Celebrating K9 Veterans And How To PCS With Your Pet

We owe so much to the brave men and women who have served our country, but what about their four-legged counterparts? K9s are often found in law enforcement, military or search and rescue. This episode is for all our K9 Veterans out there who served so selflessly and bravely.

It's also important to remember the role pets play in our lives as military families. For most of us, our pets help us through deployments, loneliness, welcome home parties, going away parties, holidays away from family, and everyday struggles. So today, we also share with you some ways to PCS with your pet even if you are moving across the world! We hope these few tips help you keep your family together and stronger than ever!

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Check out the VA Claims Insider blog here and learn more about K9 Veterans Day:
https://vaclaimsinsider.com/national-k9-veterans-day/
 

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Organizations that help rehome K9 veterans and connect veterans with service dogs:
Mission K9 Rescue
Pets for Vets
MK9S Service Dogs
Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs
Healing4Heroes
Working Dogs for Vets
Semper K9 Assistance Dogs
Southeastern Guide Dogs
Patriot Paws
NEADS, Inc.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Erin: Today's episode is in celebration of national canine veterans day. To learn more about canine veteran's day, go to vaclaimsinsider.com/blog, where we have a fantastic article of the brief history of military dogs, what they do, and a few amazing stories of canine heroes. We'll also put a link to the article in the description below. So happy reading and thank you for listening to mill spouse house.

[00:00:31] welcome back MilSpouses to MilSpouse House. We're happy to have you today. I'm Erin.

[00:00:37] Molly: And I'm Molly. 

[00:00:39] Erin: And I realized that I've just started to introduce us. Like, but you know, maybe some of you all are new or maybe you can't tell who's who, when we talk.

[00:00:48] Molly: I know

[00:00:49] If you're wondering too, cause I know you can't see us, but we do have a picture. I'm the one with the curly. 

[00:00:56] Whenever there's two people talking on a podcast, I always like to [00:01:00] know who's who to kind of match their voices with how they look. I don't know. It's just like a visual thing for me, I guess. 

[00:01:05] No, I completely agree. Cause I'm a big crime junkie podcast fan. And for the longest time I thought they were flipped. Like I thought Brit was Ashley and Ashley was Brit in terms of the picture. Like I saw a picture and I was like, oh, that one's that one. That one's that one, but no. So yeah, I totally get what you're saying. So I'm Erin with the brown dark hair and Molly has the curly hair. 

[00:01:30] Erin: Well, anyways so today we are recording. Let's see, it's the 10th where I am, but this episode will air on the 14th. So yes, we have changed our days to Mondays and the 13th is actually canine veteran's day. 

[00:01:49] Molly: That's so cool that they give them their own day.

[00:01:53] Erin: I know it's truly amazing. And I just am in awe [00:02:00] by not only our canine service members, but also their handlers. We got an opportunity last year to kind of watch a demonstration with the canine dogs here and their handlers. And it was totally amazing blew me away. And I know that it was only a small peek into what these dogs are actually capable of. These dogs can sniff out bombs. They can find bodies, they can do all sorts of just amazing, amazing things. And I just want to say thank you to all of our K 9 active duty and veterans out there. We thank you for your service here at MilSpouse House 

[00:02:53] Molly: I just did a quick Google search.

[00:02:55] Cause I was super curious to see how many active duty [00:03:00] canines there were right now. And there are 2,700.

[00:03:04] Erin: Wow. 

[00:03:05] Molly: Over, sorry. Over 2,700 active military service dogs. And it is estimated that each dog saves 150 to 200 human lives over the course of their service. 

[00:03:17] Erin: That is incredible. 

[00:03:20] Molly: Isn't it? 

[00:03:21] Erin: That is amazing. And the bond between a handler and a canine service member has to be just unlike any other.

[00:03:32] And I was just researching a little bit about service dogs in the military. And I found this organization called mission K9 rescue.org, and I'll drop the link in our description, but they are an organization that re homes retired service dogs .

