On The Move With Your Mutt!

Enjoying the nice weather!

Sunbathing!

Ready to play ball!

I recently moved to a house with a bigger back yard. I was concerned about the move and how the dogs would react.  I had a plan to keep the move as smooth as possible for them.  I didn't want them to be in the house the day of the move. I thought they would go crazy with movers there and all the chaos. I also didn't want to board them.  I have one dog that is neurotic as it is and boarding her makes her even more neurotic.  I have a client that is a dog groomer.  I decided to give them all a day at the spa.  For Daisy the neurotic one this is not much fun either but its better than either of the other options.  Before the movers came I took all of them to see Pam. I figured another benefit is they will come to the new house nice and clean!  It took about 5 hours to load everything and get it moved into the new place. By that time they were all ready to be picked up.  I was eager to see how they would react to the new place.  We walked in and they sniffed around for what seemed like hours.  They all immediately went out to the back to mark their spot in the new yard.  My groomer Pam had told me to bring some dog poop from the old yard to put in the new yard so they had a familiar scent in the yard.  Nice thought but I did not bring any of their old poop!  I thought I know I am a crazy dog lover but that is going a little too far.  Luckily I don't think I needed to because they immediately did it themselves!  A few tips to keep in mind when moving to a new location with your pets.

• Check the new fence and gate really good to make sure it is secure so they can't escape their new house.
• Make sure they are wearing tags and have microchips in case they do escape.
• Walk them around the neighborhood several times so they become familiar with how to get back home.
• Just because you may have a bigger yard, does not mean they don't need to go for a walk.  A big yard is great but you still need to get them out of the house and yard and take them on a walk.  Every dog no matter the size needs a walk everyday.  They need to get out a smell other smells, move forward and get exercise.
• Introduce yourself to your neighbors and let them know you have dog(s).  This is important in case your dogs get lose or bark while your away.  The neighbor may feel more comfortable telling you since you have gone out of the way to introduce yourself.  The last thing you want is them to call animal control because your dog is barking. 

Hopefully things will go as smooth as it did with my dogs!