Photo By Staff Sgt. Heidi Goodsell | U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Courtney Valdez, 31st Comptroller Squadron and the Wing...... read more read more
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AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy - It has been said that dog is man’s best friend. In this case, a woman’s best friend. U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Courtney Valdez, assigned to the 31st Comptroller squadron and the Wing Staff Agencies, serving as a Commander Support Staff Technician, adopted her best friend in March 2016. His name is Rocky or affectionately known as ‘Rocketman’. He is a 4 year old Maltese Yorkshire terrier mix or a Morkie.
Currently Valdez and Rocky live in Aviano, Italy and there has been unique challenges living in a foreign country with her “fur baby”. Getting Rocky here was their first challenge.
“One of the biggest challenges of getting Rocketman over here was the amount of paperwork and planning I had to do,” said Valdez. “I had to drive three hours away the day before I left the states to get a paper signed by a veterinary clinic in order for Rocky to fly with me. Adding that to the stress of coming to a new base, it was very exhausting.”
Being in a foreign country and having a pet has its own difficulties. One of those is to be in compliance with Italian laws about owning a dog. More specifically, when driving you cannot have the dog just sitting in the car with you. It either has to have a restraint on or a net up between the driver and the dog. This is to prevent the dog from distracting you from driving.
Thankfully in Italy, the culture is more pet-friendly but learning the right and wrong way was a trial and error process. Valdez and Rocky have gone on the train together and that in itself was a learning experience.
“Bringing Rocky on the train was at first very nerve-wracking for me, but I did my research beforehand, and after I bought our tickets, when we were sitting on the train it was awesome to be able to do that with him,” Valdez said.
Even though Valdez had all those challenges to hurdle over, the benefits of having Rocky here more than outweighed the challenges.
“Having Rocketman has been the biggest blessing in my life. When I come home from a long stressful day at work, he is so happy to see me and it makes all that stress go away. Some days he is the only thing that can put a smile on my face,” said Valdez.
Valdez and Rocky have gone on multiple puppy play dates, which has helped with Valdez finding friends in Aviano.
Valdez stated, “Having play dates with Rocky or bringing him to the dog park on base has helped me make more friends here that have common interests.”
For some people, their pets become their children and hold a special place in their hearts, truly earning their spot as best friend ‘fur’-ever.
| Date Taken: | 03.09.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 03.10.2020 05:54 |
| Story ID: | 364848 |
| Location: | AVIANO AIR BASE, IT |
| Web Views: | 32 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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