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.

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Julian Conley listens during opening statements in his trial at Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. The 25-year-old is accused of fatally shooting 8-year-old Secoriea Turner in July 2020. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com