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.