Adjusting Dogs to Moving.

[smileyzookie]

Ok, we have moved with our cat before 3 times once across country and he's been fine so Im not really worried about him. Riven has been with us since February. We are getting our new puppy on Monday. My question is, should I be worried about trying to introduce Riven or Lori (new puppy) to the new house ahead of time? Or should I take them when we've moved? I really dont know what to do in this situation.

 

I hate even more that I have to adjust Lori to our house for a week just to move her somewhere else, then we're leaving on the 30th and 31st to camp and Riven and Lori are coming with me. I know this is a critical time in Lori's life, can anyone give me clues how to make the adjustment easier for both of them?

[KrisK]

When we moved, I made sure that the dogs had their crates, toys, and tried to have their routine (walks, etc) as normal as possible. I set up one room for them (was the laundry room...now it's the dog room)so they were kept as much as possible out of the general turmoil of moving boxes, etc. Since we weren't moving too far, (less than 100km) I actually boarded them for one night. If you don't get too stressed, I'm sure that Riven and Lori will be fine

[Hector]

We moved 110 miles about 16 months ago. The destination house had no fenced area for dogs, and we moved in January, so it was cold outside. We put our two dogs into a boarding kennel for two weeks, starting one day before the movers came to load the truck at the old house. We needed to get things somewhat unpacked and set up in the new house without having the dogs around, especially since Bailey wants his nose in everything that is going on. So by the time we picked up the dogs and brought them to the new house we were in reasonable shape. That seemed to work pretty well and we felt it was worth the $27 a day to board them.

[Kyrasmom]

If you can keep your stress level down, they should be fine. I moved two dogs from Italy to California, and during the flight, I was a wreck, but they came out of their crates as if traveling for close to 24 hours was a piece of cake. They adjusted to their new home without any issue, and one was blind.

 

After that, we moved twice more with the same dogs, and literally, within hours, they found their space. I think as long as you're their focal point, all is good in their life, in fact, it's an adventure. Not sure we can make that same claim as moving ranks high on my list of least favorite things.

 

Personally, I would not board them unless you're really frazzled...and I would seriously hesitate about boarding a puppy.

 

Best of luck! Hope it goes well!

 

Maria

[Allie+Tess&Kipp]

I have found that moving was easier on Tess if my parents kept track of her for the day (we have never moved more than an hour from one place to another, our next move will be exactly 1 mile, and the last move for us). My parents came and helped with the moving, and just in general held onto Tess's leash and they explored the new place or the old place or whatever. This kept her out of the traffic.

 

As for going to the new place, etc. my personal experience has been visiting the new yard is great, but going in the house without any stuff in it was too stressful for Tess. She handled it much better if she was introduced to the new house after our furniture and her dog beds and crates and stuff were all there.

 

As long as you keep the routine up with the same walk times, same eating times, etc. everything will probably be fine.

 

Allie + Tess & Kipp