You’re at the airport waiting for boarding to start, anxious about your flight and stressed about catching your connection. You grab a book and begin to read, but your mind is elsewhere.
Then, behind the pages of your book, you see a spotted, brown-and-white tail wagging, and you feel a round, wet nose pressed on your knee.
You look up and see a big St. Bernard greeting you with a panting smile and its heavy white paw on your knee.
Ryder and Chauvin are St. Bernards part of the Bayou Buddies Pet Therapy program, which often visits the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport.
“They’re very social dogs; they’re big, but they’re just loving dogs,” Gregory Bonaventure, Ryder and Chauvin’s owner, said.
“St. Bernards are very tame, very docile animals, so they’re great for pet therapy,” Bonaventure said.
Coming up behind them are Cricket and Malarkey, two border collies with puffy black-and-white tails. Two-year-old Malarkey is playful and social with the other dogs, while nine-year-old Cricket takes her job “very seriously,” according to her owner, Maribeth Andereck.
“When I say, ‘Do you wanna go to the airport today?’ their ears pop up, and they know exactly where they’re going. It’s a very pleasant place to volunteer, for sure,” Andereck said.
Andereck started Bayou Buddies in 2022 after taking leadership of the Louisiana Capital City Obedience Club pet therapy program. She decided to expand the LCCOC pet therapy program, which started in 1989, and rename it to Bayou Buddies.
“I did a lot of research and took classes online with Pet Partners, a national pet therapy organization, to get my dogs certified as therapy dogs,” Andereck said.
To qualify to join the Bayou Buddies program, dogs first have to pass the Canine Good Citizen test, which teaches good manners and behavior. Then Andereck sets up a meeting with the dogs and their owners in a public area to ensure the dogs can do well in a busy environment before she approves them for the program.
“We’re always looking for volunteers,” Andereck said.
Bayou Buddies does volunteer visits to senior living centers, hospitals and schools, among other places. There are 28 dogs in the program, eight of which do regular visits to the airport. Those who volunteer at the airport also have to go through a security background check and airport orientation.
“I’m a volunteer,” Bonaventure said. “I’m retired; that’s my hobby. I wanted to do something unique with my time.”
With honey-yellow hair and a huge smile, 11-year-old golden retriever K.T. loves spending time at the airport. Originally the runt of her litter, K.T. has a gentle and mellow personality and is a fan of belly rubs.
“When we get to the airport, she gets out of the car and just starts running to the door. ‘Oh, I know where I am! I love this place!’” said her owner, Karen Runnels.
“She just has this innate ability to know people that need her and that are comforted by spending time with her,” Runnels said. “She gets as much joy out of it as she gives.”
Runnels was a preschool teacher and director until her school closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. As she was looking for a new way to spend her time and minister to others, her husband mentioned pet therapy volunteering, and she decided to give it a try.
“I was looking for some way to serve the community,” Runnels said.
Whether it’s a group of veterans flying out to Washington D.C., the Louisiana Mardi Gras Queens heading to the Mardi Gras Ball in the capital, Olivia Dunne on her way to Portugal for the Sports Illustrated photo shoot or a student traveling on spring break, the Bayou Buddies are there to give them a warm send-off and wish them safe travels.
“I just thought it was nice to break up the monotony at the airport,” Matthew Perschall, an LSU student, said after he saw the Bayou Buddies while waited to board his flight to Atlanta, Georgia.
“Because how often do you just get to see pets at the airport.”
