OR Sometimes You Don’t Know Your Dog as Well as You Think You Do
One of the things I am most worried about when it comes to moving is how the dogs are going to react to a new house. After all, they have lived in this house all of their lives. I worry most about Luke since he is such a fearful dog and new things can be very scary for him.
We are all homebodies, though the girls used to go more places when they were younger. When we got up to four dogs in the household it was difficult to take them all anywhere, so mostly we just didn’t take any of them. In retrospect, it would have been better to just take a couple of them and leave a couple home; but I can’t change that now.
We took Luke places when he was younger but when he started reacting fearfully everywhere, that mostly stopped as well. The one place we have been occasionally though is my sister’s house – the only other person in the world he loves. But our visits are infrequent.
Yesterday, the potential buyers for our home had the building inspections set up, so I had to take the dogs and get them out of there. We’ve been going for nice drives when we had showings, but inspections can take up to a few hours, so that wasn’t an option. My sister was happy to let me bring the dogs over to her house. I thought bringing them to a mostly unfamiliar place would be a good trial run for how they might do in a new home.
I packed up my computer, some bookkeeping work for myself, and some toys and treats for the dogs. We had gone there one other time when we had a showing, and they would not settle down – they nervously ran around and just wanted to go back to the car. Thus you can see why I’m nervous about how they’ll be at a new house. That is one of the reasons we’ve been trying to crate train Luke again, so that he’d have a place to go in the new house where he felt comfortable.
With my sister’s cat safely tucked away in her bedroom, we saw my sister off to work. The dogs were about as nervous as I expected to start with – Cricket wouldn’t even take a treat at first. Luke was the one that surprised me, because other than jumping on my sister (um, humping) in excitement; he settled down the quickest.
Cricket kept going to the door and Sheba paced around some panting, but Luke wanted to play with the toys I brought, and he only went to the doors when I went there. He was even so great he tried to get Sheba to play – it was almost like he was encouraging her to relax. I was surprised and pleased at how well he did.
Sometimes you think you know your dogs; but I’ve found I am not always right. The girls did settle down as well eventually and I got some work done. The inspection ended up taking about 3 hours and overall I thought all of them did very well. I am no longer so worried about Luke; and I know the girls will settle in once they see they have a nice yard to run around in just like they do here.
Oh, and one other good thing! I’ve been giving the dogs Anxiety Relief from PL360 before taking them for these rides. It really helps Cricket a lot. I forgot yesterday morning, yet she laid right down on the car seat; no shaking or panting like she usually does, and she even snoozed a bit. I think she is finally getting used to riding in the car! We have a new product coming soon to try out as well for her in the car and I think it’s going to help her even more (and we’ll be giving one away too!).
There are times I think they are going to take all of this way better than I am. Actually, I am looking forward to the actual physical move. I am ready to move, and it’s the things that are out of my control that are driving me crazy. I hate the waiting to see if every step goes as it should; I hate not knowing yet if we actually will be moving. I was not prepared for just how stressful selling a house could be; probably because I’ve never done it before! I lose my focus on everything when I am stressing about whether the next step will take place; and I don’t like having my routine disrupted either.
Anyway, hopefully the last hurdles are out of the way soon. I’m already packing; I thought it would be helpful for the dogs if they started getting used to things being moved around here, with lots of boxes strewn around. They’ve been fine with it. I’m sure there will still be some stressful times for all of us with all of the changes; but sometimes change is good and soon all of this part will be behind us. It’s just good to feel a bit more relaxed about how they might settle into our new home.
How about you? Can you accurately predict how your dogs will respond to new situations?
That is excellent news with Luke! Glad to hear the stress drops are working for Cricket too in the car. A great day!
That was darn impressive and we’re really proud of all of them for doing great! Onward, upward, and outward! Happy moving!
I’m sure the girls and Luke will be fine in the new house. You and their Dad – and all their “creature comforts” – will be there as well so after a little “exploring”, they will probably settle down for a nap.
How nice that you got to do a trial run! If all goes well (I do an inspection on Monday!), I’ll close on my new house a few days before my movers will be scheduled to come, so I can take Barley over and play and do some noseworks while I do a little cleaning (because I’m a paranoid cat mom and want to make sure I steam clean the carpet to get as many weird smells that are at Soth’s level out of the carpet before he comes to the house). I’m hoping that I can predict Bar’s behavior based on the reactions she’s had when we’ve stayed in hotels and her first few visits to my parents’ new house. Good luck with your final hurdles!
Thank you, Beth! I hope your inspection went well today.
