[Mrs.K]

In one day there were like five or six posts from military families dumping their pets again. I guess people are just tired of families that move from duty station to dutystaion dumping the pet just to get the next one on the new duty station.

I am so sick myself reading those posts because it's really not that hard to take your pet with you if you start planning before you move. If they would put a little money on the side for each month they'd have the money by the time they move. Our cat would have died if it wasn't for the neighbors giving her food and water because she was left in the house without any of that by a fellow military family.

watertown pets classifieds - craigslist

 

[Wolfiesmom]

You are so right, all it takes is a little pre planning. If these people want pets, fine, but they should think ahead to when they have to move, and have a plan before they bring any pet home.

 

[DharmasMom]

It's things like that that make me hate people.

 

[Mrs.K]

Me too. It's one reason why I started to stay away from people on post as far as possible. Not all of them are like that though but the majority is and that is what makes me so sick.

 

[Mrs.K]

To bad, the posts are already removed.

 

[CassandGunnar]

I know this is going to sound ignorant, but is that one of the reasons that there seems to be so many dogs in NC and SC?
It seems like a lot of the URGENT listings come from this area.
Being from MN, we have no military bases in our area. Kind of sad that they dump a pet and then do the same thing all over at their next posting.
If you know, what's the average amount of time someone spends at a base?

 

[Lilie]

My daughter has accepted a position that will move her across the country. She has a beagle that has issues. She wouldn't dream of leaving him behind. However, she has been given the opportunity to allow a retired gentleman (current neighbor) who used to hunt with beagles to adopt him. She is seriously considering what is best for her dog (he is 5) and not what is best for her, as she will be moving into an apt. which will leave her beagle in a kennel for 12 hours a day.

Her move isn't for a couple of months, but she is contacting doggy day cares etc. so she can make the best decision possible.

 

[Mrs.K]

The average time-span is three years and it's not just a problem in the US it is literally all over the world, wherever you find military families you will find overflowing shelters too.

I actually write on my blog about it every so often. Here is a list with articles of military families and abandoning pets.

Head over Heels into Dog Handling: Military Families abandoning their pets

 

[Mrs.K]

My daughter has accepted a position that will move her across the country. She has a beagle that has issues. She wouldn't dream of leaving him behind. However, she has been given the opportunity to allow a retired gentleman (current neighbor) who used to hunt with beagles to adopt him. She is seriously considering what is best for her dog (he is 5) and not what is best for her, as she will be moving into an apt. which will leave her beagle in a kennel for 12 hours a day.

Her move isn't for a couple of months, but she is contacting doggy day cares etc. so she can make the best decision possible.

Now that is responsible. She is planning ahead, the people I've seen didn't do that. They literally waited until a couple of days before the move to realize "Oh, we don't have the money to take them."
And then leave them behind.

 

[Lilie]

Mrs. K - although I hate to think of this happening, I too have noticed on Craigslist in my area many people attempting to re-home due to the military. Do you think that there are some (albeit scum of the earth) people stating that they are military in an effort to sell their pets? Perhaps seeking to pull on the heart strings of people, and make a buck off of our military?

 

[Mrs.K]

Mrs. K - although I hate to think of this happening, I too have noticed on Craigslist in my area many people attempting to re-home due to the military. Do you think that there are some (albeit scum of the earth) people stating that they are military in an effort to sell their pets? Perhaps seeking to pull on the heart strings of people, and make a buck off of our military?

I wouldn't be surprised if they did. There are enough people out there posing as Soldiers even though they are not, just to get the girls or a buck out of it. So I wouldn't be surprised if there are people that say they are military while they are not just to re-home pets.

 

[kiwilrdg]

Most of the other household goods are expendable. Too bad so many people put pets in the same catagory.

In areas of upstate New York without military there is the same problem. A fair number of people from the city tend to think that it is a good idea to let their pets loose upstate so they can live wild because they have gotten too big for the apartment (or any other excuse). Some are picked up by animal control, most of them get adopted.

The rest are not as lucky. The ones that don't die from the winter become feral very quickly. Now that the wolf packs are coming back, the packs of feral dogs don't last long either. There have been times when we had to remove several feral dog packs from my family farm each year. Recently there have been less because of animal control and wolf territory.

 

[will_and_jamie]

Yep, I know just what you mean. We've tried to adopt through rescues in the past, but they wouldn't even talk to us once I told them what my husband did not that it's any of their business honestly. It's really terrible what people do to animals. We lived on base in Washington and I took in three cats who were left behind by their owners and spent months finding the right homes for them.

Most military people I know are wonderful owners to their pets and make them part of the family, but I guess that's because we're extremely picky about who we become friends with.

I personally don't know anyone who has just dumped off their animals to get another nor does my husband and he's been in over 10 years.

I also don't go through the pets section on craigslist. It makes me sad and angers me.

Oh, wait. I did have some neighbors who were previously in the Army who carelessly bred Pitt Bulls but they moved because their town-home was foreclosed on.

 

[LijhaPup]

I expect more from our soldiers. This is very disappointing. I have seen it here too, I wonder if Lilie is on to something, at least with some cases.

 

[WarrantsWifey]

We've been in the military for 10 years, and what I see often is people just take on what they can't handle. It's not easy when people have a handful of kids, two dogs and then the man of the house deploys. People just DON'T think ahead. We have two dogs and two cats and where ever we go, they come with us.

Also another common thing, is people have SUCH a soft heart for pits and breeds the Army won't let you take to every base.

All in all, to sum it up, some people just don't think.

 

[will_and_jamie]

It's not just military families. It's all kinds of people, but it gets more publicity because it's affiliated with the Military, imo. Before I married a servicemember, I was exposed to more than enough situations where animals were treated like dirt, left outside, not given fresh food, or water, or had to eat food with ants all over it, were left to die with Heartworms (or shot in the head because it was cheaper than being euthanized), left chained outside in extreme heat, etc. I've seen a lot of stuff I wish I could forget by some terrible people that my father exposed me to none of who were military.

 

[2CrazyDogs]

I know there are a lot of shelter who won't adopt to military families in other countries and here in the US. It's sad that they do that. It makes all of us military families look bad! My hubby's in the military we would never leave one of our pets behind. If there ever comes a situation where we absolutely cannot take one or both of our pets we would find them a home or foster home until we could get them. I would never dump one of my dogs just because I was moving.

 

[Lilie]

Maybe I just choose to think it's a scam on Craigslist. But I know if an individual creates an ad stating they need to re-home their wonderful family pet and ask a fee of $150 or more, they get blocked. But if they state they are military and have to move, then people feel sorry for them and leave the add be.

I'm sure there are some legit military families on craigslists - right or wrong - but I truly think there are many that are just putting up a false front so their ad remains on craigslist.

 

[Mrs.K]

Well, I am not sure. If it was all scam than why are the shelters overflowing with military pets at literally every duty station? It's a common problem, especially overseas. All they have to do is to check the chips and they know it's from the US.

This happened when the Army withdrew from Wuerzburg
Animal World USA - Best Friends Network - Social Networking that saves lives

This was going on in Okinawa
Abandonment of pets puts strain on Okinawa animal shelters - News - Stripes

Same thing still going on in Heidelberg and I witnessed it too many times myself over there and the Garrison knows about the problems.
The United States Army | U.S. Army Garrison Baden-Wuerttemberg

To be honest, sometimes I am wondering if the military shouldn't make it a serious crime or consider it animal abuse to leave pets in the apartment to die or simply abandon them in the country...

 

[DharmasMom]

I used to think it was unfair that shelters wouldn't adopt to military families. The more I read threads like this though, I not only begin to understand their reasoning but support it.