Tampa International Airport February 11

Our Saturday meeting in February was at Tampa International Airport, which provided a whole host of different exposures from our visit to the much-quieter St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport last August. For one thing, it was much harder to describe where to meet!

But meet we did in one of the parking garages, where we divided the group into older and younger pups for some obedience exercises, including offering the pups the chance to do their business on concrete before we headed to the almost-completely carpeted terminal building. We also did a collar check to make sure the young puppies' buckle collars were no looser than two finger widths. It's important to keep these collars that tight so that if something unexpected frightens the pup, it cannot slip out of its collar and run away.

We began our journey by riding the monorail, one of the few working train-type transports in the Tampa Bay area. Here are Eric, Petey (aka St. Petersburg's First Puppy, attending his first meeting), and Eckerd (along with their handler torsos Melisa, Dave, and Kerry) enjoying their monorail ride.

After riding the monorail's full circuit, we walked by the monorail track to get to the terminal, so our pups could experience train travel from the outside too!

Once we got in the terminal, we took the elevators down to the ground floor to some grassy "busy" areas by some loud and misty fountains.

Then it was back inside to baggage claim, where a flight had just arrived to accommodate our exposure needs. Below, Tammy (with handler Darlene) looks ready to grab the first bag she recognizes, while Tommy (with Donna), Maytag (with Jen, Lincoln, and Julianne), and Nancy (with Starr) wait patiently.

We got back in the elevators to go to the concourse level, where we stopped by the observation deck (a good place to run to if you need a cement busy area ASAP), then walked by several shops as well as some diners just on the other side of a low fence at TGI Friday's. Mmm, French fries!

An airport display in the process of setup or teardown provided an impromptu obstacle course for the pups, who navigated it effortlessly by just following Tommy as he found the way to the wall. We continued through the Marriott hotel's lobby to their outside patio, complete with a wooden bridge for us to cross, as Polly (with Jean) does below.

We rested at the end so Dave could hand out Petey's business cards advertising Walkathon. Then we had one final exposure on a bridge over the roaring fountains that led us back to the parking garage and home.