Posted on 05/27/2018 1:20:10 AM PDT by EinNYC
Travelers killing time at Tampa International Airport’s Gasparilla Bar got an unexpected show Friday when a dog gave birth to eight puppies near Gate F81.
The 2-year-old golden retriever, Eleanor Rigby, owner Diane Van Atter, and the puppies’ father, Golden Nugget, were waiting to board an afternoon flight home to Philadelphia when the dog went into labor.
They missed the flight, and for the next three hours created a fuzzy spectacle as crowds gathered with phones trying to capture the scene.
The puppies were delivered with assistance from Tampa Fire Rescue paramedics stationed at the airport, as well as a nurse who had to leave halfway though the delivery to catch her own flight.
Other passengers came and went, casually sipping their coffees and charging their phones as they watched puppy after puppy delivered on the carpet, airport spokeswoman Emily Nipps said.
"I’ve never seen anything like this in an airport, or otherwise," she said.
Van Atter said she has mobility and pain issues, Nipps said, and the dogs were service dogs, though Eleanor Rigby was still in training.
Van Atter’s stepmother, Karen James, of Bradenton, was also set to fly to Philadelphia. She said they knew Eleanor Rigby was pregnant, but believed the excitement of being in the airport around so many new people may have triggered the early birth.
James was talking to the Tampa Bay Times by phone from the airport when people started cheering in the background.
"Another one just came out!," she said.
She was holding Golden Nugget on a leash.
"I have to go, the father is getting excited," she said. "Every time she’s ready to deliver another one he starts jumping around."
James said the plan was to find a dolly somewhere in the airport to carry the pups and mother out. Then they’d go back to Bradenton where everyone would get some rest before figuring out how to drive to Philadelphia with a new litter.
No planes were delayed and all the puppies were successfully delivered. Seven males, and one female.
Perfectly normal looking Veterans with Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD what in my day they called Shell Shock ) use service dogs. Does that fit your definition??
Yes, that would fit but I don’t think it would fit these two.
Service puppies get to fly too now?
“fake service animals”
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I travel a lot and people take their dogs with them all the time. They just lie and the people at the front desk can’t question them. They’re doing this at hotels where you are not allowed pets. 20 year old girls don’t need a service dog but lying comes easy to so many of them.
“This bottle of Scotch is my service animal”
But what if someone with PTSD is triggered by service animals? #MyVirtueSignalIsStrong
Yeah, I see them at the commissary with their "service" pit bulls. They can buy a teddy bear. Audie Murphy didn't need no damn service dog.
An employee of mine had a doctor’s note allowing him to play first person shooter games. It was to treat his ptsd.
He was enlisted in the army. Never saw combat. Got ptsd while training in Alaska. Had a real doctor write this note. Is 30 years old. It’s note fired.
Why does she need more than one service animal?
Must be those cheeky Russians again..
Eleanor Rigby,
picks up the rice In the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window,
wearing the face That she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
The dog I mean. (I actually mean I misread the article)
So, is the woman in the floral shirt stretched out on the floor the one with the “mobility issues”?
Service dogs my ass...
Now she has potentially 9, worth over 1,000!
And how !
Clamp down severely of what animals can fly, charge a premium fee to allow it.
No 'Emotional Support' animals.
Maybe she “identified” as a service dog along the lines of Rachel dolezal and sh-yawn (talcum X) king ID as AAs.
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