Air travel can be stressful at the best of times but when combined with the pressures of the festive season it can be enough to drive you barking mad.
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Melbourne's Lort Smith Animal Hospital has found a way to help visitors to Melbourne Airport relax - with some pet therapy.
Around 20 dogs proved popular in Terminal 4 on Friday, helping passengers unwind before boarding their flights.
The canine companions - including the colourful pooodle Amity and Lulu the chihuahua - and Lort Smith Volunteers greeted people as they arrived at Terminal 4 on Friday, with many stopping for pats and photos.
Lort Smith CEO David Herman, the benefits of having or interacting with pets were well established.
"We know that spending time with a companion animal is linked to a range of amazing health benefits, particularly around lowering stress and increasing wellbeing."
Lort Smith has run a pet therapy program in hospitals for 25 years.
Interacting with dogs releases oxytocin, a hormone associated with affection and bonding. Benefits can include lower blood pressure, decreased stress and reduced anxiety.
A wide variety of breeds are trained up as therapy dogs and a rigorous screening program ensures only the best and brightest are recruited to the pack.
Similar programs have been successfully rolled out in the US.
A Lort Smith spokesperson said the program could become a permanent fixture after the overwhelmingly positive response to the airport trial.
