San Diego might have trouble electing an appropriate person to be mayor, but the city scores high marks in giving traveling dogs a nice place to conduct business. San Diego airport has the nation’s first fully enclosed indoor dog bathroom, according to U-T San Diego.
Located in Terminal 2 West between Gates 46 and 47, the 75-square-foot “Pet Relief” airport comfort station is a wonder. It includes fake grass, two deodorizers, a hand-washing station, and complimentary baggies. It also has a fire hydrant, giving dogs a place to aim. Just as important: Maintenance workers clean it twice a day.
“It’s with our other restrooms, men’s, women’s, family, and animals,” airport spokeswoman Katie Jones told the Los Angeles Times.
The facility opened in April as part of the of the airport’s $1 billion expansion of Terminal 2 and has flown under the radar until the story took hold last week.
“I’ve received calls from NPR, Reddit, Huffington Post,” said Jones. “A national game show made it a question. We’ve really gotten a lot of attention, and it’s been very positive.”
Interestingly, the airport already has four other pet relief areas, but these are all outdoors, outside of the security areas. The new one is notable for being inside security, so you don’t have to deal with the line again. It’s also notable because the fire hydrant is just too much.
Jones told the Times that the pet restroom fulfills a Department of Transportation requirement for airports to provide an area for service animals to relieve themselves. The San Diego airport opened it to all dogs, however.
Other airports do have indoor pet relief areas, but this one appears to be the only one that’s fully enclosed, just like a regular bathroom.
Via U-T San Diego; photos via the airport’s Facebook page
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