A yearlong  separation is a difficult one for those family members who understand exactly what's going on with a deployment, ut many forget about the soldier's pets.

Where do they go when there's a deployment and there's no family to watch them?  Take them to the pound?  Put them up for adoption?  Now there's a group that helps foster military pets until their owners come home.

That's what happened to SSgt. Greg Walk from North Carolina, who was deployed to Afghanistan for a year.

A Pennsylvania family to whom Walk is not related took care of the his dog,  who was just a puppy when the National Guardsman deployed in August, 2012, all thanks to the Canine Corps.

The group pairs dogs of soldiers with families who will provide no-cost pet care during the time away at war.

Featured

Ceudy Gutierrez reads a book to her 2-year-old son, Matias, at their home in Buford, GA, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. Ceudy Gutierrez is struggling to make ends meet for herself and her three young kids following her husband’s ICE arrest earlier this fall. (Miguel Martinez/ AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez