year. Recent airplane safety incidents — including the American Airlines mid-air collision in January that killed 67 people and the door panel flying off an Alaska Airlines plane mid-flight a year earlier — have increased passengers’ anxieties about air travel.
“Airports can be stressful. The therapy teams provide that stress relief, a smile, a break in the craziness of an airport,” said Karla Grahn, volunteer program manager at DEN.
Trinity Marden frequently flies out of DEN to visit family who don’t live in Denver, and she’s seen the therapy pets a few times.
“Even as somebody who flies a lot, it is still a stressful experience. So the therapy animals always help,” Marden said, holding therapy cat Xeli in her arms.
Galway’s owner, Sharon Benn, started volunteering with the program two years ago.
While Benn enjoys the lighthearted encounters she and Galway share with passengers, like meeting a family headed for Hawaii, she is also glad to be there for people who aren’t excited to be at the airport.
Benn recalled one man she and Galway met who was travelling home alone from his grandson’s funeral.
“We talked for quite a few minutes just about life in general, and the whole time he's hugging Galway,” Benn said. “At the end of it, he hugged me and he said, ‘Thank you so much for spending time with me and talking to me.’ It was very impactful for me because I thought we made just a little difference just for a few minutes in somebody's life.”
When Barbara Weiss started volunteering with DEN CATS in 2015, the program had 27 teams. Since owners and their pets work together to offer comfort to passengers, the program refers to each duo as a “team.”
Weiss volunteers with her 8-year-old Belgian Malinois, Gabriel. Whenever she and Gabriel greet someone, Weiss digs into her fanny pack and offers them Gabriel’s “business card.”
The airport prints collectable cards with each pet’s photo, name and information on the back. Weiss said airport employees often run out of stores or restaurants when they see her and Gabriel to request a card for their collection.
Tim Nikkel works at a kiosk in Terminal A. His former manager started a collection of the therapy pets’ cards displayed near the register that Nikkel and other employees continue to add to.
"The CATS program actually does impact us. When we're working, we're standing here for hours on end. So it's always great to have that little bit of escape," Nikkel said.
The most rare DEN CATS card is 13-year-old domestic shorthair Xeli, the only therapy cat in the program. Unlike her canine colleagues, Xeli doesn’t walk around the terminal on a leash, but she’s still out and about, often carried in the arms of her owner, Nathan Pensack-Rinehart.
“Oftentimes we get the double take of like, ‘Oh, is that a cat or a dog or what's going on?’” Pensack-Rinehart said. “Sometimes people just swarm us. They’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I miss my cat, I miss my pets.’”
DEN CATS volunteers don’t have to adhere to a strict schedule and can come to the airport when it works best for them and their pets. While this helps with volunteer recruitment and retention, Grahn said, it makes spotting a therapy pet in the airport less predictable.
Grahn said the Denver International Airport typically posts the schedule of which therapy pet teams are working so passengers know who to look out for.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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