Tourexpi
A therapy dog project, launched for the first time
in Türkiye at Istanbul Airport, aims to offer a peaceful and pleasant traveling
experience to passengers feeling stressed about flights with the support of
their pawed friends.
Under the pilot project, five specially trained
therapy dogs started to work at Istanbul Airport.
The dogs are taken around the airport accompanied
by their trainers to support passengers with their positive energy.
The dogs are on duty in the international
departures area during the day, especially when flights are busy.
‘Dogs all around airport’
Abdulkadir Demirtas, the customer experience
manager at IGA, which runs the airport, said that every year the airport sees
millions of people from many countries
Stating that the airport develops services for
different needs and situations by prioritizing passenger satisfaction, Demirtas
noted that traveling can sometimes be stressful.
Demirtas stated that for this reason, the
management cares about providing a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere at the
airport, adding: "The positive effects of human and animal interaction on
blood pressure, stress and anxiety levels, have been proven by many scientific
studies. Acting in light of these studies, we aim to provide a pleasant,
stress-free travel experience at our airport with therapy dogs."
The airport wants its guests to leave the airport
happy and with unforgettable memories, he said: "Our guests can meet our
dogs all around the airport."
Underlining that there are similar projects in
other parts of the world, Demirtas added that in addition to dogs, ponies do
similar tasks at airports in the US and Canada.
‘Training starts when they are puppies’
Veterinarian Volkan Arslan said the dogs undergo
training process for their job.
Saying that five dogs have already successfully
passed the training, Arslan said that the dogs started to be trained as puppies
and that there are four more puppies now in the pipeline.
Arslan said that the trainers also took training
and got certificates.
Saying that they got positive reactions from
passengers during the training process, Arslan said that they take care of the
dogs’ health and have monthly and weekly programs for this purpose.
‘I’ve never seen something like this before’
Yunus Kizilaslan, a passenger, was pleased by the
people-friendly pooches. "It’s a very nice program, we want it to
continue. It’s very nice that they are trained."
Chinese passenger Xi Yuki also adored the therapy
dogs.
Saying he found the project useful, Xi added:
"I love dogs and animals very much. I’m very happy to see them here. I
never saw a program like this before."
Animal-friendly airport
At IGA Istanbul Airport, there are a total of four
pet rooms, one at the departing passenger floor counter islands, two after
passport control, and one at the arriving passenger floor, for the needs of
small traveling animals.
The pet rooms are equipped with products such as
cat and dog food, litter, and cat scratching boards.
Image
Credit: © AA
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