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How to Help Your Pet Through a Move

September 18, 2017 by Mary Telesz

pet moveMoving house is an incredibly stressful time for anyone. You have so many things on your mind, from getting rid of excess and packing up the essentials, to transferring your cable and internet. You know the looming deadlines and are hustling to meet them! With so much to do, it’s easy to lose sight of your pet’s well being through this process. Their daily routine begins changing and they pick up on your stress as moving day mounts, with no idea about the purpose behind it all. To ease the move for you both, we’ve compiled a number of helpful tips for traveling with pets and helping them through a move:

The Science of Dog Stress

So what is it about moving that can create stress in your dog? Well, for one, reading dog body language can tell you a lot about how they’re feeling. A tense body, a stiff tail, ears that are pulled back, and intense staring are just some signs of a dog who feels threatened or anxious. Depending on how long you’ve had your dog and how closely bonded you are, you may want to keep your distance.

For example, if you’ve had a shelter dog for a year or two who had bad experiences with their previous owners, don’t step in and try to cuddle them when they show you body language like this. You are not familiar enough with their personality and what triggers them yet.

On the other hand, if you’ve had your dog since it was a pup, you can sensibly feel more confident about snuggling your dog when they appear to be anxious or stressed. There are some cultural myths pertaining to dog stress and behaviour, including the idea that there are aggressive breeds. This isn’t true. A dog, no matter what breed, simply learns certain types of behaviour from its experiences.

Flying with Your Pet

The idea of driving for hours on end with a pet who needs attention every other hour is stressful enough. It can be even worse if you have more than one pet and they don’t get along. Snarling going on in the backseat while you’re trying to listen to your GPS will make anyone go haywire.

pet moveFlying with your pet is an overwhelming prospect at first, particularly because a lot of airlines make your cat or dog travel along with the luggage. This can be very worrying for the pet owner, who sits looking below their feet for the entire flight wondering if their animal is okay. Luckily, most airlines will kindly offer to check on your pet during the flight (particularly if it’s longer than three or four hours). If you board the plane and the air hostess doesn’t offer, chances are they’ve either forgotten or aren’t familiar with your situation. If this happens, all you have to do is make them aware that your dog is on the flight and they’ll put your mind at ease.

If you do decide to fly to your new home, there are a number of tips for flying with your pet you should consider. The more research and preparation you do the better. Read up about the type of cage your pet should go in, the rules of the airport you’re flying into, and any vaccination requirements. The specifics of your flying experience depends largely on you. For example, there is a lot more effort that goes into flying a doberman rottweiler from France than there is a kitten from the next state.

As a general rule, if you live in America and are simply moving to a different state, you won’t have to have too much work done on your pet at the vet. Most of the organization will revolve around getting your cat or dog a cage, getting them used to it, filing documentation correctly, and paying for the flight of both you and your pet.

The Cage

If you are going to be making use of a cage for your animal, it is imperative that you order and purchase it much earlier than you need it. Do not leave this step until the last minute, because your pet will quite simply refuse to go into the cage.

pet moveYou will have enough stress to deal with that comes from the general process of moving, so make sure your cage arrives to your old home at least a month before you’re scheduled to travel. You’re not going to need a cage for driving to your new home, so it mostly applies to flying.

When the cage arrives, you need to train your pet to see it as a nice comfortable bed instead of a scary metal contraption. How on earth do you achieve this? Well, first of all, you leave the cage sitting innocently with the door lying open. Watch your pet carefully. It will sniff around it and eventually venture a paw inside.

The key to this process is patience, because it’s very slow and gradual. It could take a week before your pet has all four paws in. Sure, you can try to coax it in with treats, but unless your pet had a knock to the head when it was a puppy it won’t fall for it.

Treats do work in another way, however. You can try training it to go into the cage and reward it with a treat. This is much different to simply trying to bribe your pet. They generally won’t fall for a transparent bribe, but they love you and genuinely want to please you. Thus, if you show them in a clear and consistent manner that you need them to go inside the cage in order to please you, they will do so. The treat helps too, of course!

Settling in to Your New Home

Congratulations for arriving at this part of your journey. You can now breathe a huge sigh of relief and pat yourself on the back for getting through it. Settling into your new home with your pet is a lot easier than travelling to it. Dogs are loyal to their owners, and unless they have a particularly nervous temperament, they are excited to see and experience new places with their human friend.

Worse case scenario, your dog may actually get a bit too excited and territorial peeing may occur for the first week or two. This is their way of marking their space when they’ve arrived in a new environment, so it’s perfectly normal behavior. Hopefully you haven’t kitted out the new home with beige carpets!

