Making the Move
Last month, I reviewed things to consider when looking for a new home and what to plan for before you put your existing home on the market. This month, we’ll address the move itself.
Packing Up and Preparing to Move
You may prepare differently depending on the time frame and distance of your move. We could move a few boxes every few days over a month in two of my moves. The dogs hardly noticed. When we moved to Maine, we hired professional movers and boarded the dogs to prevent stress and their accidental escape from the two days of open doors and a team of movers packing all our stuff in a whirlwind of activity. This was my most stressful move ever.
Moving Day, the Road Trip, and Unpacking
Because of the length of our move, we drove for four days and spent four nights at hotels. We wisely looked for places on our route that would accept three dogs and made reservations weeks before our departure. This is something critical to consider when moving long distances. It took us longer than the moving van because we had to account for making many more stops. After all, we transported three dogs and three elderly parents who all needed frequent bathroom breaks.
When we arrived in Bangor, we went directly to the business we were buying, where we already had reservations for our three dogs. They remained there during the entire unloading and unpacking process, plus a few extra days as we settled into our home and our new role as business owners. I recommend you think ahead and have a boarding facility or friends and families committed to taking your pets until you get settled in your new home. Your pets will be in a new environment, stressed, and likely to bolt out through an open door and escape.
Settling into Your New Home
Do not bring the pets home until you feel settled and everything is put away. I suggest you use the following checklist to integrate your pets into the home.
• If your pets are microchipped, update the microchip services with your new address and phone number.
• Visit your new veterinarian and introduce yourself so you know where they are located.
• Visit the closest emergency veterinary facility so you know their hours and where they are located.
• If the yard where the dogs will go to the bathroom and sniff and play is fenced, check to ensure the fence is secure, especially the gates. If the yard is not fenced, call a fencing contractor and arrange to have it fenced.
• Start with the cat(s). Set up a room with a door you can close, specifically for the cats. It should include their beds, food, water bowls, one litterbox per cat, and one in separate places. If they have a cat tree to provide vertical space, set it up in this room. Plan on visiting with your cats several times daily, every day for a week, before incorporating them into the rest of the home. Ensure they always have access to this room and the dogs don’t.
• Make sure you unpack your dog's supplies and have them located so everyone knows where they are.
• Pick up the dogs and bring them home. Have them on 6-foot leashes and allow them to thoroughly investigate the yard before taking them inside. Be patient, as there will be many new scents for them to explore. When they go to the bathroom, urinate, or defecate, reward them with a treat within 2 seconds every time for the next month. Your dog may have been perfectly housetrained at home, but that doesn’t mean they will be in your new home.
• Bring your dogs into your home and allow them to explore but think of them as un-housetrained puppies requiring 100% supervision until they have proven they are housetrained in this new environment. If they have an accident, it will NOT be their fault.
• If your dogs are crate-trained and do well in their crates, crate them when you cannot provide 100% supervision. This may be especially important when you leave them alone at home for the first few weeks. You don’t want your dog to panic at being separated from you and hurt itself or cause damage to your new home and furnishings.
• For the first few weeks, stay outside with your dog while it enjoys its fenced yard until you know it is comfortable and unlikely to panic and try to escape.
• Take your dog on frequent walks in the new neighborhood, giving it ample opportunities to choose where it goes and the time it needs to sniff.
• If your pets have trouble adjusting, talk to your veterinarian, or a reputable pet trainer, or behavior consultant.
Good luck with your move. I hope it is stress-free for you and your pets.
Don Hanson lives in Bangor, Maine, where he is the co-owner of the Green Acres Kennel Shop (greenacreskennel.com) and the founder of ForceFreePets.com, an online educational resource for people with dogs and cats. He is a Professional Canine Behavior Consultant (PCBC-A) accredited by the Pet Professional Accreditation Board (PPAB)and a Bach Foundation Registered Animal Practitioner (BFRAP). Don is a member of thePet Professional Guild (PPG), where he serves on the Board of Directors and Steering Committee and chairs the Advocacy Committee. He is also a founding director of Pet Advocacy International (PIAI). In addition, Don produces and co-hosts The Woof Meow Showpodcast,available at http://bit.ly/WfMwPodcasts/,the Apple Podcast app, and Don's blog: www.words-woofs-meows.com.The opinions in this post are those of Don Hanson.