Single dog owners
 

How do you guys do it?

I plan (prefer) on moving to wherever I’m based, and I won’t have the family available to watch the dog while I’m gone.

if there are no options then I’ll have to live close to family and just commute, but I would like to get some ideas from you guys & gals that make it work with no spouse. Thanks!

easy one.
get a girlfriend(or significant other) quickly .

Ass, gas or grass… nobody rides for free

there’s no magic here. You either pay someone to help take care of the dog or find someone who does it out of love for you or the dog.

Maybe rent a bedroom and it’s a win/win

It’s a pain, my S/O works 12s so we have to pay a sitter. You’ll have to do overnights which is more expensive you should plan to spend $500+ a month.

Easy.

Don't do that to a dog.

Give it to a good home.

Gotta agree on this one. It’s selfish, cruel to the dog.

get some fish or a cat.

​​​​​​???

:confused:

This.

I haven’t gotten a dog because it’s just not right to do that to them. It’s incredibly selfish, not to mention expensive (if you board it), and a burden on others (if you don’t board it).

Ah okay. Don’t ✍️ own ✍️ pets ✍️ so ✍️ I ✍️ can ✍️ be ✍️ green ✍️ and save ✍️ the world. ✍️ Got it. You do realize most of those on this forum fly big machines full of thousands of pounds of jet fuel? I don’t think the family Pug holds a candle to the carbon footprint we all leave on a daily basis 😂😂

It isn't good to leave a cat by itself for multiple days at a time either. Yes, its easier than with a dog, but still isn't good. And god forbid something happens to you that keeps you away for longer than you planned? I love pets of all kinds, but if I was a pilot, living by myself, I would put the pet thing on hold for a while.

If I lived alone, I would not have a dog. And I love dogs.

Why on earth would you tie yourself to a pet? Go travel the world and enjoy your freedom. Someone will come along to rob you of that soon enough.

Leave it with several cases of beer during your time away. Dogs love beer.

I had a GF years ago that insisted on getting a dog, and she was an awful pet owner so the dog grew attached to me.

Meh. Not our fault. Aviation's share of the total carbon footprint is shared by everyone who flies, plus all of the people who benefit economically by global air travel... so that's the vast majority of everyone.

If you really must blame someone specifically, blame the guy who drives fuel truck.

But I agree that a dog is probably the wrong pet for a single pilot who does overnight trips on any kind of regular basis.

I want to come back to this post of mine.

Before I met my wife, I had a roommate. We shared all the rent and bills and such. HE had a dog. I was still in flight instructor mode and he worked long hours in his job so we didn't really see each other too much. It wasn't unusual for me to be taking care of his dog but I didn't mind... I like dogs.

Maybe you need a roommate that likes dogs.

If you really care about the dog then put up with the commute and stay where you have people you know and trust to watch your dog while you're away. I wouldn't put mine in a kennel or have some stranger watch her.

Couldn't agree more. I have lil cutie pie (5lb Pomeranian). My wife works from home so she watches and feeds him. But if the both us travel we pay for premium lodging for him. ($100+ per night so he has his own room and personal and backyard to exercise). On an FO salary it'll be tough at the regional level. I was able to use open time and work my schedule to make about $70k/yr at my regional while having 13 days off. If I had to recommend a few it would be:

Skywest, Endeavor, PSA (screw their management, total PoS), Envoy, Republic. All other regionals are a no go for pet owners... or just any human as you can't live on a Mesa or Gojet salary. What a joke they are.

Another suggestion that doesn't really work for the live at home alone pet owner.

But it does work for the pet owner that travels some.

Look into house sitters. If you have 3 pets or more that would need boarding, chances are that house sitters will be cheaper. And even if they're not cheaper or you have less pets, letting your pets stay at home with someone taking care of them is way less stressful on them that putting them in a kennel.

My wife has a couple young people she keeps ready to take care of the house when we travel. They watch the house and take care of our animals. We pay them less than what boarding would cost and they get to hang out by the pool in a quiet yard away from town.

Is the dog single or the owner?

I think the owner is single but the dog is a polygamist.

Single dog owners
 

Leave them with parents until you find a roommate who likes dogs or a significant other who will watch them. I had two dogs and went through a divorce and she couldn’t take them with her. Had to get friends to stay over and watch them or sometimes board them if they couldn’t. Ended up getting roommates and then eventually remarried. It’s not easy but you don’t want to re-home old dogs. You can also ask your dog loving friends to watch them when you go on trips if you’re close enough to them and your dogs won’t destroy their house. If you don’t have a dog yet wait until you’re more settled and have a plan. If you do have to use a service pay the extra money to have a pet sitter stay at your house.

This is essentially what we do now when we travel. We pay a house sitter, which is usually just some young person my wife works with and trusts, to stay out our house in our absence. Cheaper than boarding the three dogs and WAY less stressful on them.

We did the house sitting thing once. The girl used our vacuum to clean up dog puke.

We’ve had a couple instances of “not gonna use her again!” but most have been OK, some great. When we find one we like, we tend to stick with them until they move off or something.

Sorry, not sorry that’s retarded.
13% of the US population live below the poverty line and you spend $100/night on a toy dog then complain about industry wages.
SMH.

My folks had CNAs taking care of them at home, last years. As I got ready to pull a burial suit from the closet for my dad, I realized one of them had run all of his good wool suits through the washer and drier. I was not a happy camper.

If you’re not allergic, consider a pair of cats instead. My partner and I (who also travels for work) have automatic feeders and litter boxes set up. Our neighbor checks on them if we’re both gone for more than a couple of days. If you’re single and bid shorter trips at mainline, you can easily have cats. On a regional schedule it would be very hard on them. Get two so they keep each other company.

Cats aren't an alternative to dogs. Who the hell wants cats? Have you ever had a dog? They're nothing at all like cats.

And the owners fight like cats and dogs. Just sayin’…

Government should take care of those unfortunate souls, too bad they were born in the USA.

Same goes for my dog, if I wouldn't have gotten him he would be dead. It's a cruel country, at least I can make 1 life better in my lifetime. Either way: Dogs > 99.9% of humans.

yeah, this was the wrong place to ask this question. Just gave everybody an opportunity to yell into their megaphone from their soap box.

Cats are not dogs, and dogs are not cats. People that try to make one the other are going to be disappointed, and aren't giving their pets their best lives.

Fixed it for you!

Well… if you start making career decisions based on keeping a pet…..then yes you’re on the wrong forum.

f’kin A plus +1

Dogs = children = psychotic = you will die alone.

If you got kids and a yard and a forever home, enjoy. Dogs are bonding pack animals.

If you have a dog because you need to tell someone what to do, well then you have bigger issues.

Wait until you retire.