Help finding a company?

Mid-30s couple looking to get into trucking. I'm overwhelmed. Can anyone help us narrow down some options?
We need CDL school. Should we let a company teach us, or community college, or something else?
We want to drive automatics only. Deal breaker (only way I could talk hubby into this).
Training together would be awesome, but not a requirement.
Bringing a dog once finished with training is a requirement.
Both have clean criminal record, husband has one at-fault accident in the past three years.
We live in Houston, TX, but we're willing to travel for the right schooling/training opportunity.
If you were a brand new husband/wife team ideally looking to drive for about 10 years and stack money, what choices would you make?

 

Curious why you say that? I've been calling a few "starter companies" this morning and so far all of them have said the automatic-only restriction would not be a problem. Is there something I'm missing?

If I remember right, he was rear-ended, and it pushed him into rear-ending the car in front of him. Both not-at-fault (for being hit) and at-fault (for hitting the car in front). No injuries. Does this seem like something that would stop a company from hiring him?

 

I have contacted Werner, Schneider, and Covenant so far.

Werner seemed okay, automatic only was fine, allows dogs, training is 1 on 1 day training (so not training together, but still go back to the hotel together every evening), pay seems unremarkable (.47 cpm split miles), they'll let us keep our truck even if we go on a 7 day vacation (according to the recruiter, which I have heard not to trust). They gave me a couple of recommendations for cdl training (HCC, 160 Driving Academy).

Schneider is out.. no dogs allowed.

Covenant also seemed okay. Automatic-only is fine, they want you to get hazmat endorsed, we can train together, dogs allowed (high deposit, $750, but can make payments), .40-.42 cpm first 60 days, .50-.52 cpm after, $40k team bonus ($1k each every 60k miles), $15k tuition reimbursement ($125/mo for 5 yrs, $7500 lump at 5 years, regardless of how much your tuition actually was), made no promises that we could keep the truck during vacations, $1k guarantee every week if you have hazmat endorsement.

 

Thank you, Knucklehead (and everyone else so far, of course). I agree that Covenant seems to be the best option so far. However, that means we'll probably be waiting a year before we enroll in HCC. If we're coming out of pocket for tuition, hubby has decided he wants to save up more money so we can afford the tuition, bills for 2 months, and be able to weather any reasonable emergency during that time until we get out on the road. I don't disagree logically, but I'm impatient. Just seems like a year of lost opportunity to start aggressively saving for retirement.

I get that his requirement of automatic-only or bust is probably going to limit us, but the reality is, it's deal with that and still probably be able to make and save WAY more money than we are now, or continue working jobs doing not much better than breaking even and end up at retirement age with way less money than I'd like. If our options are only somewhat limited, and it won't for real stand in our way to realistically make money, then it's worth it to me. You know? Like, let's say right now we are able to save no more than $15k-$20k/yr working the way we are. But with automatic-only CDLs, we could save $50k/yr+ (no rent, utilities, etc.), it's still way worth it. Even if we aren't able to make TOP dollar or just have fewer options.

I agree, the issue with the religious/political statements on Covenant almost made me not call them. But in the end, I decided not to let an ultimately inconsequential thing get in the way of success.

As far as the demands vs. no demands... we do have our demands (like I'm not willing to abandon my dog), but we're also giving up our apartment and such, so we're probably rarely going to be taking any "home time". We might visit a family member or friend for a couple of days every few months. I figure we're probably pretty good candidates considering we intend to stay out on the road a lot, and we've been together for over 10 years and have worked together before, and lived on the road together for 8 months before, so we're somewhat prepared for being cooped up together 24-7... and we like each other's company a lot. So very little chance of the close-quarters causing a problem and forcing us to quit driving together.

I'll give US Express a call, thanks.