[00:03:53] And let me just read you their mission. So they are based in [00:04:00] Houston, Texas, and they are a 5 0 1 C3 charitable organization. They were founded in 2013 and they say, "We provide assistance and support for working dogs worldwide. Our organization's purpose for existence is to serve retiring and retired military working dogs, contract working dogs and other dogs who serve as they may fit into our mission and scope. As of December, 2021, we have rescued over 1100 working dogs from every corner of the world and we reunited over 540 working dogs with their former handlers." 

[00:04:37] Molly: That gives me the chills. If you want to cry at a video, go search that on YouTube. Those get me almost, even more than the coming home videos. 

[00:04:46] Erin: It's amazing. I can't believe that they are able to reunite so many heroes and that is just amazing. They've also paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in [00:05:00] veterinary care for these hero dogs.

[00:05:02] So if you want to go donate to this organization, we'll drop the link in our description. If you are also interested in adopting a retired service dog. That has worked in the military. They also have an application for that as well. And I also have other organizations on a list here that are connecting service dogs with vets who need them.

[00:05:29] So just to name a few, these are service dog veteran charities. So there's Pets for Vets, MK9S service dogs, Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, Healing4Heroes, Working Dogs for Vets, Semper K9 Assistance Dogs, Southeastern Guide Dogs, Patriot Paws and Needs Inc. And a lot of these organizations[00:06:00] connect veterans who need service dogs with their best match.

[00:06:06] And these organization also use dogs as therapy and helping vets kind of rehabilitate themselves. And so for those service dogs, we thank you as well. 

[00:06:18] I love thanking dogs. 

[00:06:20] Molly: I know there's probably a lot listening too. Think about that is your, your dog's usually right under your feet. 

[00:06:26] Erin: I know! Like VACI is a big dog loving family and our marketing team last weekend, we shared pictures of all of our dogs.

[00:06:37] Molly: I love it. 

[00:06:38] Erin: And I feel like dogs are so important to military families because you have that companionship through all your moves and even after a long deployment, like what is better than getting your dog jumping and welcoming you home because there's just a special connection between [00:07:00] humans and dogs.

[00:07:01] That's unlike any other, like, I have a cat, I love my cat. My cat, like only loves me slightly likes my husband. 

[00:07:08] Molly: That's the thing about cats. 

[00:07:10] Erin: Yeah. Wants nothing to do with anyone else. She holds a grudge like, but my dog is just always so grateful and happy to see me. And if it wasn't for Jax being in Korea would have been so difficult, like just would have been... I don't know. I can't even imagine it. Like, I can't imagine doing any of this journey without, without my pets here. It would've been very lonely 

[00:07:40] Molly: Yeah, absolutely. 

[00:07:42] So we did have a dog, but unfortunately when they moved to California from Michigan, we made a very tough choice to leave her with my parents. Because she is, well, she's almost 14 now.

[00:07:56] And she's moved so many places. I think we counted one [00:08:00] time and she's lived in 10 different places. Because she was a military dog. She grew up with my husband cause it was my husband's dog. So I got her in the marriage. She lived with my husband when he was a senior in college and then she moved back in with his parents and then I wanted to live on my own, but didn't feel comfortable living on my own.

[00:08:19] So then I took her when I was a senior in college. Then she made the trip down to new Orleans. And she got me through two deployments, one pregnancy and then we made the trip all the way back to. Michigan, but then lived in two places in Michigan. So, I mean, she's been all over the place, but my parents have two dogs and she's really part of the pack because we had her obviously when we live there.

[00:08:40] And so she got really, really comfortable with my parents' two dogs, and she's the oldest of all of them. And she's like the elder. It's really cute. She's still full of energy. She's still kicking. And she's happy, but yeah, that was probably the hardest decision when we moved out to California was we knew that that was, it would, that would have [00:09:00] probably cut her lifespan.