Pet Friendly Northern Virginia

Northern Virginia is a great place to relocate to if you are a pet lover. Did you know that there are a number of pet-friendly places to live here? If you’ve just signed your rental contract you’ll have to stick it out for a year (or however long the contract is for) but if you’re just considering moving here, you should check out the best pet-friendly places to live in Northern Virginia. The last thing anyone wants is a landlord stressing them out about unrealistic rules regarding their pet.

Filed Under: Pet Adoption, Pet Care, Travel

Contact Paw Pals for More Information

Paw Pals specializes in professional dog walking, dog sitting, and pet sitting services. One of our reliable, adult staff members will keep your pet safe, while providing your pet the love and care they need when you are away. Contact us to learn more!

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Paw Pals Pet Sitting, LLC
14001-C Saint Germain Drive #213
Centreville, VA 20121
(703) 345-1695

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Centreville – 20120, 20121
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Paw Pals Pet Sitting
Paw Pals Pet Sitting
4.9
Julie Shildt
Julie Shildt
17:45 14 Nov 21
It has been a pleasure doing business with paw pals. We have used this company for several trips we have taken over the past 6 months. They have been wonderful caretakers for our 2 cats. Anytime there is ever a question they don't hesitate to give us a call and they leave the best notes and pictures in the emailed report of each visit. We are so glad have found such a great company.
laceyrt
laceyrt
18:03 08 Mar 23
The folks at Paw Pals pet sitting are fantastic to work with. This review includes a bit of a long story but goes to show how dedicated they are to their job and the care they have for the animals they watch over. I reached out to Paw Pals, even though I live outside their service area, in a bit of a panic because our scheduled dog sitter for our family vacation suddenly wasn't available. The local sitters we've used in the past seemed like they wouldn't be able to accommodate us on such late notice and so we were scouring the internet for other options.When I submitted a request to Paw Pals, I expected to get a polite no thank you - you're out of our service area. Instead I got a call from Jen, who was so kind, helpful and accommodating and essentially bent over backwards to help set up a sitter for us. We met the sitter at her home and it was more of the same. So friendly and welcoming to our dog and fully prepared to watch her for two weeks.We ultimately didn't end up booking with Paw Pals, only because our local sitter had an opening that allowed someone to stay in home with our dog (who is a very anxious senior shepherd-collie mix). But just based on the limited experience I had with them, I would highly recommend Paw Pals. These folks are fantastic and I only wish we lived closer so we could utilize their other services on a regular basis. Five stars all the way!
Michæl Silva
Michæl Silva
21:38 01 Jul 22
Mary at Paw Pals Pet Sitting is the greatest! She has helped me train my pooch Chico how play nice with other dogs and for that I am extremely grateful! A+A+A+A+A+A
Kwi Kim
Kwi Kim
22:37 17 Jun 22
I hired Paw Pals based on my sister’s referral. Meet & greet was very thorough and detailed. I was surprised that my finicky cat came to check the sitter out. Subsequently, a sitter watched my cat over several separate visits, and it was clear through the visit reports that my cat loved the sitter. All the visits were completed having followed my directions & with professionalism.I would highly recommend Paw Pals to anyone who’s looking for a dependable, personable, & professional sitter.
Joseph Walter
Joseph Walter
19:55 13 Jun 22
Paw Pals provided a large number of photos of our pets along with a personalized message on how our pets were doing with every single visit. I would highly recommend using Paw Pals, we'll be continuing to use them whenever we go on vacation.
Ashley Manning
Ashley Manning
09:50 11 Jun 22
Highly recommend as pet sitters!Initially, a sitter from the company will visit the house to meet the pets and learn where everything is. Tatiana took careful notes and we got her some spare keys.While we are away, Paw Pals sends sitters to come and look after our boys. They feed them, scoop litter, bring in mail and packages, and they will even manage trash, recycling, blinds and lights so that everything is comfortable for our kitties. Each time they check in, we receive an email message with updates and pictures, which is so comforting when we are on the road.Also, if you don’t let Paw Pals know when you are home, they assume something has happened and will continue to care for your babies. If something were to happen, I know they would be okay.Five stars for Paw Pals!
Brian Wood
Brian Wood
04:08 22 May 22
We have used Paw Pals for a number of years now and would highly recommend to anyone looking for help with their pets. Great communication from owner Mary and flexibility to make adjustments in schedule as life changes over time. Have had a consistent set of walkers who have gotten to know our pup and the various walking routes around our neighborhood quite well.
