Myles walks through St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport with his chin up.
He's guiding Chrissy Sanford, his instructor, who quickly gives verbal cues to the almost 2-year-old Labrador retriever puppy.
Sanford has been teaching guide dogs with Dogs Inc. for 15 years.
Myles is one of five to eight dogs she's training to help people with visual impairments through the Manatee County-based nonprofit.
"We always train the dog for the most difficult scenario, that way we're confident they'll be able to handle it if the person does decide to do something that is a little more challenging," Sanford said.
On Wednesday, ten dogs and their instructors went to the airport to learn how to navigate busy security lines, tight airplane aisles and noisy baggage claim areas.
Although it's rare for dogs like Myles to go through an airport just to practice, Sanford said the foundational skills developed in any area are the same.
"We do busy grocery stores, department stores, busy parks, and we'll do everything from high traffic being pedestrian traffic to high traffic [being] vehicle traffic," she said.
The training room at Dogs Inc. does have a mock airplane row the dogs can practice on, but going through the entire travel routine can be helpful for the dogs to gain confidence.
During the training session, Myles and Sanford walked through the security line.
One rule from the Transportation Security Administration is that the guardian never has to take their guide dog off its leash.
Myles's metal harness sets off the metal detectors, but after an agent pats him down and checks Sanford's hands for any residue, Sanford tells him to guide her to the counter.
"Find the" is one of around 40 commands Dogs Inc. guide dogs will learn.
After they get through security, Sanford pauses to talk with the group. Unprompted, Myles lies at her feet.
"This is also a nice skill to see sometimes. We do a lot of practicing on going and going and getting where you need to go," Sanford said. "They are working dogs, so they typically like to be busy, so something we practice a lot is sometimes just being still."
When it is time to get going, Sanford says a quick "forward" and Myles leads her.
Travelers with visual impairments can get a human assistant to guide them through the airport if they are traveling alone.
Sometimes that means holding onto an agent as they lead the traveler to their gate or sitting in a wheelchair while they're pushed to the plane.
Having a guide dog means the traveler maintains some of their independence.
Julianna Abbruzzese has a 3-year-old black Lab named Sky.
She'd rather have Sky guide her than use a cane.
"So if I'm walking, it's much more dangerous than Sky, who can avoid all those obstacles and keep me safer than the cane ever did," Abbruzzese said.
She also said traveling with a guide dog gives her a sense of independence.
When Myles is leading Sanford through the jet bridge, he sees the instructor-dog pair in front of him stop, so he stops.
"When you're boarding a plane and you have this long line of people and it's a lot of stop and go, and if you can't see, you don't necessarily know when to stop," Sanford said.
When Sanford tells him to keep going, he walks her toward the plane but stops again.
Sanford says even if the guardian keeps telling him to go forward, he will wait to make sure his human partner acknowledges a step, a tight hallway or a change in terrain.
When getting onto the Allegiant plane, that means Sanford taps her foot on the step and puts her palm against the airplane wall.
Then Myles moves forward.
When they get onto the plane, Myles puts his nose on the seat. Sanford can use the dog's body to follow his nose into the empty seat.
"If I were looking for a door, I would want him to put his nose at the door handle so when he finds the door, I reach out right above his head, I've got the door handle," she said.
Guide dogs will typically sit at their owners' feet on the plane, but it took Myles a minute to figure out how to sit.
Sanford helps him tuck his back legs under the seat in front of them and sit facing her.
They practice sitting in the seat one more time before leaving the plane.
"He knows enough that once you get him in position and reward him for it, they're going to easily do it again," Sanford said.
Baggage claim is usually noisy and filled with unfamiliar sounds and smells.
The pack of guide dogs sniff the carousel. One even licks it.
Sanford said some human partners will tie something recognizable on their suitcase or have said the dogs identified it from its smell.
She said that as dogs, like Myles, get further along in the program, the instructors will let them fail and figure out how to correct it.
Sometimes that means not stopping them when they're going to bump into someone or even trying to distract them.
When they do it right, they're rewarded with lots of praise and treats.
Sometimes when Myles does something right, he'll even look expectantly at Sanford's fanny pack of treats.
