Armani has been through many moves with me and is always fine, Chloe just experienced her first move and she took it much harder- she cried and paced for two full days. I ended up setting up her crate next to my bed and having her sleep in there for the first night- she always feels safest in her crate and it was the only way I could think of to calm her down enough so she would relax and sleep. Some tips I have picked up over a few moves to try and make things easier.
1. always make sure the dogs are secured somewhere during the actual move- in a crate, at a friends house, at a boarding facility- movers will not watch your dog carefully and with everyone in and out of the house your dog may bolt, even if they usually do not, all the boxes and new scents and sounds may scare them into it.
2. Do not wash any of your dogs bedding before the move- of course you want to bring all nice clean things to your new place- but as much of the old scent as possible you can bring with you, helps the dogs.
3. Set up your dogs things as soon as possible- try to do it before you bring them in. I always make sure the crate, beds, and toys are out before the dogs are brought into the home. I see them run around and check all their stuff- its like they are saying "oh good, I recognize all this stuff".
4. Try to spend the first day or two at the new place without leaving- you want the dogs to get used to the new place as much as possible with you there.
5. Its almost like they are puppies again being left for the first time- try to leave for short periods first and work up to longer periods- you want them to realize you are coming back here too!
6. Stick to their old routine as much as possible. Dogs crave routine and this will help with the adjustment.
7. Find the closest emergency vet as soon as possible- get the phone number and place it on your fridge- drive there once, so you know where you are going- you never want to be looking for the vet when it is needed, you want to know exactly where you are going.
Good Luck with the move- the most important thing is that you are taking them with you- everything else will fall into place.
