Community Corner

Moving Can Be Stressful On Your Pooch Too

Charlie gets a little confused by some change.

Moving with a pet can be stressful.

A couple months ago I found a new place to live, about five minutes away from where I live now.

So last week, I started packing boxes. Charlie didn't really understand what was going on. Maybe it's in his retriever nature, but as I put things away in boxes, Charlie stuck his head in the box, sniffed the items and in some cases, he pulled out something he wanted to explore.

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But on moving day, Saturday, Charlie knew something was awry. He's used to roaming around the apartment, going where he likes, now that he's potty trained — but on Saturday, I confined him to his crate, while my brothers helped move my bed, dressers and other heavy things.

I wanted everyone to stay safe — I didn't want my brothers to drop something on their foot because Charlie ran under them, or Charlie to get hurt because something fell on him.

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He was not happy in his crate, surrounded by boxes and random items without a home.

Then, in my naivety, I decided I would take him along on the ride to the new place, while we were moving stuff into my room.

It was a bad idea. He was not happy staying inside a new room and wanted to be with us the entire time. He tried to jump over the make shift gate I created with my daybed frame. He whined and barked and scratched at the bathroom door.

If I could do it over again, I would have taken Charlie to daycare for the day. It's not his fault he loves people and needs attention. If he'd gone to daycare, he would have played with other puppies, while we worked and neither he nor I would feel bad about it.

Lesson learned.


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