Rescued dogs to provide emotional support to passengers in Krasnoyarsk airport

Two abandoned young dogs - a Dalmatian called Hippie and mongrel named Audra - had their first hour-long ‘working shift’ at Krasnoyarsk International Airport.

They will be on duty at the airport twice a month until at least the end of June. Their role is to communicate with passengers in departure lounges to help some of them feel more relaxed ahead of flights. 

‘We decided to follow successful experience of Western colleagues and assist our passengers in overcoming flight anxiety with help of our friends from PovoDog centre’, said Andrey Metsler, general director of Krasnoyarsk International airport. 

Two abandoned young dogs - a Dalmatian called Hippie and mongrel named Audra - had their first hour-long ‘working shift’ at Krasnoyarsk International Airport. Pictures: Krasnoyarsk International Airport

The project should give a much-needed boost to the dog adoption programmes at the PovoDog and, hopefully, other city shelters. 

‘We hope that running this project on a site as prominent as Krasnoyarsk Airport will encourage more people to adopt dogs.

'Seeing and communicating with our dogs before flight departures cheers people up, and we want to convey that with proper upbringing and care stray animals become much-loved family members’, said Oksana Dubinina, from Volnoye Delo Foundation in charge of PovoDog shelters. 

PovoDog is a chain of dog shelters across Russia, set up by businessman Oleg Deripaska’s Volnoye Delo foundation. 

Rescued dogs to provide emotional support to passengers in Krasnoyarsk airport. Pictures: Krasnoyarsk International Airport