When I had a layover in Dallas last week, I dashed out to look for pet relief areas. According to the DFW website, there are pet relief areas at all five terminals (A through E). I arrived at Terminal D, and had just enough time to locate one of the two Terminal D pet relief areas. [I’m returning to this post in July 2014 to report that Dallas now also has a pet relief area in Terminal D on the air side of security — that is, you don’t have to exit the building and return through security to give your dog a bathroom break. The new(ish) airside pet relief area, according to DFW’s website, is “located inside security at gate D18.” If any of you visit it, please let me know what you think of it (and for bonus points, send a picture!).]

Here’s what you do. Get down to the baggage claim area and locate Baggage Carousel D-15. Exit the terminal through the nearest door, labelled LL-D15. Here’s what it looks like:

Straight ahead of you, in the middle of the roadway, you’ll see this HUGE sign urging you onwards:

It’s blurry, but I risked my life taking this picture.

You’ll find yourself in the parking garage, and you’ll see another sign just inside, telling you to turn right. So you do, and after all that, what you find is this:

I stood there in disbelief for about a minute. I have never seen a more ridiculous airport pet relief area, and I’ve seen a lot of them by now.

It’s tiny. I swear it’s smaller than a Smart Car. Be sure to bring your own poop bags, since I didn’t see any, and I join you in hoping that your dog thinks well of large, chunky wood chips.

When I spoke to the man at the information desk inside, he told me that the pet relief area at the other end of Terminal D (look for the exit door near Baggage Carousel 29 or 30) is just the same. I looked for alternatives, of course, but even the hotel in Terminal D (the Grand Hyatt) is surrounded by concrete. The airport website states that the pet relief areas for the other terminals are “grassy areas,” but I didn’t have the time to take the Skylink train to another terminal (I would likely have chosen Terminal B). When I do get to see the other DFW pet relief areas, I’ll update this post — if you find yourself in Terminals A, B, C or E and get out to the pet relief areas, please send me an e-mail and let me know what they’re like!

This post is part of an ongoing series of reviews of airport pet relief areas we’ve visited. To see others, visit Dog Jaunt’s handy guide to airport pet relief areas.