Stress-relieving dogs now permanent fixture at YVR - BC | Globalnews.ca (globalnews.ca)

submitted 2 years ago by otter@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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[-] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 years ago

For some people, a therapy dog is the best tool for them to alleviate their anxiety.

That's not what's happening here. The airport has always allowed therapy dogs, which are exceedingly rare no matter the location, with only ~13,000 therapy dogs in all of Canada. I personally have never seen one inside the dozens of the airports that I've been through around the world, but that's beside the point.

What the airport is doing is providing multiple spots with dogs throughout the airport for regular people (i.e. they don't have/need a therapy dog) to feel better. They are also trying to make the program 7 days a week, which means someone who chooses to avoid these dogs won't even be able to.

Huge difference, and I think the airport needs to be more mindful.

And I circle back to my original question: Would therapy tarantulas and snakes be welcome, too?

[-] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 years ago

Snakes and spiders can't be trained as much as dogs to keep to themselves and behave appropriately in crowded places. If they could, I don't think there would be any issue for me personally.

[-] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago

Snakes and spiders can’t be trained as much as dogs to keep to themselves and behave appropriately in crowded places.

A behaved dog doesn't rid someone of the phobia, unfortunately.

Snakes and arachnids can be incredibly docile, more so than a trained dog. But would it be fair for someone to bring a snake around, knowing that the fear of snakes would affect a ton of people who simply want to go on a flight? Seems odd to create new problems in this situation.

If they kept these dogs out of sight, but with way finding signs to get to them, should someone choose to, then it's less of an issue. You'd still have to wonder whether introducing an allergen to a public space is a good idea or not.