Dog Abandoned at Airport Goes Home With Officer

UPDATE Feb 23, 2026 8:26 AM CST

Thousands offered to adopt a 2-year-old goldendoodle abandoned by a traveler at Las Vegas' Harry Reid International Airport. Now, one has taken him home: local police officer Skeeter Black. Black, who responded to the Feb. 2 incident, officially adopted the dog, now dubbed JetBlue, on Saturday after the pooch spent 10 days with Retriever Rescue of Las Vegas, where he went unclaimed by his original owner. "He's going to be very much loved," Black says, per the Washington Post. The officer and his family had filed an application to adopt a doodle back in September, the rescue said, making it an easy decision. The airline JetBlue donated $1,000 to assist with the adoption fee, on top of a $5,000 donation for the rescue.

Feb 20, 2026 1:37 PM CST

Airline staff in Las Vegas say a woman who couldn't get her dog cleared as a service animal simply left him tied to a metal baggage sizer at an airport ticket counter and walked off to her gate. Police say 26-year-old Germiran Bryson was denied a boarding pass at the JetBlue counter at Harry Reid International on Feb. 2 after failing to provide required paperwork, then allegedly abandoned the Goldendoodle and headed toward security, USA Today reports.

• According to a Facebook post from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, when officers found Bryson at a boarding gate and asked her why she abandoned the dog, she said "the airline would not allow her to fly with it and claimed the dog had a tracking device—implying it was acceptable to leave the animal behind and it would return to her."

Police bodycam video shows Bryson claiming she went to the gate to rebook her flight. Police say she "became hostile and resisted officers' attempts to detain her." She was arrested and faces misdemeanor counts including animal abandonment, animal abuse, resisting a public officer, and providing false statements. "We can't believe we have to say this… but please don't abandon your dog at the airport—or anywhere else," police said.

The 2-year-old dog was cared for by airport staff and officers, then transferred to Clark County Animal Protection Services. After 10 days went by without the owner returning for the dog, it was placed with Retriever Rescue of Las Vegas, which named him JetBlue, Fox News reports. He licked our faces, wagged his tail, and jumped up on us," Danielle Roth, the nonprofit's founder, tells USA Today. "There was no stress, like he knew he was safe. Like he knew he was never going to be stressed again." Roth says they have received more than 300 inquiries from people who want to adopt JetBlue. "We need to be sure that he will never, ever, ever go through this again."