I have a Hearing Dog trained by Dogs for the Deaf (now known as Dogs for Better Lives since they also train autism assistance dogs.) This airport story raised a lot of eyebrows in the service dog community.
Dogs trained by nonprofit organizations are spayed or neutered well before they are placed into service around age 20 to 24 months. A small number of dogs are retained to be breeders, and they aren’t public access animals. I’ve seen how carefully the breeding process is managed for these very valuable dogs (sometimes it is by artificial insemination, sometimes not). The due date is well-anticipated. A male and female pair of breeder dogs don’t live together, much less fly around in airplanes together.
Working service dogs are continuously on duty for their handlers without time out for distractions like whelping a litter of puppies.