You’re SO lucky to be moving from a rental and that you can close on your new house before moving in. The buying part is definitely much easier than the selling part, and we’ll have both closings on the same day…yikes! The owners of the place we’re buying are in Florida so we were hoping they’d come up early to get their stuff out but so far they haven’t offered to.
Keep me posted on how yours is coming along!
I am so happy that I don’t have to move out before I close! The house I’m buying is already vacant, so that helps. It sounds like you’ll have quite an adventure with your closings. My inspection went well, so now it’s just waiting for all of the loan stuff to go through and then being patient while I want on mid-March to get here!
So glad to hear it made for a good trial run-I agree with others, that they should probably settle in fairly quickly, as long as they have you and their Dad, food with bowls and beds the same, and even alot of familiar furniture-and they will quickly learn to love their yard for sure, I bet! Fingers crossed that the inspection went well.
I think it helped them to see you at your house too, Lynn. They did not settle down when I took them before, and I think that might have been the difference.
Hopefully we’ll know by the end of this week if everything went OK with the inspection. The other realtor has not been very forthcoming unless she wants something. LOL
I am so glad you wrote this post. We have four dogs too and we’re homebodies as well. I do take my dogs places (mostly on pack walks), but it’s hard to takes them all places, because Zoey has anxiety, Rodrigo is reactive, and Scout doesn’t like strange men. Since I can’t predict who we’ll come across, it’s just easier to stay home.
Although I don’t anticipate us moving anytime soon, I always wonder how the dogs would do with a move, because this has been their home for most of their lives. I doubt that Rodrigo and Sydney remember the house we lived in before moving here (they only lived there a month). And Scout and Zoey came here when they were 6 weeks old.
I’ve been using natural supplements for anxiety with our dogs too. It helps when I give it with plenty of time. Sydney has a vet appointment coming up and I will be giving her a supplement from Natura Petz the night before and the morning of her appointment.
Fingers crossed.
I hope it helps! I’ve thought about trying one of those “Calming Collars” with Luke as well. The PL360 doesn’t really seem to relax him much. Maybe I will look at Natura Petz as well.
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only homebody! But I am not as adventurous as you and don’t take the dogs for pack walks. But, I’m hoping at the new home to give it a try. The road will be quieter and we’ll also have our own woods to venture out in.
That was a good trial run…and we’re sure they all will adjust to a new home easily.
I’m sure that your crew will settle down even quicker when they recognize the furniture and everything from your current home in the new one.
That’s so awesome that everyone was eventually able to settle down. We’ve moved a few times with the girls and there’s always a period of acclimation. Both of the dogs are good travelers and good sports about things but Phoenix is actually better at it than Zoe. Zoe is very environmentally sensitive. So we do usually end up giving Zoe some extra attention and special treats. When we moved we had a bit of a hard time getting her to eat and stuff but she eventually settled down and was fine.
Oh – I’m having flashbacks! When you move into your new home they will be fine because everything (to include you) will be coming along. They will have their toys, their bowls, that favorite couch they all love so much. They will do just fine.
Every buddy will probably feel lots of stress until the whole thing is over
Lily & Edward
Misty the alpha Poodle always explains to the others what is happening.
I always fail when I try to predict what will happen… either Easy does that with purpose or I really should buy a better crystal ball. :o) always when I apologize in advance for every disaster what he maybe will cause, the canine wrecking ball acts like an angel :o)
I think they do it on purpose…they like to keep us guessing!
It sounds like they will all do well in the new place. I am sure it will help that your stuff will be there. I hope the inspection went well. That is always a bit nerve wracking.
As far as we know, the inspection went well, but we still haven’t heard for sure. It’s all the waiting that is going to kill me! LOL
It would be the best if you signed the PA, went to the closing and moved within a week. All the waiting time creates mind games in the humans. Waiting is the killer, but it will all be happening before you know it. Hope the inspection went well, and they don’t ask for too much stuff. I think the dogs will be fine with the move when they realize their toys, beds, bowls, etc are all at the new place.
I agree….it would be so much easier if it was all done within a week! They are still just waiting to hear on the water and radon tests for the inspection, and hopefully that is the last of it, and we can finally relax knowing we’re good to go. The realtor for the buyers has been kind of a pain, which has just made the process even worse than it had to be.
I do think the dogs are going to be fine as well; we’ll be taking extra time off so that we can be there as much as possible while they get used to things; and hopefully we can get some fencing up so they can still have their usual fetch time outdoors. If not, there’s along hallway in the new house, and lots of woods to explore! 🙂
Every time I try to predict their behavior in unexpected situations, I’m pretty much wrong. I think they like to keep me on my toes! lol Good luck with the move!