The pack that flies together (almost): a photo essay

I was curious to see if it would be as much fun to take Beverly on the CCI airport excursion (held yesterday) as it was when I took Kyndall last year. That’s the first time I had been through the experience of going with a group of other pups in training, to expose them to a TSA screening (as well as some of the other sights and sounds of Lindbergh Field). It was! About two dozen dogs participated this year (twice as many as the last time), and they must have been accompanied by about 30 puppy-raisers. We presented quite a spectacle, and many travelers seemed to enjoy the sight of us all.

We assembled on the second floor of Terminal 2, which presented a great opportunity to be brave in the face of a daunting climb up the stairs.

Then we waited quite a while for everyone to arrive. Here Beverly (closest) had just spotted her boyfriend, Keegan. She looooooves him and wanted to spring up and play, so it was a great opportunity to practice being good and staying Down.

Finally we moved to the screening area, where one by one, the humans shed their purses, shoes, cell phones and other gear, then guided their canine companions through the old-fashioned metal detectors.

No one set off any alarms, but they still made us get our hands swiped for traces of explosives. None of that was detected either (thank goodness!)

Then: more waiting for everyone to go through the drill. (So many temptations for ones so young.)

Finally, we moved along to the terminal’s very cool “pet relief” station…

…where, as so often is the case, the line was very long.

While some of the pups seemed enraptured by the plastic grass and phony fire hydrant, Beverly seemed to be creeped out by it and certainly had no interest in relieving herself in the small space.

We moved on to some photo ops (Bev’s the one snuggled up to one of the burly security guards.)

Some participants struck arresting individual poses. But Beverly again seemed too nervous to try this one.

Still, it clearly was a mind-expanding experience. Which was the point.

Old dog invents new trick!

Tucker tolerates all our CCI puppies. Many times he actively appears to like them — wagging his tail when they return from being out, for example. He only growls at those who try to take food away from him.

But we think he seems particularly fond of Beverly. In the last week or so, he has even been playing with her daily, something he’s almost never done with the others. The game goes like this: he stands and emits woofs that make him sound like a grumpy old codger. She acts like this is terrifying. He does it again. She reacts by running away, as if crazed with fear. He woofs again. Occasionally she jumps on him or (rarely) barks back.  This interplay goes on and on, for 15 or 20 minutes.  I captured a bit on my phone this morning.

<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/206321277″>My Movie</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/user25079241″>Jeannette De Wyze</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

We speculate that for him it’s a little like working a remote-control toy — you push a button and the toy moves. It may wreak havoc with our wood floors and area rugs. But it’s soooooo much fun, they say.