Comments By ravenswood_65

As a light wheeled vehicle mechanic, 63B10, organizational maintenance, in the army motor pool, 5-ton (Class 5) and below, one works with the same vehicle models and makes every single day and gets to know them like the back of one's hand. One trains and specializes in a select few pieces of equipment and only has to learn a few trucks and trailers.

I imagine today's Class 8 and 7 tractors are much more sophisticated than military vehicles in the 1990's when I was in with all the electronics on board. Today's tractors look more like a Boeing 747 ****pit with all the "100's dials and switches" than an army truck's dash.

In the army, I was issued tools, did not have to buy my own. I had to pay for the one's I signed for and lost on duty, however.

If I were to turn wrenches for Jim Palmer, as an example, I might only have to master Peterbilt 569s and maybe one or two Freightliner models since that is all that's in their fleet, basically.

In the army I had about a dozen truck and trailer models/series I had to work on year after year and that's about it.

I can add a little change to this I think. I'm currently a class 8 truck tech. A few things I can tell you are

1) there is always a need for mechanics

2) the pay is there IF you're in the right spot

3) its easy to fall behind in this career and a fleet will limit your future opportunities. With that being said a fleet is not a bad place to start just normally not a good place to stay unless you plan on just doing whatever it is they have you doing.

As far as training goes it depends alot on your background and your willingness to learn and work. You won't start out making massive money and rebuilding engines. Its also a big investment in tools,time,and training.

That could be a possibility too.

Start out doing the "hardship tour" with a company. Put in a couple of years of "White Line Fever", "Movin' On", "Eastbound and Down", "Tombstone Every Mile" and "Highway Thru Hell" then gravitate toward a more "stationary" position with the trucking firm. Also, in the army I have had some recovery experience too with a wrecker.

For example, are prospects good to be a diesel or fleet mechanic with a firm these days?

Do Class 7 or Class 8 mechanics also need a CDL?

I was an army mechanic, 63B10, LWVM, and have over 5 years experience in that trade.

Are mechanics jobs well paying?

Do some mechanics even drive part time?

Would one need special training or schooling outside of military experience?

When my Aussie crosses the bridge to doggie heaven, I think I'm going to try a GSP or a Shiba. I love my herding breeds but mine is fairly shy. My uncles boxers are absolute clowns, I'll bet you'll love them.

Michelle, I have been asking questions about dogs for truckers on CL as well in that site's Pet/Animal forum lately.

Some people there don't recommend a boxer, not for trucking reasons, but claim this breed has trouble breathing and cannot tolerate hot weather well because it is a blunt-muzzled breed. I must now set my sights on long-muzzled breeds. I need a healthy animal as well as a trucking dog.

Next I will consider the Rottweiler.

Lab retrievers might be OK. I have owned them in the past. But they really don't make the best guard dogs or watch dogs. They are too kindly to most strangers. A good security dog should be aloof of people they don't know.

The trouble with German Shepherds these days is that many of them are imported and cost an arm and a leg as puppies. I can't fancy paying over $1,000 for an AKC pup with no training and housebreaking.

A trucker should try to get an adult dog that has already been trained and housebroken if he can. Who wants to deal with a nuisance pup on the road?

I am a bachelor. No wife. No children. Nobody can take care of the animal at home except somebody I pay to pet-sit, perhaps. This could even be a responsible roommate who could pet-sit and house-sit (in lieu of paying his share of rent) for the bachelor trucker while he is on the long haul. If he works, a telecommuter (work at home person) would even be ideal.

Thinking this whole dog thing thru and how to make it work for truck driving is gonna take a lot of research and homework on my part.

Basset hounds and bulldogs, though popular in the cab, are too lazy and too ugly for me. The bulldog also has breathing troubles.

Very well. This guy in the video could just be talking thru his hat about company 'fixing' policies.

He could just be an advocate of everybody fixing their pets and he's just trying to scare every driver/pet-owner into doing the same.

I am glad there are really no border laws requiring it. Having health certs, microchipping and rabies vaccine up to date is fine by me. Even as a non-trucker all my dogs were maintained that way always.

I had my male Lab given a vasectomy years ago to keep his girlfriend from getting pregnant. This keeps his parts intact but makes him sterile. That's all. It takes a little bit of work to find a vet who will do that procedure and they charge somewhat more than spay/neuter fees. Vasectomy won't disqualify the animal from AKC events.

