Get movinG fido!
My dog refused to settle into our new home — so where did I go wrong, asks MARY GOLD
We MoveD house recently and everything seemed to go swimmingly. My daughter and I quickly settled into our new place, a pretty 17th- century clapboard cottage in rural Kent, and began to hatch plans for what we wanted to do inside.
Unfortunately, the dog did not share our excitement. Jumble, our eight-year-old Jack Russell, started to behave in a peculiar fashion.
She found an obscure cupboard full of suitcases and spare duvets and hid in it for the best part of the day, emerging only to refuse food and stage a dirty protest on the kitchen floor.
She scragged pillows until bedrooms started to resemble an explosion in a quilt factory and regularly escaped, in spite of a costly and complicated electronic collar which was meant to keep her in the garden. She also developed a phantom pregnancy, which had never happened before, growling if you scratched her tummy, presumably to protect the unborn puppies that existed only in her mind.
So what did I do wrong? Well quite a lot, as it happens. For a start, I put her into kennels while we settled in and bought her a brand new bed and blankets. Apparently, this was unhelpful. ‘Moving house is stressful for pets,’ says Alice Potter, of the RSPCA. ‘If a dog isn’t used to kennels from an early age, they will find them upsetting.
‘And smells are hugely important, so you’re better off with the dog’s old bed and blankets, and their old toys.
‘If you must buy a new bed, put the old blanket into it for a while to give them some continuity. It’s easy to look on bad behaviour as a dog’s way of getting back at you, but that’s not the case; she’s just upset.
‘Hiding and destructive behaviour are symptoms of that.’
My parents lived in only two houses for the whole of their 60-year marriage. These days, a buoyant property market means that people move home more often. The RSPCA is reacting to this by working with developers to minimise the stress for pets. David Wilson Homes and Barratt Homes are working with the RSPCA to highlight the issue.
Jason Hearn, of David Wilson Homes, says: ‘Moving to a new home is worrying for animals, who often get overlooked during such a busy time. We want the move to be as stress-free as possible and that includes keeping pets happy.’
Alice suggests leaving your dog with a friend for a few days while the move is happening. ‘The familiarity of someone they know will help enormously, especially if your friend takes them to the same parks, on the same walks and they go to sleep in their old bed. ‘Pack all the pet’s things into one box and take it to the new house in your car, so you won’t have trouble finding it when you arrive. ‘At the new house, quickly put their bed somewhere quiet, fill their water bowl immediately and give them something to chew on and distract them.’ Would getting another dog help Jumble, I wondered? No, says Alice. ‘A companion animal is unlikely to help the situation because it’s more change, more stress, another creature to take away attention that she will see as rightfully hers.’ Poor old Jumble — I should have done better. But after three months, she’s perking up a bit. And, apparently, if I had moved with a cat I would have had even worse problems. ‘Cats get more attached to where they live than dogs because they don’t go to the park with you, or to your friends’ houses, or to the pub, which a dog often does,’ says Alice. Cat owners are advised against immediate and extensive decorating at the new house. ‘ Cats are aware of smells, so it’s best to paint one room at a time. Keep their old bed in a room that isn’t being painted and give the cat plenty of time to settle in.’ Alice also suggests asking your vet about calming pheromone products — Feliway for cats and Adaptil for dogs. And don’t forget to update your contact details with pet insurers, vets, microchip and any ID tags, especially, if, like Jumble, your pet keeps trying to sneak back to the old house.