Lost and Found

How many times have you been standing at baggage claim watching unfamiliar suitcases rotate by you only to realize that you left your phone or your book in the seat pocket in front of you on the airplane?  Is it too late? Has the plane been cleaned and reseated already? Can I get back through security? All these questions swirl through your mind as you hazily wade through jet-lag and now fear-jag! Where is my phone? Well, KLM Airlines has found a solution; a dog-powered solution! According to one of the most adorable commercials that I have ever seen, KLM has a new employee, and he’s got four paws and a great sniffer.

The Lost and Found Department of KLM has trained and prepared an adorable pup to retrieve lost items from the plane and use the owner’s scent to find the right match in the airport. The process seems fairly simple. As the flight attendants are cleaning up the plane and emptying those secretive seat pockets, the pup is nearby. If they find a lost item like a phone or a stuffed animal, they let the dog identify its scent and then they insert it into a pocketed vest on the pup’s back. With a simple command, the dog turns and bounds through the plane, up the gangway, and into the airport. His nose guides him as he connects the lost object with the correct human. KLM employees in the terminal are attuned to the dog’s mission, and they facilitate the return of the item to the relieved traveler, who often hasn’t yet realized that they have lost something!

The amazing part of this story is the wonder of the sniffer.  We all know that dog’s scent-detectors and hearing abilities are amazingly keen, but to see this super power used in action is too sweet. The image of the mission-driven puppy, bounding through the doorway in search of the right match between lost and found makes an invisible and underutilized gift visible; the wonder of canine super powers.