[00:09:02] And we, we knew that, you know, she would do better with my parents. And then also we knew with the townhouse that we lived in well, both places here. Before we moved, it was on the second floor. And so the stairs and the constant stairs would really have been hard on her hips cause she's a lab. So her hips yeah.

[00:09:25] So black lab actually,

[00:09:26] Erin: Molly, you have to send me a picture so I can show all of our friends listening. 

[00:09:32] Molly: I will. 

[00:09:32] Erin: My jaw dropped because my dog is a black lab, German shepherd, and I had no idea. Black labs have such a unique personality. Like they are just so happy and lovable and goofy. And so, 

[00:09:49] Molly: oh my God, you know what, you know what video we should post in the story.

[00:09:54] Is my husband's coming home video. Both times we recorded it and because she just, she [00:10:00] just went nuts and we knew she was going to go nuts. And the, the second deployment was, it was equally as cute because I am massively pregnant, standing right next to him. So so we'll, we'll definitely throw those up in the story.

[00:10:14] If I can. I'm almost positive. They're on my laptop somewhere. So. Dig for those and we can, we can share them, but yeah. But also like if you have a military dog, post them. I always had this really cool harness. I think I got off of Amazon, but it was like a military harness. It was, well, it was just like camouflage, but I got it because it matched my husband's camo and it had said like us Navy and . She was , I mean, still is a very trained dog. I mean, she grew up with my husband, so there, she didn't have a choice. But she was, you know, she, so she was very well minded and everyone thought that she was like an actual service dog. 

[00:10:48] Erin: Yeah, my dog actually has one. And he's has a private rank cause you know, we're an army family, but, but he, he got demoted to a [00:11:00] fuzzy last week , because he was not behaving . 

[00:11:02] Molly: Oh my gosh. That's too funny. 

[00:11:04] Erin: He loves wearing it too. He goes crazy when I I'm the only one that can put it on him, because if my husband does it, he'll like. Submissive pee or excited pee whichever one you want to call it? Like the only when my husband does it, not when I do it.

[00:11:21] He like puts it on and then he'll start prancing around the room. 

[00:11:24] Molly: Gosh. Yeah. We have various similar dogs. Yup. She would always excited pee and she would do do circles. I don't know if does he spin circle? 

[00:11:33] Erin: Yeah. 

[00:11:34] Molly: I mean, she would like rip around furniture and everything. Oh my gosh.

[00:11:39] We have such funny videos of my, of my oldest daughter, just belly laughing at her because she was just ripping around the, you know, our living room and doing circles and, oh my gosh, she had so much energy, so much energy. Still has energy at 14. My parents still send videos [00:12:00] like this is not aging, you know, she's just still ripping around, but no, so that was, that was hard.

[00:12:08] So I, I sympathize that anyone that PCs is and has to leave their best friend behind because Ugh, it, it tore us apart. We find comfort in that we made the right decision because I was also pregnant. And I knew that I was going to be really, really hard to have the baby. My toddler and the dog in a place where we can't just like open up the door and let her out, you know, if we had like a house with a fenced in backyard, that would be a different story, but we knew that we weren't going to have that here in California.

[00:12:41] So we knew it was going to be something really hard. And my husband was afraid, you know, of. Taking all of them out while he was at work. And you know, it, stuff happens, dogs that have a mind of their own being pulled down, you know, late in pregnancy. So we really thought long and hard. I mean, it took us weeks to [00:13:00] make the decision.

[00:13:00] Erin: It's a huge which decision. I mean, even thinking about, you know, coming to Korea, we had decided to get Jax maybe even like a week before we knew we were coming here. So he was a puppy and it was kinda like, ah how do I do this? But you know, there's a lot of people who have to make that decision and there's no shame coming from us if you have to make that decision.

[00:13:25] You have to make that decision. You have to do what's right for your family, but you also have to do what's right for the dog. And especially Molly, with an older dog, you know, she probably bonded with your parents and is very happy there

[00:13:39] Molly: Oh she knows. Yeah.

