A Tacoma Dog Needs A Home While His Soldier Deploys To Afghanistan

Tacoma’s Matt Conley is a Black Hawk pilot deploying to Afghanistan next Thursday. But he’s found himself in a conundrum: he desperately needs someone to take care of his three year old Shar Pei pitbull mix, Patton.

“The condo I live in with my girlfriend doesn’t allow pets, so he’s been kind of illegally staying there the last four or five months. The landlord found out about it so he’s going to evict her if I don’t move him. I deploy next week for Afghanistan so that’s why it’s such a rush, all of a sudden.”

Matt rescued Patton two years ago, when he was in flight school in Alabama.

“I actually had no interest in buying a dog, flight school’s pretty stressful. But I went into a pet store with my friend and they had all these dogs outside and I just saw Patton and was like, ‘That’s a good looking dog.’ He had what’s called Entopia so his eyes were folded in on themselves, kind of, and they were just constantly tearing and he was really skinny. I went home and I couldn’t stop thinking about the dog so I called the pet store. They said, ‘Oh yeah, those random people bring those dogs here every Saturday to see if anyone wants to rescue him. So we don’t know exactly where he is but here are a couple of numbers you can try.’ So I called around and finally located him at the city pound. They told me he was up for execution that day so I decided to take him. He’s been with me two years.”

Patton is now happy and healthy, but desperately needs a place to call home for the next year.

“People that will just take good care of him. I’m willing and want to pay all the bills for him while I’m gone. Food, if he needs to go to the vet, routine baths, stuff like that. It’s all on my dime.”

He says Patton’s pitbull half makes some people a little nervous, but Matt says he’s a super sweet, chill dog.

“He’s good with kids, he’s good with people. He’s sometimes scared of men. Not aggressive, just scared. My guess is that he was a bait dog before I picked him up. Are you familiar with bait dogs? He’s not a pure bred pitbull so they’ll just tie him up and let the other dogs beat up on him to make them mean. So, yeah, good with people, good with kids. He loves to hang out on the couch and snuggle, a little tug of war. He is not good with aggressive, Type A dogs. Docile, Type B dogs he’s fine with.”

So, listen up dog lovers: we are on a tight tight deadline. Ideally, Matt would like to find Patton a home by tomorrow, the sooner the better.

“I’m worried about two things. One, that my girlfriend is going to be evicted if I can’t find a place for him. Two, that he’s going to have to go back to the pound because I don’t know what else to do with him.”

Matt says all Patton really needs is a loving home where someone will walk him once a day.

“He’s a great dog. Even the pound that I adopted him from, they loved him and were really happy to find someone to adopt him. I feel terrible having adopted him and two years later having to foster him. Every vet I take him to, they love him. I mean, he’s just a great dog.”

If you’re interested in watching Patton for the year, you can email Matt at Boneconley@gmail.com. If you’re trying to get in touch after March 4th, email Matt’s girlfriend at Lindseyjoneswa@yahoo.com