Here It Goes

Heck no they don't care, I have seen entire families pour out of a Prime rig......Mom,Dad,3 kids,2 dogs.......on more than one occasion.

 

First, what ever state you are in, contact your local unemployment office. There is a program where the state or county you live in will pay for you to be trained. You pay nothing out of pocket, but you may want to do it before you get married as they may not pay for both that way. Here in Ohio it is called the WIA program, but the name varies from state to state. If you do this you will not be beholden to any company and you wont have to worry about contracts or paying the school back.

Now, as far as the company goes, the only one that I can think of that has a pet policy and traines newbies is Crete Carriers. I trained in their reefer division Shaffer Trucking.

A few things with them...they are selective ln the newbies they hire. They are not like Swift or Werner who will put any warm body in a seat. You have to do well at school. They have an animal policy, though I dont believe you can have them on your trainers truck. Their training program is 8 weeks long and they will get you home once during that, though it may be hard to get you home the exact same time as your fiance. They love teams though, and pay some of the highest wages for those just starting out.

Check out the age requirement though, moat companies want you to be 23 before they send you out there.

Whatever you decide good luck.

 

Community college is best.

 

CFI has all those things. Idk if they're hiring from your location. But give a recruiter a call. My wife and I are also looking to go otr and we have called almost every single company. And cfi fits your bill.

1 pet per passenger $500 deposit that they will spread out over multiple checks or as a lump sum.

Every 7 days your out on truck you get a day off. So out for 4 weeks you get 4 days off.

You go to school for a month and then go on truck with a trainer until you drive 7500 miles. Which everyone says takes about 3wks.

You sign a six month contract as a team and you pay off your student debt.

They also love husband and wife teams and will bend over backwards to get you running with them.

.52cpm after training which is split between you two but if you two share paychecks you keep it all. And you get about 5000 miles a week.

Now like I said..we haven't been yet. But this is what a recruiter and a few drivers we've talked to have told us. We are going with CFI. Best company that fits our needs and sounds like yours. If u have questions just msg me but look into the website, call the recruiter and ask em questions. Best of all the recruiters treat you like a person and they don't spend 45mins bashing other companies and will actually answer every question you got!

 

Only company I can think of with less than a year contract is CR England.... As a former trainer there I strongly advise you no even consider them (not pet friendly but pet policy not enforced unless they are looking for a reason to let you go) they also don't pay well even for a starting company.

My advise is find a starting/training company that accept a acredited certificate from a school (140 hours I believe is the requirement for most). Contrary to what you have heard most of them will hire you if you go to school on your own.
Don't be afraid to call recruiters and ask them (just don't take there word as gospel they like to stretch the truth and a few will outright lie) also many times a companies website may not be up to date with there policies

 

This is exactly what my wife and I are doing. I got my permit. Paid a school by the hour for 3 hours of pre-inspect and on road training and am taking my tests Tuesday. ( I've been driving a large box truck for 18 years without CDL so hoping I'll pass OK) Will then go to one of the companies that take students to get my road time without being committed to a contract. Wife will then join me with pooch as rider and in 3 months some companies will allow me to be her trainer after she gets her CDL the same way. So we will be apart about a month or less. Also, watch the recruiters! We had a CRST recruiter tell us no problem, can both take the schooling, they'd give us a pet friendly room and one of us could take the dog OTR training. When my wife asked for it in writing, they couldn't get it approved. We're learning the hard way not to believe anything the recruiters or companies say so would be nice to find a company that would give me the student time and then we could transition to a team but may have to just get it done and then move to another company once we are a team. Just 2 corks on the ocean and we'll see where it takes us.

 

@Timmi Roxx - Covenant Transport trains husband/wife teams together in the same truck at the same time. The trucks are set up for 3 people, just for that purpose. I don't know the details; call and ask.

 

The swinger's community is an untapped resource for ending this driver shortage crisis..

 

@Timmi Roxx - CFI www.cfidrive.com is husband/wife team friendly and pet friendly also.

 

@Timmi Roxx - V3 Transportation will team you with your wife from day one. You need a cdl and all she needs is a cdl permit.