St. Pete-Clearwater Airport August 23rd

Despite a torrential and gusty downpour that occurred just as yours truly was trying to get from the parking lot to the terminal with supplies and two dogs in tow, we had a memorable meeting at the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport. We were joined by the Central Pinellas group, which made the otherwise quiet terminal building seem busier.

We started off in baggage claim, where the dogs were unfazed by the baggage belt warning buzzer and motion of the belt and bags. You can see several of the pups here wondering why we're waiting for bags when we haven't gone anywhere yet. Don't you guys know you're supposed to get on the plane first?

Next, we headed over to security to get some practice in the proper way to travel with our pups. The important lesson to remember here is that if you fly with your pup, you do not ever need to remove your dog's collar and leash or let go of the leash. The best way to go through the metal detector with your dog is to approach the detector, stop just before it, and have your dog sit and stay. You then walk through the detector by yourself and, when told to do so, turn and tell your dog to come. This way you each go through the detector separately while still maintaining complete control of your dog.

You may have heard or been told in the past that you had to let go of your leash to proceed through security. You may even be asked by a TSA agent to remove your dog's collar and leash. Whether or not this was a requirement before, it is definitely not the case now, so be sure to follow the procedure above for the safety of you, your puppy, and your fellow travelers.

(If you're like me and you want proof, here are a couple of links on this topic from the TSA site, about traveling with service animals and pets. Note that even for pets it says, "You may walk your animal through the metal detector with you," so insisting on maintaining leash control with your guide dog in training is simply following standard procedure.)

I believe this is Hunter showing us how it's done. (With several black Labs at this meeting being handled by people who are not their puppy raisers, I could be wrong. Corrections always welcome.)

Hunter does not seem to mind a patdown on the other side one bit.

Once everyone made it through security, we gathered in the waiting area to board our chartered jet to Cancún. Oh wait, that was just a dream. Nonetheless, Allegiant Air was kind enough to allow us to board one of their planes. Here is Victoria with (hm, I wonder if she remembers) Georgie, who prefers a window not too close to the wing.

Tammy relaxes by the bulkhead, which is where traveling guide dog puppies and working guides often find themselves. No barf bag for her!

Here are Melisa and Bruce deplaning down the jetway after our landing in Mexico. Er... Bruce is stylin' in his harness just a few weeks before he goes in for guide dog training.

A big thank-you to Michele at PIE (that's air traffic controller-speak for St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport, though really, why PIE?) for allowing us to have our meeting there and for arranging all the cool exposures. Everyone seemed to have a great time, with some commenting that we should do this every year. I still think for next year's meeting, we should actually go somewhere – though when you walk outside in the warm, humid air with palm trees everywhere, who's to say you're not in Mexico?

¿Tu AC es loco, no?