Lesley Bush
Lesley Bush
13:58 18 Mar 22
We can't rave enough about Paw Pals. They took care of our 18 year old Cat and 20 year old Chinchilla while we were away and when our flight got cancelled, they were so accommodating and available last minute for an extra day. We worked with Jen to coordinate visits from Miko and Danny. I loved the pictures and updates on how our Lil geriatric guys were doing. Thanks a million, Paw Pals!! Our special pets were so well cared for.
Sebastian Barnes
Sebastian Barnes
01:06 17 Jan 22
I have used Paw Pals for several trips over the last few months, and they have been phenomenal every time! Mary is extremely kind and responsive, and she makes sure that my cat and dog have the care that they need every time I am out of town. All of the pet sitters that I've had have been incredibly sweet to my pets, and they treat them like their own! Will gladly continue using Paw Pals every time I need a sitter.
Andrea Hall
Andrea Hall
22:45 03 Oct 20
I wasn't sure about hiring a new doggie walker service... after all they are our kiddos... my babies were in great hands and I felt relaxed having them in their care. Thank you for everything!
Taylor Smith
Taylor Smith
21:22 03 Oct 21
I never worry when Mary and team take care of my dog!
Katie McCune
Katie McCune
19:19 15 Jul 21
I honestly cannot recommend Mary and her whole crew enough! We started using Mary originally about 7 years ago to stop by occasionally when our Aussie Lana was younger. Over the next couple years Lana stayed with Mary and her family for a couple weekends when we went on vacation. When we moved to our new house in Manassas, Lana stayed with Sam, who lives in Manassas, overnight for moving day, and did great. Right before the pandemic, we adopted our second Aussie, Goose, and Mary recommended a fantastic trainer for him.We now have weekly walks for the dogs, and they love all of their walkers! Trevor, Paul, Hazel, Sofie, and probably a couple others have helped Goose get used to more people, and have helped my husband and me when our schedules are crazy.Paw Pals is our go-to for any help with our dogs, so I highly recommend them!
Alexandra Hill
Alexandra Hill
22:43 23 May 21
I was a nervous mommy to leave my cats with a sitter service for the first time. Paw Pals went above and beyond to care for my cats and ease a nervous mommy. I already made a reservation to use them again!
Cindy Welgoss
Cindy Welgoss
13:12 27 Nov 20
We have been using Paw Pals for several years, and through a variety of pets that we have loved. Mary and her team have always been *exceptional* in every way. They are professional, courteous, and truly love our fur family! Mary herself is an organized and stellar administrator of her pet care business, keeping detailed records of our pet’s needs, scheduled pet visits, payments, and balance due easy to keep track of as the pet owner. The pet caretaking team is reliable and trustworthy. When our dogs see any of their Paw Pal friends, they get SO excited to see them! Follow up comments are left via text to keep the pet owner informed of the visit and how the pets are faring. Paw Pals has allowed our family the peace of mind to leave our pets at home, for work, weekend getaways and longer times away when necessary, where they are the most comfortable and familiar. We are grateful to Mary and her team for giving us the ability to enjoy pet ownership without feeling tied down. The responsibility of having pets comes with the need to keep them safe and comfortable at all times, and Mary and her team affords us this when our family has to be away.
Dr Tammy Cashion
Dr Tammy Cashion
21:11 12 Mar 19
We have used Paw pals pet sitting on multiple occasions for our bunnies while we are away. Many pet sitters are not interested in small pets however; Mary and her team, are amazing and we trust her implicitly! We are very happy with the outstanding service we have received from her team including texts and photos of our pets when we are out of town. They always go the extra mile and we highly recommend them!
Kristin Conrad
Kristin Conrad
16:00 16 Nov 19
We are so grateful we found Mary and her team at Paw Pals. They are exceptionally responsive, amazingly organized and detail-oriented.We have such peace of mind when we travel knowing our home and pets are so well cared for. Paw Pals is the best pet sitting service we’ve used, and we’re so happy we found them.
Katie Russell
Katie Russell
15:01 17 May 20
Paw Pals is fantastic! I have had a great experience with Mary! Compassionate, professional, responsive, and prompt! Thank you!
Phillip Evans
Phillip Evans
14:38 11 Jul 20
When we adopted our new dog in January, Paw Pals agreed to walk her and give her some outside time so she wasn't in the crate all day. She loved her dog walker and you could see her excitement every time the walker showed up. We moved out of the area but would recommend Paw Pals to anyone needing someone to care for their pets.
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