PS - Oh, by the way, now I have considered a pair of boxers instead of a Shepherd. Smaller, compact, good-looking (maybe not as handsome as a Shepherd) they still make great little watchdogs. Strangers won't dare mess with a driver with a boxer or two for company. I have read they are a great breed choice chosen by many a driver.

This is assuming companies even allow dogs on the road in their rigs in the first place. Is this also true when bringing your dog with you on a route through Canada? He claims that your dog must be fixed to enter Canada. Is he full of bologna still?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHn3_v7m4pk

Please see the time mark at 5:30 at the link above about the spay/neuter remark. My guess is that unless the company specifically states this under their pet policy on their webpage then this guy is "smoking something" and not Marlboro.

Is this guy lying right through his "Cat Diesel Power" hat?

Does your own dog-allowing company even care about whether Rover was castrated or Geisha was spayed? Don't trucking companies have much bigger "fish to fry" than to worry about that? This guy on the u-toob video means they are going to start micro-managing your animal's reproductive capabilities? "How anal!" some people might think. What if I want to breed or show my pedigreed dog someday? AKC rules will not allow fixed animals at their official events as shows, trials or conformity and opposes all rules, regs and laws about this. Does Jim Palmer have a spay/neuter policy? They make no mention of it at their own site. They seem very liberal on pets in general after reading them up at their own Web site. I don't even want to call trucking outfits up and start asking them these kinds of questions. I don't want to even put ideas in their heads for placing even more tight controls on such petty things. I feel it's sometimes better to ask drivers about company things than to ask company managers. Come on now, brothers! A driver is another fellow driver's brother and best friend. Company owners and top brass are not your allies, I don't think.

Now, I can see having vaccinations/shot records/vet health/rabies certs all in order. I don't want to be bitten by a rabid mutt myself. The various states and Canada will require all this jazz anyway. You have to have all this stuff in order even when you and Fido travel in your private automobile across state lines. I just can't imagine myself travelling with a pooch missing some manhood parts. How embarrassing! It makes America look like a bunch of politically-correct bon-bon-eating wooses. How would you like it if your company were to castrate you as an employment requirement so truckers don't "make a lot of extra unwanted babies" by "truck stop prostitutes"?

One suggestion is buy gallons of water for rover to drink. Just filling up his water bowl wherever may end up being problematic. Remember every region has different minerals and bacteria. Every place treats there water a little different. Your intestinal track along with all animals have a natural bacterial community that lives within it. It aids in digestion. Constantly changing treatment levels of water, foreign bacteria levels, etc... upsets the natural balance. That causes wonderful diarrhea. i imagine you rather not be having to spend time cleaning up Rover's accident from an upset tummy.

Buying water in jugs for a large dog might be expensive but vet bills and dealing with the runs for an animal might be super nasty as you said.

I prefer the German Shepherd Dog and some companies listed seem to prohibit "aggressive breeds" or "vicious breeds". I don't know if professionally-trained Shepherds as security dogs count there. Some dog-allowing companies also put weight/size restrictions on the dog. I feel a smaller dog might not be as good a deterrent to would-be thugs on the road as a larger breed. So for the driver preferring a Shepherd in the companion seat might have a limit for outfits to choose to work for. Jim Palmer seems to be a "fresh" up-and-coming company headquartered in Missoula, MT about 579 miles from my home in Nampa, ID (about 15 miles west of Boise) that is highly dog-friendly and hardly ever runs freight farther east than Ohio . A biggie firm like J.B. Hunt will not allow Shepherd-size breeds apparently and the biggest outfits, Swift and Schneider, have an all-out pet ban. I love the look of those bold black and yellow Palmer trucks and they are fairly close to my home town in the Pacific Northwest. I love the beauty of the western American scenery anyway without so much of those concrete jungle metro areas and that seems to be where Palmer hauls mainly. A Jim Palmer OTR driver may usually have to drive as far northeast as Cleveland, OH and as far southwest as LaLaLand, California.

This varies greatly among companies. Using the search box above for "pets" gets you this List Of Trucking Companies That Allow Pets

Certainly. I will look up pets. But for security duty I would consider him to be more of a "service animal" or a "working dog" but I cold be mistaken.