[00:13:41] Erin: And talking about going to Korea, it can be a traumatic experience for your pet. And I just want to be very open and honest about that. I literally have so many gray hairs from that experience because it was stressful for me. It was stressful for my husband was stressful on the pets. [00:14:00] And there's a few things that you do need to know before you decide to move your animals to another country across the world. And that's not a decision that you should take lightly. It's something you should sit down and really have conversations about and think about because, every country is different. And I just want to throw that out there as well. Our experience in Korea is our experience.

[00:14:26] It was also our experience during a pandemic, which also was a little bit different. And it's going to be different than say, if you're going to Germany or Italy, or even Hawaii, because I'm pretty sure and y'all can correct me if I'm wrong. I'm pretty sure Hawaii has a longer quarantine time for your animals.

[00:14:46] So when you take your pet to another country, you have to quarantine those pets for a certain amount of time. In most countries. For Korea, it was two weeks, but where we had the pandemic and we were quarantined at the same time, [00:15:00] we actually got to quarantine with our pets, which wasn't amazing because we were in a barracks room.

[00:15:06] But you, if those of you, yeah, I think I've told that story before, but yeah, awful. But I was grateful that my pets got to be with me after such a long flight and long experience. But in some countries they have to quarantine away from you for long periods of time. And so you kind of have to decide , is your pet up for that journey? 

[00:15:32] And if they're not, then you need to make that decision for them. But if, but if they are then by all means, bring them along. I mean, my pets rebounded really fast. I was more concerned about my cat, honestly, because she's older and she's not too old. I mean, she's about eight now, but she just holds a grudge, you know, like she, I just didn't know how well she would rebound after that long trip.

[00:15:56] They're so comfortable now you would never know that they [00:16:00] were ever in cargo for like 22 hours. There's also certain rules for dogs. So our dog has German shepherd in him.

[00:16:09] And while he has the personality of a lab, he looks like a big black, German shepherd. He has the ears he's big. Like he, you know, he just does. And so in Korea, having dogs as pets is a very new thing. Our realtor told us that it started back in the eighties.

[00:16:28] And they love their little dogs, the little white dogs, those are their favorites. And so they're very used to smaller animals. And so our dog can be very intimidating and the law right now, is that he has to be muzzled for his breed.

[00:16:50] I don't walk him, cause we live off base and I don't walk him because of he's strong, so it makes me nervous. And also I know [00:17:00] that the local people in my neighborhood are afraid of him. So if for some reason he got off his leash, like, I just think it would be like a horrible scenario. So we always take him to the dog park on the airbase that we live next to just because it makes everyone feel more comfortable.

[00:17:17] Right. But you definitely have to be knowledgeable of... is your dog even allowed in that country? Is your dog even allowed to like be out on the street? Does your dog have a good temperament that if someone did come up to your dog, are they going to be aggressive or well-behaved or anything?

[00:17:37] We definitely went through six weeks of training before we took Jax on the plane over here. Could you use a little bit more, not going to lie, but 

[00:17:48] Molly: It's that lab and the german shepard probably.. 

[00:17:51] Erin: Yeah, we had to prepare him a little bit, just to be able to maintain composure as we were going through [00:18:00] the airport and also, you know, while we live off base in Korea and he's a great dog.

[00:18:06] He does really well, but I would encourage you to definitely look up your country's laws and how they feel about dogs and pets. And another big piece of advice I will say is that snub nose dogs cannot fly.

[00:18:20] They, they just. Have a high death rate, unfortunately. And it must be like the altitude and there, and they're like, 

[00:18:28] Molly: What type of dogs?

[00:18:30] Erin: Snubnose so like yeah, they, they won't be accepted on those flights because they just cannot handle it. And it's, that's another big thing that you have to think about if you're like in the market for looking for a dog, but you might go with your service member to another country, I'd really think about what type of dog you're going to get. 

