15 puppies learn how to navigate SLO airport as part of guide dog training

The San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport was filled with the patter of paws on Saturday as 15 guide dogs in training got a lesson in social interaction and airport etiquette.

The Guide Dogs for the Blind puppies and their volunteer raisers from all over the Central Coast came to simulate a trip to the airport, filled with TSA officers, beeps of scanning machines and suitcases.

“We’re looking for keeping attention on the handler, ignoring distractions, and confidence in a distracted, loud, unfamiliar environment,” Dylan Spencer, president of the Cal Poly chapter of Guide Dogs for the Blind, told The Tribune. “We have different goals for different ages, but it’s really fun to figure out each dog.”

The puppies’ ages ranged from 4 months to 16 months, with the youngest puppy being a Labrador retriever named Nomura.

All of the puppies at Guide Dogs for the Blind are retrievers, both Labradors and goldens, according to the head of San Luis Obispo’s chapter Susan King.

“Most of the dogs, I expect, will be fabulous,” King told The Tribune. “It’s a lot for some of the little ones.”

This is the second time Alaska Airlines has hosted a training session between Guide Dogs for the Blind and the SLO airport, with an open plane set for the puppies to walk on with their handlers.

“Having Alaska here as that bridge opened up a whole new world as far as being able to go back to the airport for a training event,” King said.

Once the guide dog puppies are raised and ready, they move to a campus where they will be fully trained under professionals, King said. The dogs then get matched with their forever owner and usually take a flight with them as their first trip.

“We place dogs all over the United States and Canada,” King said. “Most of the time, people fly in from some distant place to come. It’s an amazing process.”

Volunteer puppy raisers came from Ventura, Santa Maria, Salinas, San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly to go through the training and socialization session, according to puppy-raising field manager Mikhaila Hobbs.

While the dogs were waiting in line at security, puppy raisers talked among themselves, and a pair of puppy sisters were discovered.

Nora Crivello has been a puppy raiser since 2020, and her dog Hazelnut found her sister Hermione in the airport.

“These dogs, when they’re born, the litter all has the same letter,” Crivello told The Tribune. “This is the H letter. I’m like, they’re sisters! It was cool.”

Crivello volunteers as a puppy raiser to help owners with visual disabilities have a prepared guide dog, and for personal reasons as well, as her 15 year old daughter is blind.

“My daughter, she’ll probably have a guide dog one day,” Crivello said. “It just felt like if someone else is going to give this gift to us at some point, maybe we should continue to give it back to others.”

The puppies and their raisers will continue to work on socialization outings at coffee shops, downtown and the beach. All the puppy raisers emphasized a need for more volunteers.

“There’s a shortage of raisers. We need more raisers,” Crivello said.

The session ended with the puppies settling on an Alaska Airlines flight for 10 minutes, before returning to the terminal for final checks.

This story was originally published May 4, 2025 at 10:00 AM.