One day as I boarded my flight from New York to Madrid, I found a group of passengers pre-boarding the aircraft.  They all had a beautiful Golden Retriever on a leash. We had blocked all the seats in the first row of coach, which had extra legroom since there were no seats in front of them, just the dividing bulkhead.  That way, the dogs would have a place to lie down in comfort for the seven hour flight.

The Goldens were all trained as seeing eye dogs, and spoken to only in Castilian Spanish, so they could serve their new masters in the Madrid area of Spain. The flight went without incident, the dogs sleeping most of the way. When they deplaned, I said “Adios” to each of them at the front door, and was delighted to see that they all immediately wagged their tails in response!

Our Golden, “Charlie” was a loved member of our family for 14 years. I miss him to this day. Watch this video of a Golden protecting the last puppy of her litter and you will see why.