It turns out Spring Training isn’t just for baseball players.
A group of future assistance dogs received the first-class treatment Friday morning on a flight out of the Bay Area from tiny Petaluma Municipal Airport bound for Phoenix. Usually, Canine Companions for Independence flies the puppies commercial, but that changed with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead, the five eight-week-old puppies are being hand delivered to families that will raise them.
"We reached out to private pilots who have since been transporting these little guys to their puppy raisers, who raise them and socialize them for about a year and a half," said CCI Public Relations and Marking Coordinator Michelle Williams. "Now, it’s just been so wonderful for the puppies. For us, it’s a cost savings."
The extremely precious cargo will spend 18 months with a family before moving into full-time service work.
This particular flight is extra special.
Pilot David Tuckerman and his husband are CCI volunteers and helped raise two of the young pups. "This is a special opportunity for us to personally deliver the puppies that we raised for eight weeks to the puppy raisers," he told KCBS Radio.
Williams said Canine Companions hopes to continue using private pilots even beyond the COVID-19 crisis.
"Nobody is flying better than these puppies," she said.
For the puppies, it’ll be just like a car ride.
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