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BENTLEY'S CORNER: Dogs on deployment

Pet fostering for deployed service personnel.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Dogs on deployment is a national non-profit organization, established for when military couples faced dual deployments and no one was left to take care of their pet.

The web-based platform connects military members with willing fosters. So, how do you use it?

"It's all done through the website," said Christine Burgoyne. "The first thing I want to stress is military personnel if you need our services, by all means, create a profile."

In your profile, you describe your dog, any little details that make them unique, their age, gender, diet, things of that nature.

Now it's not just anyone that will watch your pet. You get to meet and screen potential fosters.

"If the profiles match, you can coordinate that way and reach out through the website to begin communication, normally the service member would reach out to the interested foster volunteer. They meet, they meet the animal and make sure that everyone is comfortable with the arrangement," said Christine.

Headed overseas for a year-long deployment? Covered.

How about out of town for a couple of weeks of training? Also covered.

One thing to note, 100 percent of the cost of fostering is covered by the service member. That includes food, veterinary care.

"Everyone is doing this out of the love of their hearts because the last thing that a service personnel needs to worry about is the stress of what to do with their animal as they're about to go serve our country," said Christine.

If you'd like more information about becoming a volunteer foster or are a service member looking to use this service please visit www.dogsondeployment.org

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