Moving House. What to do to prevent behaviour issues?

Hi Everyone

I have a lab about 2.5 years old. I will be moving to a new house soon. He is a calm dog and has a very good routine. About 2 hours walk everyday and sometimes play time in those two hours.

Is there anything I should do or not do before during and after moving?

Thanks for the help

Hi,

I can't really offer any advice, but we moved house in February when Ben & Max were 8 months old. I was quite worried but except for the first night when they were quite restless through the night they settled very quickly.

I made sure they had their bedding in place and their water bowls out as well as toys when the dogs arrived. We bought some crates for them which they had about a week before so they were familiar with that. We wondered if it would help them to feel more secure but they didn't really use them in the end!

I don't know if our experience is normal or just lucky!

I wish you lots of luck for the move.

I've not had to go through this myself (might have to next year, eek) but I would probably say
- keep the walking times the same if possible
- take familiar smelling bedding, i.e. don't wash their stuff or buy new bedding for the new house, at least not straight away
- try to do your packing as quickly as possible as I've heard of dogs getting stressed by all the boxes around the house. One option would be to have a friend/relative dog-sit for a day, or kennel the dog, when the majority of packing/moving of things is taking place
- try not to make a big deal of it, if you're worrying about him being stressed, he'll probably pick up on that and stress more than if you just act casually.

My two are 3.5 and we've been over my mum's new house for day trips and neither have been bothered, probably wouldn't have cared if we'd stayed there permanently or not so if he's a pretty calm dog he'll probably take it in his stride and be OK about it.

I agree about the boxes and packing -- and bear in mind of course that moving is stressful to humans, so your dog may well pick up on that.

I moved a few days ago (I'm actually officuially homeless now but staying with my mother for a couple of weeks) and the run-up to that (eviction, bailiffs etc) has been a horrendous strain on me for the last 6 weeks or more never mind my dog. I am sure that's why he has suddenly had an ear infection flare up and has an itchy hot-spot. He definitely became more stressed when I started packing and shifting things around.

Maybe a DAP diffuser or collar might help to calm yours, or a short course of Zylkene until the move is over? Skullcap and Valerian calmative tablets may also help (but guess who packed them and then couldn't find them, I'm sure they would have helped mine).

We haven't actually moved since we've had our current dogs but we have taken them away to holiday cottages twice. Provided all their boxes get ticked ie meals x 2, walks x 2, pigs ear x 1, cuddles galore, they don't seem to notice.