‘Most chill.’ Gig Harbor dog helps brings comfort, joy to Sea-Tac Airport
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- Lynn Gonzalez and Tuck, a certified therapy team, visit Sea‑Tac weekly.
- Team stations in central terminal near TSA, offering short petting, stress relief moments.
- Encounters include crews and families, helping to ease anxiety.
Most airports are hectic by nature, and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is no exception.
Tuck, the therapy dog, to the rescue.
The Dalmatian and his handler, Lynn Gonzalez, drive from Gig Harbor to the airport at least once a week to greet travelers as part of an official volunteer airport comfort-dog therapy program.
Lynn, retired from a career in human resources and labor relations, spent a lot of time in airports traveling for her work.
“I spent 25 years of my career traveling to Sea-Tac Airport, but I lived in Seattle at the time, and I’m really comfortable with the airport. I just kind of thought it would be a really good gig, and it’s way better than I thought it would be,” she said.
Plus, she noted, her electric car gets great mileage.
Gonzalez, with Tuck resting on his bed on the floor to the side, recently sat for an online interview with The News Tribune. Later, the pair spent time with a News Tribune videographer during one of their airport shifts.
Tuck’s assignment is to help ease anyone suffering from a case of nerves, not enough sleep, too much or too little caffeine, too much time in line at security, you name it. If only for just a minute or two.
“Many people will say, ‘He made my day.’ And it’s not me that’s making their day — it’s him that’s making their day,” Gonzalez laughed.
“I just get to hold the leash,” she added smiling.
How it started, how it’s going with Tuck
Gonzalez describes the 6-year-old Tuck as “6 going on 60. He’s been a little old man, really. He’s the most chill dog I’ve ever had.”
She first met Tuck’s uncle, Max, at a dog show in Seattle.
“I was in between dogs, and I was attracted to Max because of his temperament,” she said. She met Max’s breeder and told the breeder she was interested in her next dog being a therapy dog.
“It just so happened that she bred for temperament, and so we exchanged information. She told me she’d let me know when she had another litter, and after four weeks, she said if there was one in there that had the right temperament, she would contact me.”
Tuck was one of the five boys in the next litter.
SEA Pups program
Tuck and Gonzalez are one of several therapy-dog teams that take turns at Sea-Tac in what’s known as the SEA Pups program.
The airport describes the program’s focus as “putting travelers at ease by offering pets, cuddles, and a chance to de-stress.”
Gonzalez said they received their certification through Bellevue-based Pet Partners as a certified therapy-animal team.
The pair generally can be found on Mondays working their two-hour shift in the airport’s central terminal just on the other side of TSA checkpoints in the food-court area.
Each airport encounter brings its own back story.
“There was a day where a woman pulled up to where my post is most of the time, and she got out of her wheelchair,” recalled Gonzalez. “She said, ‘I need to pet your dog. Is that OK?’ And I said, ‘Of course.’ And so she told me that she was terminally ill, and she had to rehome a bunch of her dogs, and she was desperately missing having a dog in her life for whatever amount of time she had.
“So if she spent a minute and a half with him. It was a lot.”
Many people just offer a quick pat and thank-you before moving on to their flight.
On another occasion., Gonzalez recalled a mom traveling with her autistic son.
“She asked if I could go down to the gate where (her son) was. They had just had to put their own dog down about a week or so before. So he was really missing seeing his dog. We walked down to the gate together, and he got to pet Tuck and give him a hug.
“It made a difference for him, and mom had a whole lot less stress,” she added.
If Tuck starts to show an elevated level of excitement, she takes him for a walk.
“But even doing that, he’s going to meet and greet people along the way as they want to see him,” she added.
“He deals with it well.”
That goes for all kinds of visitors — traveling basketball teams, TSA agents, solo passengers, flight crews, families.
“On any given day, we get flight crews, whether it’s pilots or the flight attendants. They always come by and say, ‘Oh yeah, this is exactly what I need to start my day,’” she said.
The Monday before Thanksgiving was particularly busy.
“A lot of families traveling, people going to Disneyland,” she said.
“Tuck has two spots that kind of resemble Mickey Mouse ears. So it’s always kind of fun for kids to see that. When they say they’re going to Disneyland, I say, ‘Well, look, he’s got Mickey Mouse ears.’ And they get all excited about that; it’s pretty sweet.”
To help keep Tuck socialized outside the frenetic airport scene, Gonzalez said she volunteers at other sites, including MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, Gig Harbor Library and “various schools,” with more events, such as visits to senior centers, for the holidays.
“It’s really all about him, I just show up with him, you know? I make sure he gets where he needs to go.”
