My daughter has been wanting a dog for a long time. She's very maternal and family oriented (currently she wants 12 kids when she grows up - 6 boys and 6 girls!!).
At one point we told her that she could have a dog when she turned 9. Then we began exploring joining the Foreign Service and moved the dog issue to the back burner. I had many conversations with her where I told her that we just couldn't have a dog in the Foreign Service. I figure that moving around the world every few years with two kids is involved enough. When you add pets into the mix, you need to deal with a variety of transportation issues, housing issues, quarantine issues and then what if we were evacuated?!
But this past weekend we went to a training for Families Overseas. It was a great training - I highly recommend it. There was information for parents and age-appropriate information for the kids. There was a another family there who is heading to the same country we are and announced that they are getting a dog. Our cover was blown!
We also met another family who told us how their son's overseas transitions had been really benefited from having his best friend - his dog - with him during all the changes. My son has made the transition to Virginia quite well - within a few days of being here, everyone seemed to know him and he now has a posse that he runs around with. My daughter has had a harder time with the transition - she really misses her friends back home.
So we began to think about it a lot more. We haven't made a firm decision yet, but it's looking like it might happen.
well with a smaller dog, you are able to carry on the plane as carry on baggage. This will help cut down the difficulty of traveling. We are crazly traveling with three cats!
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