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Adopting a dog

m26

m26

Well-Known Member
Contributor
I recently rescued a german shepherd and would really like to keep her, but it seems like a bad idea. I imagine there would be countless situations such as deployments where I would have to leave home, and since I'm single there would be no one to take care of the dog. Am I SOL on this one?
 
Well if you are still in BDCP, it could certainly be quite some time before you need to worry about deploying. I knew some guys who had dogs while in flight school, and it generally wasn't a problem. When you hit the fleet, if you don't have a girl by then, I guess you could always see if a family member wants to watch the dog for a few months.
 
My dog has lived with my parents ever since I got divorced. It's not just deployments that make it hard to have a dog.. TAD, weekend cross countries, being stuck at work for 24h straight (SDO depending on your squadron's policy).

Keep this in mind, while you may be able to do what you want, sometimes your roommates get sick of dealing with your pets when you are gone.

Just playing devil's advocate here.
 
As a bachelor in the military, a cat is the best pet. You can go away for up to a week and as long as you leave them food, water, and a clean litter box - you're golden. I wouldn't do a dog as a bachelor.
 
phrogpilot73 said:
As a bachelor in the military, a cat is the best pet. You can go away for up to a week and as long as you leave them food, water, and a clean litter box - you're golden. I wouldn't do a dog as a bachelor.
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Along with what Phrog said as much as people talk crap about Cats, some are pretty mellow and cool. Mine is like a Pet on Demand. If I need to ignore him for 3 days in a row because Im working 14-18 hour days and all I can think about when I get home is eat and sleep he's fine with that. Dogs seem to be much more emotionally needy than cats, and a lot of them are much more vindictive when they feel moody. This translates to your otherwise happy dog pissing or shitting right on the rug in the living room while your gone for the 3rd day in a row because he feels neglected. Dont get me wrong I love dogs and I want one, Im just realistic that Single and in Germany 4000 miles from any family members that could watch one when I deploy isnt the time to have one.
 
Don't do it. Dogs are tough even when married. If I go TAD for 2+ weeks and Mrs. Pags wants to come along, then we have to kennel the Brown Dog. Dogs are nigh impossible when single in the military. Sure, they seem OK in college in flight school, but if you're doing it right they live longer than that. Do yourself and the dog a favor and wait until you have the time for a dog.
 
Concur with the others. I love dogs and we lost ours this spring and there will be another but there is no way I could have seen having a dog when I was active - or even Reserve - in a squadron.
 
I can't speak to flight school/deployment challenges related to dogs, but they do demand time. Mrs. Yak and I adopt rescued Labs and they do pose logistics challenges when we're gone for even a weekend flying at an airshow. We don't kennel, so we hire someone for the weekend to stay at the house. If you're life requires that you may be gone much, don't get a dog. You'll get frustrated with the situation pretty quickly. My .02.
 
I Love dogs and our aussie/golden mix is wonderful. That said, he is a lot of work even with my husband and I. Also, a german shepherd is not a small dog, often over the 45 lbs limit most apartments have, so you would be likely to need more expensive housing than the normal single guy also, plus pet deposits. I would say hold off until you have been in a while and know what you will be able to offer as an owner.
 
I got myself a pup while down here in PCola, and will totally agree on the above statements about neediness especially with a working dog like a GSD. Everything said about time above is 100% true... but in addition to that you seriously limit yourself on housing options... With a gsd you will HAVE to have a BIG privacy fenced backyard and will most likely have to work on the fence so he/she cant dig under it. Plus, a lot of places limit dogs to less than 50lbs which your gsd surely isn't. The, finally, when all is said and done and you've found that magical house that fits all those needs... BAM, $300 pet deposit, extra $25 a month to feed them, vets, dog house, chew toys, replacing objects that the dog decided were "chew toys", etc.

