Life With Dogs: Retired Military Dogs Just Want A Family – Now You Can Give Them A Loving Home

Military working dogs spend most of their lives fighting for our nation and our people. Once their military time has been served, there is nothing they crave more than a quiet and loving home. 90% of MWD’s end up with their handlers, but what about the other 10%?

Each year, the young working dogs at the Lackland Airforce Base that don’t quite make the cut for deployment find their forever homes. While this is incredible news, it does make it more difficult to find families for the older and retired military working dogs.

Their old age gets them overlooked, but they often have even more to offer than the average pup. MWD’s spend years working next to their handlers, protecting those they love, and participating in tasks that help to keep our nation safe. These loyal canines know exactly what it means to stand by those they love, and will gladly continue to do so for their future family.

In their years spent working in stressful environments, you can only imagine just how much they crave a quiet and stable home. By giving them a family to live out their retired years with, you can surely change their world.

There is often stigma surrounding working dogs, and their ability to fit in to family life. Workers at the Lackland Airforce Base ensure that each adoptable dog is perfectly suitable for a forever home. Each dog goes through multiple behavioral tests that make sure they are safe with children over the age of 5, safe with other dogs, and safe in a home environment. Their military past has no negative affect on how well they will fit into a family.

“Every MWD, when they’re retiring, they do a behavioral test and an adoption test to make sure they’re not going to be food aggressive or bite a small child or chase the mailman down the street.” – Officer at Lackland Airforce Base

If you are interested in adopting a retired military dog, there are a few requirements that you will need to meet:

A family has to apply and be interviewed by the military to ensure it will provide for the dog and to answer questions about other pets in the home.
A family usually cannot have young children. Unfortunately, most of the dogs aren’t good fits for families with kids under age 5.
A family must be willing to travel to San Antonio to get the dog.

Do you think you are ready to open your heart to one of our nation’s heroes? You can contact the officers at mwd.adoptions@us.af.mil or call 210-671-6766.