Moving house with ddog

[Listeninggirl]

Hello all,

We are set to move house very soon and I was wondering if any of you could give tips about moving with a ddog?

Relative of mine (not a dog owner) described moving home with a dog as 'animal cruelty' as he will be disorientated and upset at a new environment. Is this true? Have never moved home with a dog before and concerned that he will be miserable.

For context our ddog is a rescue (been with us over 5 years) and is an older boy who was previously badly mistreated by irresponsible breeder. He is my little shadow and the absolute centre of our family, the last thing I would ever want to do is upset him.

New house is 2 mins from beach (he loves the beach, which was a factor for us) and dh works from home so Toby is never left alone in the house. I'm currently furloughed so will also be home full time for the move.

Does anyone have advice on how to make this easier on my boy? Thank you.

The relative is wrong.

Your dog will be fine, but will want to stay near his people as he settles in. Dogs care about their people way more than their place, and dogs are not noticeable unhappy when you eg take them on holiday or family visits with you.

Does he use a cage, it have some other favourite den/hidey hole? one is easy to take, the other you may need to think about how best you replicate.

As he's generally your happy shadow and you are thoroughly used to keeping having him close, I don't think there's any reason to anticipate difficulties.

Never been the slightest problem here OP. Moved three times and holiday usually three times a year with dogs.

In my opinion so long as the dogs people are there and indeed the usual smells and possessions they don't bother at all. Bit exciting to explore and that's it.

Mine were always more bothered about being left, which is weird as it's never happened. I get down the holiday bags and they climb inside.

I open the car door and the get into the footwell and hide.

No idea what is meant by animal cruelty, not my experience at all.

Absolute nonsense that it's animal cruelty. Your dog will be fine. We moved with cats, kept them with their bed and food in the first room emptied and popped in to spend time with them and make sure they weren't too nervous while we pack the van.

Then they and their stuff came with us in the car and we put them with their bed and food in a room while we unpacked the van. As soon as the door was shut we let them explore. With a dog this will be easier because they'll want to be with you. If you don't want to shut him in a room just keep him on a lead with you until the door is closed.

If you crate it will be easier because his safe place will move with him. Make sure he knows where his things are, where to toilet. Give him some food in his bowl quite early on and he'll probably be quite happy. Good luck with the move!

Nonsense.
Once you set his bed etc up and his stuff is there he will work it out.
If he follows you around anyway he will just continue to do that. As has been said, we take them on holiday and they are just fine
New place sounds lovely too!

Do remember to find a new vet asap (and you can ask current vet to make a list of attendances as the health record, plus make sure you know where record of immunisations is)

Also update your insurer as soon as you move and the microchip company on the day of the move.

I think the chaos of packing etc might stress a dog, so if possible I'd remove him from that, though lockdown will probably make that impossible.
But I disagree with your relative. It will be a bit disorientating of course, but he will soon be surrounded by familiar smells and furniture and most of all you, so will be fine.

I moved countries with a cat and he was fine. Cats get much more upset when changing home.

Just allow your dog to get used to the new environment in its own time.
Talk to the vet if you're concerned and if your dog usually gets anxious in new surroundings.

My vet prescribed diazepam (I think) for the trip.

Our dog was fine. I sent him to the kennels (which he is perfectly happy at) about 2 days before the move & picked him up 3 days after. I couldn’t have managed having the dog (he was 1 year old) as well as the kids & the packing but I’m sure other people are stronger than I am!

Someone gave me the tip not to wash the dog bedding or anything so that they have all their familiar smells.

He'll be fine. The only downside, since he's male - be prepared that he may want to mark out his new territory.

We did put the DDog in kennels because with doors opening and packers coming in a few days before it was easier.

As soon as the removal men had brought everything in the next day we went to collect her. All was fine and she was old. Sadly didn’t last very long as she was very old but moving wasn’t the trigger.

Our dog didn't seem to give a shit when we moved house.

Thank you so much for all your replies!

You've reassured me I won't be traumatising him completely by moving him to a new home! Plus thank you for all the comments re: vets, address on microchip; I'm making a list of 'to dos' so will stick them on there.

And those that mentioned moving day, doors open, packing the van, etc - I was worried about this too! So think he will spend the day with my mum (I sometimes think he prefers her to me, anyway ) then we will pick him up in the evening.

You're all totally right about holidays, he's always fine when we go to a cottage for a week or two. I hadn't given that much thought but it is a good idea of how he will be.

Really grateful for all your thoughts. Thank you!

Agree dogs care about people more than place. However, knew a couple with a beautiful rescue who'd had several previous owners. She was very destructive if left alone, even overnight and they'd just got her feeling secure and happier, after a couple of years she was very attached to the woman. They moved house and the dog destroyed it the first week. Chewed through furniture walls and doors. I'd warned them it would upset her.
They sent her away. Won't say what I think of them for that.
So be generous to him op, he might slip back into bad old habits. But don't be over soppy either as that will send signals there's something to worry about. Breezy, happy, lots of fun. You sound like a lovely caring owner anyway.

I've moved with DDog once and will inevitably have to move again (I'm renting).

It's not cruel, and I'll preface this by saying that DDog is very sensitive, on his fourth owner, and generally prone to anxiety. Yours may be less highly strung.

Some random thoughts, in no particular order

• DDog was concerned about packing boxes appearing. He was much happier when they disappeared to the car. This ended up in the slightly bizarre but ultimately worthwhile situation in which a very accommodating family member stored some for me
• if you have a few days of crossover between the two houses, consider visiting with DDog and doing fun things there, relaxing etc (I didn't have this luxury)
• try to stick to the same routine
• if you can get DDog out of the house for the day of the move, do!
• if DDog finds car journeys stressful, take him for a nice long relaxing walk before first introducing him to the new house, so he's in the right frame of mind
• consider using an Adaptil plug in for both houses
• separation anxiety can be triggered by a house move. I warded this off by going through a process over the first few days of going "out" for 10 seconds and building up.
• DDog did develop a violent hatred of visitors due to the move (didn't see that one coming!). In the end, I had to get a behaviourist in, though it's fully resolved now.

I've never had an issues when moving house with a dog. Its been more with my cats as you have to keep cats indoors a couple of weeks when you move.