OTOH, the companionship is great. You can't take your cat out for a run, and unlike a GF/wife they will always be happy to see you come home. I actually enjoy running with my dog, even though I hate it without.
 
m26 said:
I recently rescued a german shepherd and would really like to keep her, but it seems like a bad idea. I imagine there would be countless situations such as deployments where I would have to leave home, and since I'm single there would be no one to take care of the dog. Am I SOL on this one?
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As long as you have a support network, ie family or friend etc who would be willing to take the dog when you have to hit the road for workups/cruise, keeping the dog is doable. It will be hardest during your first fleet tour, but through TRACOM and shore tour you shouldn't have too much of a problem making sure you give it enough time.

If you do decide to keep it, my biggest recommendation will be to get a place to live with a fenced in yard and a doggy door- That way the dog is free to go out in the yard and come back in the climate controlled house whenever it feels like it. Make sure you take the time and get it socialized and trained early on. It will make keeping it easier.

I watched one of my friends dogs or a long time during the home-cycle of my fleet tour while they were on IA. It did two things- showed me that having a dog was possible during a fleet tour when I wasn't deployed (P-3s didn't involve much in the way of workups away from home station, just a lot of overnight flights) and also ensured I had someone I could count on besides my family to take mine if I got deployed/IA'd. If I didn't have anyone I could trust to watch my dog while I was gone, I wouldn't have gotten one.
 
zippy said:
As long as you have a support network, ie family or friend etc who would be willing to take the dog when you have to hit the road for workups/cruise, keeping the dog is doable. It will be hardest during your first fleet tour, but through TRACOM and shore tour you shouldn't have too much of a problem making sure you give it enough time.

If you do decide to keep it, my biggest recommendation will be to get a place to live with a fenced in yard and a doggy door- That way the dog is free to go out in the yard and come back in the climate controlled house whenever it feels like it. Make sure you take the time and get it socialized and trained early on. It will make keeping it easier.

I watched one of my friends dogs or a long time during the home-cycle of my fleet tour while they were on IA. It did two things- showed me that having a dog was possible during a fleet tour when I wasn't deployed (P-3s didn't involve much in the way of workups away from home station, just a lot of overnight flights) and also ensured I had someone I could count on besides my family to take mine if I got deployed/IA'd. If I didn't have anyone I could trust to watch my dog while I was gone, I wouldn't have gotten one.
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If you're in a squadron that does a lot of TAD when at "home", then this can be tough. You can quickly become "that guy" who's always looking for someone to watch their dog. Watching someone else's dog for a week once a year is one thing, watching it every other week quickly becomes tiresome. Zippy, it's great that you were so willing to watch your boy's dog, but to m26, just know that there aren't going to be Zippies everywhere you go. The support network isn't always going to be there. For instance, if you go to SD but your family lives in Maine, how are you going to get the dog to your family before you go on cruise? If your future fleet squadron is anything like mine was predeployment leave isn't something you should count on.

Also, watch out for the shore tour thing. Might be all well and good if you go to someplace that's 9-5, but a lot of the TRACOM is 10-12hr days. My "shore" tour has had on one 3mo det so far and I've been on the road for the past 1.5mo and will be going on another 3mo det this fall/winter. I'm married and having a dog is tough on this tour.

And after the shore tour? 2nd sea tour. Good luck there.

Dogs are great. But dogs are basically like having a kid. If you want to do it right and treat your dog appropriately, then you need to spend a fair amount of time with him every day. You'd never recommend to your buddies that they should adopt a 2yr old kid, but that's about what you're getting with a dog.
 
I waited until I was married to get a dog. Since you already have him you can try and work it out. You probably won't need a lot of support until after flight school. In flight school you will have a couple of overnights and maybe a two week det or two. In the fleet it will be tougher. Find out now if family is willing to take them for a deployment. For dets, emergency late nights, etc you will need to find a dog walker who can come by on short notice and a good kennel or, my personal choice, a house/pet sitter for multi-day stuff.
 
It also helps having a second dog. I have two and they are very easy to handle when I'm home. When I'm away from home, all my wife has to do is let them outside, and they will run and play until they are tired, giving her time to focus on our son. Every situation is different of course, it could totally backfire with somebody else.
 
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