So glad it's worked out for you and I agree that if your dog can visit the new house before the big move and then on the day spend it away from all the activity and return in the evening when you both are there and there's a meal ready, that will make it so mutch better.

You've been lucky, also acted with speed (no dilly dallying ) which always helps when there's lots of people chasing the same property.

I would be interested to know if you'll have further to commute to work

Thanks Losos!
On a match day on Saturday the road can get very busy, but I generally don't work on Saturday and if I do my partner can look after the dog so I don't need to go home for lunch.
It's almost the same distance from work and very accessible, so I can still go home and look after Ella but I won't have to walk her to the pee spot anymore as she can just go in the garden!!

Sounds excellent Florence. Especially being able to get her used to the smell of the new location for a short while before installing her permanently.

That's how I moved from Limassol to Larnaca (in my little Nissan March!) my daughter had a vacation job in Limassol so stayed to the bitter end so's not to let her boss down as she ran the shop single-handed for him. I took old Charlie Girl (CKCS) who, unlike the Ayatollah here LOVED going in the car with me - and every day we drove the 80km or so from Lim to Lca with as much as I could get in the car. Or to go to the Utilities, Phone co. and all that. Got her used to going up and down in a lift too for the first time in her life!

Jen had just 4 days to go before returning to Uni when we all 3 eventually 'moved in' (we had one armchair, a big bed, a garden table and an old telly - packing boxes served as rest of furniture - oh and no curtains either! A long story for another time!)

But by the time we'd moved in and spent 3 nights together, Charlie Girl was happy and settled enough for us to leave her here alone on the last day while we went for a slap up meal before heading for the airport for Jen to leave.

Same with Bella and the boardings I use - took her there a couple of times on 'visits' before leaving her the first time. Now it is a home from home for her. Bit of forethought and these simple things can avoid long term problems with dogs.

Ooooh I think MOVING is so exciting! In fact I'm even thinking of taking a beach front house on for a year - going to ring and ask how much they want for it tomorrow! Bella and I keep passing it on our 'out of high season' walks on the old CTO beach further east. And I keep thinking more and more about it! Watch this space!

Omg are you kidding? I've long stopped enjoying moving
Mind you, this is the 22nd time in my life that I move house! (and I'm only 28!) and the 7th time in the last 3 years.

I can't remember how we did it with our dogs in the past.. just can't remember. But then, all my previous dogs were a lot less complicated than Ella. That must have been quite stressful, driving 80km every day! What don't we do for our pets, right?

Oooh but that beach house sounds exciting! Let us know how it goes and then obvs we want pics!!

You've moved house 22 times ...geez

I've moved more times than that! But then I did live in one house for 17 yrs. And, apart from that one, the 6yrs I've lived in this apartment block is the longest ever anywhere! 5yrs in one apartment and now 1yr in this one.

And I am getting itchy feet again!

I had a good reason to stay put so long in the Berks house. Two lads at school there and both going through the same GOOD senior school and 6th form college. The SECOND they were finished with that - I was OFF!

22 times in 28 years!! Do you ever actually unpack!?!

I've moved house three times, once when I was three, once when I was 23 and now when I'm 24 and I don't plan on going anywhere any time soon. I could not imagine moving that much, I've probably holidayed in places longer than you have lived in some of your homes!

Congrats though

You might well have Jen. I sometimes say I've got shoes I've had longer than I had some of my husbands

You sound a bit like my mum! She was the one who moved us around so much. But I changed school 3 times. At one point she planned to emigrate to Canada, and at one point she planned to move to Beirut! (none of which happened cos of money and war issues)

I probably have some of her nomad genes (even when we didn't move house, my brother and sister and I frequently swapped rooms over for a change), but I'm now a bit sick of it.

Yeah sometimes it did feel like we lived in a what we called providurium (sort of a provisional durable solution). Living with some boxes premanently packed

I think the shortest I've lived somewhere was 6 weeks. That was when I moved to London and the room I rented was leaking water, the electricity was faulty and there was so much mould that all my clothes got ruined! And my next door neighbour liked listening to hardcore techno to wake up... after a month I was such a nervous wreck with an anxiety and depression disorder that I had to leave. On my last day there, when taking the sheets off the bed I found a false black widow spider in my bed! It was the worst time in my life!