The furry volunteers bringing good vibes to Phoenix Sky Harbor

Sharon Martin was one of the first volunteers to get involved with Navigator Buddies at Sky Harbor. Her Old English Sheepdog, Abby, was one of the most recognizable faces of the program in its first years.

"When we started working and volunteering with the dogs, you could see the difference in everybody's calm, the height of the anxiety came down and everybody was just, 'Oh, a dog!'" Martin said. "Their voice goes up usually, but their emotions go down and we just love watching somebody change from being scared and nervous to just relaxing. And what we always say is if a dog is someplace, it's normal and people feel normal."

Sky Harbor is one of more than 70 airports across the nation that has a therapy dog program. Volunteer-run Navigator Buddies roam terminals and pre-security areas on two-hour shifts, greeting travelers who might feel anxious about going through security or finding their way around an unfamiliar place.

Remembering the face of the Navigator Buddies

Anyone who flew out of Sky Harbor on Wednesdays over the past eight years couldn't miss Abby when they saw her.

Wearing a purple bow on her head to match the color of the vest her human wears when at the airport, the English Sheepdog greeted people in the terminals with a wide, open-mouthed smile, reveling in the attention from travelers on their way to their flights.

Martin adopted Abby as a gift for her husband's 60th birthday. When their son left to attend classes at Arizona State University, Martin trained Abby as a therapy dog to visit the college as part of its Sun Devil Paws program.

"When I got our sheepdog, we realized what power she had," Martin said. "She stopped people before she was even certified, she stopped people to touch her and pet her."

Martin and Abby were the first Navigator Buddy team to win the Phoenix Impact Volunteer Award from the city of Phoenix. Other teams received the honor since then; in 2026, the award went to Beth and Will Thompson and their border collie, Finn.

In addition to being one of Sky Harbor's first Navigator Buddies when the program launched in 2017, Abby also did work with the Mayo Clinic's Caring Canines program and the Chandler Police Department's Paws for Police program.

"Abby was my partner for 10 years," Martin said. "She would go in and see what I was wearing to know where we were going. It's like if I put on the purple vest (for Sky Harbor) she knew where we were going."

Abby died in July 2025, two months before what would have been her 13th birthday. She logged a total of 1,070 lifetime therapy visits, including close to 400 at Sky Harbor.

Filling big paws after loss

In many ways, Abby's spirit lives on at Sky Harbor. Martin wears a pin with Abby's face on it.

Inside the Sky Harbor Navigators office in Terminal 4, hidden behind a row of escalators, medium-sized cardboard cutouts of past Navigator Buddies are spread around. Abby is displayed most prominently, stationed by the doorway. Martin said the cutouts date back to 2020, when the Navigator Buddies couldn't come into the airport because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Today, Martin's shih tzu/bichon mix Ashley is helping to fill the void left by Abby's passing.

Ashley, described in a therapy dog card as "the teddy bear dog," is also up in age — she's 12 — but Martin put her through therapy dog training because she wanted to continue her volunteer work, knowing the calming power dogs have on people.

"I knew as a volunteer you have a lot that you do, but with the dog, you have so much more that you can give," Martin said. "Because everybody wants to see the dog. Nobody smiles at me all the time, but they smile at the dogs. It changes something. And they may not remember the airport, but they remember meeting that really cute dog."

Ashley completed her therapy dog training in June 2025, weeks before Abby died. She received her certification from the Alliance of Therapy Dogs after successfully completing her required therapy tests.

August marked one year since Ashley made her first Sky Harbor visit as a certified therapy dog. Before that, she made a few visits to ASU and Mayo Clinic, where Martin said Ashley enjoys lying down in bed with patients.

Yes to treats, no to squeaky shoes

The day The Arizona Republic interviewed Martin for this story was Ashley's 112th therapy visit at Sky Harbor. And it wasn't an easy transition for the pup.

Where Abby thrived in the airport setting, Ashley needed time to get used to the loud sounds and the bustling crowds, Martin said. Overhead announcements broadcast in the terminals and the squeaking of shoes on the tile floors intimidate Ashley.

While Ashley's introversion contrasts with her late big sister, what they have in common is their favorite part of going to the airport — getting treats.

Martin said a day at the airport must include getting a soft, chewy treat from the American Airlines Credit Union and a Pup Cup from Starbucks.

How airport therapy dog programs began

Therapy animal programs to relieve stressed travelers began in airports in the years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to the Alliance of Therapy Dogs, a nonprofit group that certifies dogs as therapy animals. San Jose Mineta International Airport's SJC Happy Tails was the first therapy dog program in the nation.

Many people were nervous about air travel in the attacks' immediate aftermath, so some airports used therapy dogs to help travelers calm down and enjoy time with a furry friend. Videos of travelers reacting to dogs at the airport encouraged airports across the country to start their own programs.

Sky Harbor's Navigator Buddies debuted in 2017 and was modeled after a similar program at Los Angeles International Airport.

"The importance of offering this program at Phoenix Sky Harbor can't be overstated," according to a statement from Sky Harbor on the Navigator Buddies program. "It provides passengers the chance to interact with therapy dogs, helping to reduce stress and anxiety often associated with travel and a busy airport environment.

"For passengers missing their own pets left at home, spending time with a Navigator Buddy can be a welcome comfort. In addition, nothing beats seeing the smiles and happiness these dogs bring to both passengers and airport employees."

At the time Sky Harbor debuted the Navigator Buddies program, the Alliance of Therapy Dogs recorded 48 confirmed airport therapy dog programs in the United States.

Today, that number is well over 70, according to the Instagram account @airporttherapydogs. The account posts schedules for airports' therapy dog shifts, showing the times they'll be there and what part of the airport they're visiting. Of course, the schedules include photos of the dogs.

Several of the estimated 40 Navigator Buddies on duty at Sky Harbor show up on the account, including Beau the golden retriever, Oliver the Old English sheepdog and Coconut the husky.

Mesa Gateway Airport, Sky Harbor's reliever airport in east Mesa, also has a therapy dog: a black lab named Charlie.

Celebrating nearly a decade of helping travelers

While dogs are the most common service animals at airports, some have other species on staff.

San Jose's SJC Happy Tails also includes therapy cats and therapy rabbits. Other airports with cats include Denver and Minneapolis, while rabbits are part of airport service animal teams in Hartford, Connecticut and Little Rock, Arkansas. Portland International Airport in Oregon occasionally brings out therapy llamas and alpacas, most often during the holidays. And San Francisco International Airport made headlines a decade ago for bringing in LiLou, who was described as the world's first airport therapy pig.

But most often, the creatures wearing "Pet Me" vests roaming the airport terminals are dogs.

Volunteers make the Navigator Buddies program possible

Sky Harbor's program has grown in the nine years it's been offered. Martin was one of the 18 graduates of Sky Harbor's Navigator Buddies program from the inaugural 2017 class and one of six still involved today, Sky Harbor spokesman Greg Roybal said.

While her dog Abby is irreplaceable, having Ashley succeed her as a therapy dog helped Martin continue using the healing power of dogs to help stressed vacationers, and in a way, helped her overcome the grief of losing her longtime partner. And adopting a new sheepdog helped, too. Martin recently welcomed Emma to her family.

"We knew we wanted another sheepdog because we love the power of the sheepdog," she said. "It's just different walking with this one. People notice, they remember. They are just big clowns."

Eventually, Martin will train Emma to be a therapy dog at Sky Harbor, and she, too, will follow Abby's lead.