Moving Advice

brittk

Hi All,

I know I have been away from the forum for a little while and I am trying to get all caught up. Looks like lots of exciting things are happening!

I am looking for your advice on moving with a dog. I have taken a new job and will be moving at the end of the month with Kaiya. We will be living on our own (we currently live with my SO whom Kaiya adores) and I wanted to get the forum's advice on moving with pets. Unfortunately, we will be in the new apartment less than a week before I start my new job, so I want to do everything I can to make Kaiya feel comfortable there in those few days. Any tips and pointers you have would be great.

She doesnt deal well with change and this is going to be huge for her. Needless to say, I am more worried about her than I am about everything else. Thanks all!

ttddinh

Welcome back!!! I'd keep all her blankets and maybe give her a shirt that smells like you??? Does she have anxiety? If it's really bad, perhaps a thundershirt will help?

Heidi

Does she have a crate with familiar bedding? That would help.

rafatturi

Ask Brad he just moved like 30 dogs!

Hinata23

2 weeks before we moved cross country we had our dogs sleep in the travel kennels (we shipped their wired crate with our car). By the time it was time for their flight they were comfortable in the kennels. I thought that they would be scare of the kennels after the flight, but they sleep in them all the time without a problem.

brittk

Thanks for all the tips. I really like the idea of leaving a shirt with her in her crate that smells like me. She does have separation anxiety and she doesnt like to be left in new places, so Im hoping to get settled quickly and be able to warm her up slowly to being left there for a quick run to the store etc. She will have all of her familiar crate, beds and blankies

Typically when we leave her in her crate, even though she loves to sleep in it with the door open, she screams bloody murder for about 5 minutes before she settles. I always leave her with a frozen peanut butter Kong to pacify her. If we leave her only with run of the living room, we don't hear a peep.

jellyfish

I was able to take Toki to the new house a few times before we moved in, which helped. We also walked around the neighborhood a few times to get him familiar with the new area and its new smells, so it was an easy transition for him. The familiar shirt/bedding idea is good, too, but I have never personally used it since Toki is ridiculously independent.

Hinata23

Are you flying or driving?

brittk

We will be driving. It should only be a one day affair to get out of the condo and all our things into the new place. Its about 2 hours away. I get the Keys on a Monday and will take Kaiya with me while I clean and line cabinets that day and then either the following day or Wednesday is when we will be actually moving. I will start my job the following Monday, but we will need to go back to the old place at lease once to get it cleaned up.

BradA1878

We were moving so many dog that we couldn't really prepare them all the way a pet owner would. We just kinda stuck them in cars and brought them to the new place.

The hard part for us was making sure we had everything setup at the new place so we had a place to put the dogs while we moved everything in.

As far as the dogs go, they all were affected by the change, but they also all adapted very quickly with not very much stress. Dogs are very good at adapting to new environments. I would be careful not to make the change too big of a deal for the dog - they will feed off that and it can cause more issues than if you moved them with no preparation IMHO.

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brittk

Thanks! I dont know how you guys did that move with all the dogs AND a toddler! Im going crazy trying to be organized enough to just get myself and one dog moved!

BradA1878

it was hell