Our moving day is getting close, and the boxes have begun to pile up inside our house! The girls know something is up. We have never moved with the dogs before. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make the move go smoother? I'm just starting to see little hints of them being stressed out.

I just moved with Aevyn, and I think we might've been lucky that he's just so young. We made sure his crate was the last thing to be packed up, as well as we left him with his toys and treats, his blankets and anything that was pretty much HIS space.

When the actual move came he spent the day at the dog park with my father. We had the luxury of the park being very close, and him being retired. It made it relatively painfree for Aevyn during the actual move, and by the time he got to the new place all his stuff was set up and waiting for him - he transitioned very well.

So - not sure how much that helps, but I guess if you can find someone the dogs know to puppysit for the day it might be easier on everyone.

Well that kinda depends on how far you're moving and how long they'll be in transition. I wouldn't worry to much about them, they will probably take it in stride just fine. We've moved 3 times (1st a local move in WA, 2nd from WA state to FL which took 8 days, and 3rd from FL to SC) with our Sibe in tow and the dogs have always done just fine. I keep their crates out and those are the last to go since I have all the dogs in their crates on moving day. With the door open constantly on moving day it's so much less stressful for everyone if they dogs are safely in their crates and in an empty bedroom with the door shut so as to block out as much of what's going on. There is no getting around the stress they'll feel, they don't know what's going on and they don't want to be left behind...not much you can do about that. Moving tends to be an all day event so I make sure they are taken out on a lead several times not only for potty and stretching their legs but also to reassure them that I'm still there. I would try to keep their daily routine (walking, feeding, bedtime, etc) as close to normal as possible, the less you have to change the better...easier said than done, believe me, I know! I'm hoping to move from SC to WA state again in about 3 yrs give or take and I really just treat it like going on a vacation only with the whole house (well, contents anyway).

Good luck with your move! When is the big day?

Only moving about five hours away (Illinois), but the issue is that the vacation that we scheduled last year falls right smack dab in the middle of when would be most convienent to move. So our crazy move schedule consists of moving 95% of our stuff down to our new home on July 8th. We will stay at our new home and unpack stuff until the 12th. Then, its back to our old house to do a final clean up of all that husky fur before we go on vacation (dogs too!) on the 16th. Then we come back from vacation on the 23rd, pick up all our reptiles from our old house, then FINALLY move to our new home for good. If it wasn't for the reptiles we wouldn't have to make trips back to our old home, but I don't know anyone where we are moving to, and I need someone to look after them while we are gone on vacation. We thought about not going on our vacation, but with all this moving stuff we really need it. The dogs always have such a good time too. Last year they were howling with wolves!

Crating them sounds like the best plan for when we are actually dragging stuff in or out of the house. I'll have to make some super good frozen kongs to keep them busy.

It will be interesting to see what the girls think of the new house. I know they will not appreciate the smaller yard. My cousin is going to come fence in the yard on the day we move most of our stuff, so at least they'll have a safe yard to run in, its just so much smaller. We had a hard time finding a place with much of a yard at all, so I guess we should be happy with what we have. Besides, its only for 2 to 3 years while I finish my graduate degree.