Adopting a military working dog?

The military will not let go of a dog that can still work. That means that if you get one from them, it will be over 10 years old and because of its quality of life, it wont have that much life ahead of it, it will have medical problems you will need to take care of, it has lived its whole life in a kennel and you wont be able to housebreak a 10 plus year old dog, etc. Its not for most people, but, you can try it.

Dogs that are not able to go to civilians get put down, there is no room in the kennels to keep dogs there for life.

I don't know. I would have to research. Dogs that are trained in military are living in compounds and I cannot imagine they would have much exposure to a family lifestyle. They also suffer PTSD according to what I have read - although I have no first hand experience with this.

I personally don't want a sick dog, while I will keep a dog and treat it if it becomes ill, I am not the kind of person who wants to knowingly take on a medically challenged dog - unless the problems were minor.

I am not aware of any option for military dog adoption in Canada - last time I checked (google) there were over 10,000 dogs deployed in the US military so I imagine like soldiers, the need for dogs peaks and wanes.

I would think however that a dog that can work - would be redeployed ( as Greek says) because the military is not in the train a dog and give it to charity business. The ones that wash out must either be suffering from PTSD, or medical problems.

I would expect that unadoptable dogs that cannot adapt to civilian life are put down.

Being a war dog is to live a short and possibly brutal life.

A bunch of years back, my SO got a phone call about a dog tied up in a barn, about 200 miles away. When he got there, he got the whole story- dog was MWD that had retired with his handler- handler retired from the military and drove trucks- was killed in a truck accident. Dog had been tranq'd while they were trying to get the owner's body, and dog wouldn't let them near. Family members couldn't handle the dog, so they tied it up in a barn. It was well fed, but filthy, and clearly suffering problems from being isolated for several weeks, after being accustomed to spending 24/7 working with its handler. At first, the dog tried to attack SO, he had become quite territory protective of the barn stall he was chained in. It took 3 hours just to get him into the car. Then the dog wouldn't let him in his own car. After quite the struggle, and a few good bites, SO got the dog into the passenger's seat and started the trip home. The dog growled at him the whole ride. When he returned home, the dog stayed in his car for three days. It wouldn't get out, and he wasn't in a position to force it to. Then it hit him (duh) the dog was trained in German. Being able to communicate with the dog, they formed a great bond, and everything was great- other than when people would walk in unannounced- the dog would do a bark and hold on them until he was released- rather inconvenient. But the dog was a good (albeit EXTREMELY headstrong and dominant) companion. He still talks about that dog, (only all the time) and someday i will obtain and train another GSD for him (he's an ok handler, but a terrible trainer) but not right now. If i had a MWD offered to me, i would take it. If you are a capable enough handler to do the dog justice, there's no reason you shouldn't go for it.