Transitions

We’ve never really had an issue with moving-house day.

All other things being equal, we do moves by the outgoing boss dropping her off at the incoming boss’s house, rather than the incoming boss coming to collect her. That way there’s no transition disruption. She’s always delighted to arrive at either home and just makes herself at home.

Whereas if she’s settled at home and the other owner turns up to take her away... why would she want to leave? That said, circumstances frequently make it easier to do things that way round, and the dog doesn’t seem to care.

Personally, I normally don’t say goodbye to her when I leave. I really think this way she barely notices. Both houses feel like home. She never feels she’s being taken.

Over time, we’ve really streamlined the possessions she needs to take with her. A bag of grooming tools, that’s about it.

We gave up taking her toys from one house to the other because this mostly just worked out as my parents buying her things and her losing them in the undergrowth of our garden. Now she has a couple of toys at each house, and that works fine. Dogs don’t need many toys, but she instinctively likes to have something in her mouth when she greets people, so it’s important, I think, to make sure she has access to a toy for this purpose, wherever she is.

There’s not much else to say. We make the transitions routine, and the dog takes it all in her stride. I’ve never seen any sign to suggest she’s impacted by her living arrangement. I don’t think dogs entertains thoughts along the lines of  “strange, where did so-and-so go?”. She goes bananas with excitement when she meets the other boss who she hasn’t seen for a while. She goes bananas when she arrives at the home she hasn’t visited for a while - charging round every corner of house and garden checking out scents. She sometime has to make a bit of an effort, at ours, to clear out the cats and foxes that have moved in to the garden during her absence!

I genuinely believe we have a dog that’s as well adjusted and happy as any could be. When my parents and my family spend time together, we normally still have an assumption about whose dog she is at that moment. I’m sure the dog finds it unusual that she sometimes has two bosses around at the same time, but really it works smoothly for everyone.