Moving house with your dog
How to make the transition for them less traumatic
Having recently moved house myself, I thought it might be helpful to share a few things about my own experiences with my dog. It’s a big topic so let’s dive straight in and take a closer look at moving house with your dog. And how we can make the transition for them less traumatic!
The first, most important thing we should always remember is:
Dogs love routine and can be stressed with big changes.
This will be our ‘mantra’. It may seem obvious but it can be easy to overlook. If we always keep our mantra in mind, specific scenarios with a house move can always be made less traumatic for our dogs.
1. Are you moving within the same area?
If you are moving locally, it stands to reason that taking your dog outside to the same places they are currently familiar with will greatly benefit them. Of course you will want to explore the newer areas closer to your new home, but in the early days try and balance this with returning to their older, favourite haunts too. If time permits, try walking your dog around your new neighbourhood before you actually move, to help ease them into their new environment. Or if your walk won’t be changing at all, you are in luck!
2. If you are moving much further away
This was the case with us. Before we put an offer on the new house, we arranged to visit the surrounding area with Woody and went for a long walk. It was really useful to gauge his reaction to the area, and to see if there were any hidden surprises too. In our case, it was a rural area, so the presence and location of livestock was important. As was the wildlife – adders – bad, pheasants – good!
But think about any wildlife impacts on your dog’s wellbeing. If it’s an urban area, are there any differences, such as more traffic or being closer to more people and other dogs? I think you have a sharper awareness of benefits and potential dangers when you are actually on the walk with your dog. So this was an invaluable experience for us. I realise this might not be possible to do, but try to at least to research the area from your dog’s perspective, or ask your vendors about it.
3. Before the move itself
This is the crucial bit! With Woody, it was the weeks leading up to the move that he found more stressful than the move itself. The big day is usually what everyone talks about, but try not to underestimate the emotional upheaval associated with packing boxes. Remember, your dog does not understand what is actually going on, only that all the objects familiar to them are being removed from sight or put in a different place. Their home is changing, no longer a constant, and being eroded. You seem stressed and rushed. Boxes piled high can create a claustrophobic anxiety too.
Remember our mantra, and there are little things you can do to mitigate the added stress:
- Try to keep calm yourself when you are packing. This includes not doing everything too quickly, panicky or involving sudden loud noises. This can be difficult to do, without realising.
- I would advise against shielding your dog from what’s going on by keeping them in a separate room – if they want to be with you, let them. But do encourage them onto their bed or to be in their ‘safe space’, wherever that is.
- When you take short breaks, don’t forget your dog, give them some attention!
- As much as you can, keep boxes away from your dog’s most important spaces: feeding stations and beds especially.
- The things in these spaces should be the very last things to move or pack – literally when you are leaving on the day.
4. On the big day
As you can imagine there is a lot of scope for extreme canine stress: lots of ‘strangers’ invading every possible space in the home, lots of noise and upheaval. It’s really important to start the day with their normal routine: if this means a walk and breakfast, even if it has to be much earlier than normal, then so be it.
There are two paths you can take here: the first is having your dog stay with someone else they are familiar with for a few hours. This might be the ‘lesser of two evils’ if your dog is especially territorial or reactive. If you do this though, it’s important to return them to the (now empty) house before you all set off. Try and make it a positive but low key experience, just for a few minutes. Let them see and sniff every room if that’s what they want to do. Remember your dog is trying to understand a situation completely new to them. Then you are good to go.
The second is more preferable if it’s at all practical: to keep your dog with you. This is because at a time of the greatest emotional upheaval, being separated from you would otherwise add to the stress. The common advice here is to try to keep your dog in their ‘safe space’ for the duration of the physical move. We adapted this as it’s nearly impossible to achieve when the moving team is working throughout the house.
What we did was allow Woody to meet and greet the moving team on arrival (with each of their permission), and with a generous application of treats to maintain the positive experience.
Once the first room was cleared, we settled him on his bed in that room with a favourite chew, so he had something he couldn’t resist to concentrate on. The room was ideal because he could see a lot of what was going on, but without being in a high traffic area. We kept the door open: don’t invite anxiety or frustration with a closed door. But if you are on your own, you could consider using a gate or tethering as long as your dog is already used to this. After a quick, cheerful ‘inspection’ when they had gone, that was it!
5. Moving In
This had similar challenges, but remember now there are no familiar (comforting) spaces for your dog. Hopefully the excitement of a new environment will over-ride any underlying stress. Normally, you should arrive at the new place ahead of the moving team. This is the perfect time for your dog to familiarise themselves with their new surroundings:
- Make sure you have their bed and water bowl before you even put the key in the door. These are the first things to put down once inside. Choose a low traffic area for both.
- Allow them to investigate every room and outdoor space if you have one. It’s a good idea to do this on-lead.
- Once the moving team arrives, reverse the same procedure for moving out!
6. Settling In
Remembering our mantra, try and keep their routines the same. In many ways you have a ‘clean slate’ so don’t take your dog’s previous behavioural habits for granted. Keep experiences positive, but don’t be afraid to gently change things if they no longer seem to work in the new environment.
I’m not a fan of putting a number on how long it takes a dog to settle in – every dog is different. In our case, Woody was ‘on holiday’ for two weeks, withdrew into himself for the third week, then seemed to be fine. It’s natural for a dog to feel ‘shock’ after a few weeks. It’s important not to overcompensate during this time and ‘reward’ their anxiety, but gently helping them along by making them comfortable and feeling safe is crucial for a hopefully quick recovery.
If you have had a different experience moving home, or have any questions before you do so, I would love to hear from you!