Maybe you read the 2014 story by New Yorker writer Patrica Marx in which she demonstrated how easy it was to game the system, bringing emotional support animals like alpacas, pigs and snakes into drugstores, designer boutiques, uppity restaurants and onto commercial flights.
So now, therapy animals are being called out for bad behavior. That's because people mistake them for highly trained service animals that nobly assist people with disabilities. That's not what therapy animals do.
This is personal. I share my home with Audi, a small fuzzy terrier mix. She's a registered therapy animal, a member in good standing of Therapy Dogs International. Audi's training--sit, stay, come, heel, don't snatch a snack that falls within reach, and be calm when a wheelchair rolls by--doesn't come close to that of service animals that can spend a year or more learning to aid people with disabilities--vision impairment, hearing impairment, mobility challenges, diabetes, seizures, autism--participate more fully in life.
Audi may not the best behaved dog that ever was, but she does her somewhat different job well. After donning the embroidered bandanna that identifies her as a therapy dog, she and I visit nursing homes and assisted living facilities, where she gazes with affection at everyone she meets while I make small talk with residents about the pets they've known in their lives.
Audi has been a Tail-Waggin' Tutor at public libraries, sprawling on a bean-bag chair to make nice with kids as they read aloud. She serves as a greeter and conversation starter at contemporary church services, where she's often rewarded with a bite of blueberry cake doughnut as we welcome parishioners.
Though Audi is a fine companion, she's not here to serve me. She's here to serve others with her charm and good cheer.
Many of Audi's emotional support cohort have owners who suffer from anxiety and other emotional disorders. The bad-reputation trouble started when owners with no such afflictions, motivated by the fact that therapy dogs (along with service animals) can fly in the main cabins of commercial airlines for free, found ways to obtain fake certifications.
Thus began a Noah's Ark lineup of not only dogs and cats but monkeys, peacocks, pigs, turtles, ducks, a miniature Appaloosa, and even a kangaroo that settled (or not) at the feet of their owners in already cramped coach seats (even if their size made that problematic). Along with space-hogging, incidents of barking, biting, lunging, urinating, annoying other (presumably better trained) animals--including service dogs--and exhibition of their own unease led to tightening of rules regarding transporting of support animals.
Southwest Airlines recently announced that as of Sept. 17, its program would only accept dogs and cats bearing letters from a physician or a licensed mental health professional attesting to the need for the pet to travel with its owner. No more main-cabin rodents, spiders, reptiles, hedgehogs, or rabbits. Surprised? Don't be. Alaska Airlines explicitly prohibits animals with tusks.
A national movement may help improve therapy dogs' images at airports. Bow Wow Buddies are now roaming the concourse at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport. Along with their handlers, the four-leggers are members of a program to greet passengers, gentle the fears of first-time and nervous flyers, and serve as ambassadors to visitors.
Around 200 airports host dog therapy teams, among them busy hubs like San Diego (its program is called Ready Pet Go), Los Angeles (Pets Unstressing Passengers, or PUP), Minneapolis/St. Paul, Phoenix, Denver (Canine Airport Therapy Squad, or CATS), San Jose, DFW (DFW K9Crew), New York LaGuardia (Comfort Crew), and Charlotte, N.C. (CLT Canine Crew). San Francisco and Albany, N.Y. have therapy pigs. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International employs trained miniature horses.
Although the Little Rock airport doesn't offer much in the way of connecting flights the way big hubs do, plenty of people find themselves here longer than they planned, either because of delays or because they dutifully arrived early (like we're all supposed to) and have time on their hands before departure.
The presence of a friendly canine accompanied by an easy-going handler who knows a thing or two about our state makes for an agreeable passage of time.
According to a December article in Fortune, a series of studies published in 2017 in the Journal of Applied Developmental Science noted that although the popularity of therapy animals is growing, the field of animal-assisted intervention (AAI) "currently lacks a unified, widely accepted or empirically supported theoretical framework for explaining how and why AAI is potentially therapeutic." Research into the effectiveness of the practice, the Journal notes, remains in its infancy.
So what? Coaxing a smile out of a harried or agitated traveler may not work as well as an antidepressant, but it's worth something.
Most of us know that passersby aren't encouraged to interact with service animals, which can distract them from their duties. That's not the case with Bow Wow Buddies. They wear vests emblazoned with the words "Pet Me."
And so we do. Because that's what they're there for.
Karen Martin is senior editor of Perspective.
kmartin@arkansasonline.com
Editorial on 09/02/2018