[00:18:52] Molly: Yeah, I did not even. I did not even know that. I didn't think about that. We've always been, I grew up with labs and Goldens and [00:19:00] my husband, you know, same thing, labs and Goldens. So we, we haven't really researched any other, we don't know much about any other breed.

[00:19:09] But no, that's, that's definitely good to know.

[00:19:11] Erin: Yeah. And we were lucky that we found a Facebook group called Flying Pets Korea. So get on Facebook and see if there is a group for that because there's a guy who lives here that runs a service of flying pets back and forth for military families.

[00:19:32] Very expensive, but you got to think about like, that is a lot of work to get a pet over here. But he had a lot of great advice and great tips and it was a great community for people to talk to each other because also sometimes these pets are coming without their owners. So you have to have someone to pick them up and everything because you know, it's not guaranteed that your pet is going to have a seat on your flight [00:20:00] or maybe your service member is going, but you are coming after. That happened to one of our neighbors, her husband was already here, but she decided to move here too, but she came later. Since they had two dogs, they use this service to fly them over and we were lucky enough that both of our pets got a seat on our military flight, but that is not always the case.

[00:20:28] And you also have to think about, is your pet going to be accepted on the flight while you're in America? We flew out of Cincinnati, but I can't remember where our layover was, but then we ended up in Seattle and then we land in Japan and then we go to Korea.

[00:20:47] And with our dog being bigger, they only accept up to a certain size dog for Delta is who we flew with while we were in the states. And so we had to make [00:21:00] sure we had a kennel that was small enough for Delta, but big enough for the international flight.

[00:21:06] And you have to get a specific type of kennel for them to even be allowed. And the kennel has to be tall enough for them to stand up in without their ears touching. And it has to be wide enough for them to be able to turn around. 

[00:21:20] Molly: Oh, wow.

[00:21:21] Erin: Yeah. 

[00:21:22] Molly: Wow. 

[00:21:23] There's so much that goes into that. Yeah. I would definitely need that Facebook group and do days and days of research to figure, figure that out. That's just one thing added to the milspouse. I mean, yes, the service member can definitely help, but you know, if you're dividing and conquering, it's probably gonna fall on the milspouse because the, because the service member has so much to do on their part.

[00:21:48] But yeah, that's, again, one of the things that you need to check off your list prior to moving. So definitely give yourself enough time. If you have this coming up. Set aside [00:22:00] some time to research and figure out yeah, even the kennel size. Cause you know, you said small enough for Delta, but big enough for the international that's just,

[00:22:09] Erin: yeah, 

[00:22:10] Molly: that's crazy.

[00:22:11] Erin: And the great part is, is that Exchanges do have the airline friendly kennels. So they are available. They go fast during PCS season though. So make sure that if you're getting a dog, I would go ahead and purchase the kennel personally. 

[00:22:29] But A couple more things on that since we are on the topic of PCS with your pet, make sure their vaccinations are obviously up to date. And before you PCS out of the country, you will have to get them microchipped. And this is for everyone's benefit. It's just a small little injection. The pets don't even know that they're getting it.

[00:22:48] If you're starting those moves, I would recommend getting an accordion folder and start putting every single piece of paperwork of your pet in [00:23:00] that folder, because you're also going to take it to a military installation to be checked out by their vets there. So it's best if you have all of that paperwork. Make sure you have it. 

[00:23:13] Molly: Absolutely. 

[00:23:14] Erin: So yeah. If you all have any questions or you want to hear more about how to PCS with your pets, or you want to share your pet stories and videos just hit us up. We're on Instagram. Facebook. Don't forget to follow. 

[00:23:29] Molly: Yeah. And definitely check Instagram.

[00:23:30] Cause I'm gonna, I'm going to try and find those, those coming home videos and I'll, I'll post them up there 

[00:23:36] Erin: from my house to yours. Have a great day. 

[00:23:39] And thank you again to our canine service veterans. 

[00:23:44] Molly: Bye everyone. 

[00:23:45] Erin: Bye.

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