Flight delayed at SFO? The Wag Brigade is on the way.

Flights are delayed, safety traces are lengthy, and as a rule vacationers are grumpy and harassed. However what if throughout the midst of a sullen march down a transferring walkway, you met eyes with not one other poor schmuck hauling an overstuffed carry-on, however as a substitute, a fluffy golden retriever?

Enter the Wag Brigade, San Francisco Worldwide Airport’s very personal fleet of volunteer remedy canine.

Whereas petting most canine working at airports is strictly forbidden, members of the Wag Brigade put on blue vests that urge “pet me!” SFO has 22 canine on the squad, plus the world’s first-ever airport remedy pig (extra on the pig later).

Remedy canine originated within the wake of 9/11 on the Mineta San Jose Worldwide Airport as a approach to alleviate passengers’ anxieties. A program at LAX known as “PUP” launched in 2013; SFO rapidly took discover.

“We launched as a pilot program in late 2013 with six canine to gauge the response from passengers,” stated Jennifer Kazarian, an SFO worker who manages and trains the Wag Brigade. “The engagement was simply wonderful. So from then on we had been like okay — ship extra canine!”

All taking part pets are graduates of the SF SPCA’s Animal Assisted Interactions (AAI) coaching program. Changing into a remedy canine is not straightforward — in response to the SPCA, stated Kazarian, “It takes a unicorn remedy canine to grow to be an airport remedy canine due to the massive crowds.”

On a Tuesday afternoon, just a few of those “unicorns” filed in for responsibility at SFO: Benga, a pekingese-shih tzu combine, Brixton, a golden retriever, and Jagger and Toby, each goldendoodles. Accompanied by their handlers, they went by way of safety. Then, they headed to the Flight Info Show Display to search for delays. The place delays are, wired passengers comply with — and thus, the canine are known as to do their factor.

Often, this implies Terminal 3, the place United Airways flights are positioned.

As soon as the canine parked themselves within the terminal, the crowds did not take lengthy to type. Younger and previous alike stopped of their tracks once they noticed the 4 pleasant canine faces, gasping, guffawing, or letting out quiet “aww”s. Some requested for footage; others had been happy with pets.

Every canine had a special method: Brixton rolled onto his again to simply accept bellyrubs; Jagger excitedly wove by way of peoples’ legs, his comically poofy hairdo delighting vacationers; the proprietor of Benga, the smallest of the crew, inspired passengers to carry her. When kids approached the canine, their handlers handed out buying and selling playing cards that includes the canine’ faces and bios.

“We regularly hear folks say issues like: ‘I miss my canine greater than my spouse’ or ‘I simply obtained again from a two-week trip and that is the most effective a part of my journey,'” recalled Kazarian.

However then, it was time for the actual star of the present. A textual content introduced her arrival: “The eagle has landed.”

Minutes later, a pig with red-painted nails joined the canine on the terminal. If folks had been beginning to lose it over the canine, they had been completely toast now.

LiLou, a whip-smart performer who lives in an condo in Nob Hill, is this system’s first licensed remedy pig. Doing methods resembling twirling, taking part in a toy piano, and taking a bow, LiLou is clearly an enormous hit each time she makes an SFO look.

“Magnificence, brains, and expertise,” introduced proprietor Tatyana Danilov, fondly introducing LiLou to the now enormous, mildly hysterical crowd forming in Terminal 3.

Accepting consideration and pets from a crowd of adoring followers looks like a reasonably straightforward job, nevertheless it’s not at all times a stroll within the park for the Wag Brigade.

“An airport is a way more dynamic setting in comparison with different kinds of areas that animals and handlers would possibly volunteer at,” defined Kazarian. “Vacationers could also be experiencing a variety of feelings, and Wag Brigade members want to have the ability to reply to this.”

To fight this, animals endure an airport familiarization expertise earlier than they begin volunteering. They shadow a present remedy canine, find out about areas to keep away from within the airport (i.e. the meals court docket), and get a really feel for whether or not the airport atmosphere is an efficient match for them.

However typically, assembly airport-goers on the much less joyful aspect of the emotional spectrum is the place the animals actually shine. Linda Gordon, Brixton’s proprietor, described situations of vacationers heading to or from funerals, or of a girl who obtained caught at SFO en path to Mexico petting Brixton for half-hour straight with tears streaming down her face.

“That helped get her by way of,” Gordon recalled.

An hour and a half later, it was lastly time for the animals to go dwelling. It was tough to get the group to disperse, as vacationers stored approaching the squad for remaining pets. Actually makes you surprise if folks really do miss their flights as a consequence of Wag Brigade sightings.

Madeline Wells is an SFGate reporter. E-mail: [email protected] | Twitter: @madwells22