Keep Tails Wagging When Everything Else Is in Boxes - Moving Home With Your Dog

Fraser Noble
Nov 17
13 min read

The first time I moved house with dogs, I made the classic mistake.

Boxes everywhere, movers at the door, I was half-running on coffee and mild panic. Aramis, my usually very chilled Singapore Special (Mongrel), watched the chaos build, his eyes getting rounder, his breathing faster. Then a mover carried his bed out the front door.

Aramis looked at the bed. Looked at me. Then trotted into the office, climbed under the desk and refused to come out without me actually going in beside him to coax him out.

That day was a very real lesson for me in how big a deal moving is for dogs. Their entire world is scent, routine and predictability. We rip all three up in one go and then wonder why they suddenly forget their training or bark at a leaf moving in the new corridor.

The aim of this article is here to stop that happening to you.

I’ll walk you through moving home with your dog from a behavioural point of view. Before, during and after the move. With practical steps you can follow, the “why” behind them, and a few stories of what happens when we get it wrong (and right).

Why Moving Is Such a Big Deal for Dogs

From a dog’s point of view, your current home is not just “a flat” or “a house.”

It’s a fully mapped-out world of:

Predictable sounds (the lift at 7.30pm, the neighbour’s kid on a scooter, the bin truck on Tuesdays).
Stable scent patterns (who has walked past the door, where the lizards are, where they usually nap and feel safe).
Routines (walks, meals, naps, people coming and going).

When you move:

Every sound is new.
Every smell is new.
The humans are stressed and distracted.
The dog’s safe zones, paths and “scent map” are gone.

From a behavioural psychology perspective, this is a perfect storm for stress, trigger stacking and regression.

A Quick Bit of Brain Science (The Simple Version)

When your dog is stressed:

Their body releases stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol.
Cortisol doesn’t vanish instantly; it can stay elevated for days.
If new stressors keep coming (boxes, strangers, new place, new noises), this stacks. That’s trigger stacking.

Trigger stacking is why a dog who has never chewed furniture suddenly eats half a door frame two days after a move. It’s not “naughtiness.” It’s a brain and body running hot.

So, our job is to:

Lower the number and intensity of stressors where we can.
Give the dog familiar anchors (routine, scent, cues, safe zones).
Plan the move as a phased rehabilitation, not just a logistical exercise.

The Three Phases of Moving With a Dog

I like to split moves into three phases:

Before the move – groundwork, training and planning.
Moving day – management, safety and keeping cortisol down.
Settling in – first 72 hours, first 2 weeks, first 2 months.

I’ll walk you through each with practical steps.

Phase 1: Before the Move

This is where you can make the biggest difference. A dog who has had some preparation will cope far better than one who simply wakes up to strangers carrying the sofa.

1. Vet, Health & Paperwork

Before you touch a box:

Update microchip details and tags. New address, new contact numbers. If your dog bolts from the new place, this is what gets them home.
Check vaccinations, parasite prevention and overall health.Moving is not the time to discover that your dog has underlying pain or GI issues. Pain will always magnify anxiety and reactivity.
For international moves, work closely with a vet and ideally a veterinary behaviourist months in advance.Don’t leave travel crates, sedation decisions, or paperwork to the last minute.

2. Keep Routine as Normal as Possible

One of the biggest mistakes people make is starting to change the dog’s life weeks before the move: shorter walks, less play because they’re “too busy”, routines all over the place.

To your dog this feels like: “Everything is changing and my humans are acting weird.”

As much as possible:

Keep meal times, walk times and sleep times consistent.
Still play. Still train. Still cuddle. Your dog needs those “this is normal” signals.

Think of routine as the emotional spine that holds the whole process together.

3. Teach or Strengthen Key Cues Before You Move

These are the cues that make moving far easier and safer. If your dog doesn’t know them yet, this is your priority homework:

a. “Place” or “Mat” (Go to Bed & Settle)

Being able to send your dog to a mat and have them relax there is gold when boxes and movers appear.

Work up to:

Dog goes to mat on cue.
Lies down.
Stays there while you move around, pick things up, occasionally drop something, walk to the door.

b. Crate or Safe Zone Training Whether it’s a crate, a pen, or a gated room:

Dog should happily go in.
Settle with a chew or kong.
Relax with mild movement and noise around.

Think “spa retreat”, not “prison cell”.

c. “Touch” (Nose Target to Hand)

Brilliant for redirection, guiding through new space, moving away from doors or stairs, and interrupting fixation without grabbing collars.

d. Recall & Name Response In a new environment, recall is your lifeline.Name → ears flick towards you → immediate reinforcement.

e. “Leave It” / “Off” / “Wait” New home = new dangers: balconies, open doors, stairwells, unfamiliar plants, painters’ tools, etc. Having impulse control already trained makes life much safer.

4. Desensitise to Moving “Triggers”

You know that sound of packing tape ripping?Dogs hear it as “THE WORLD IS ENDING” volume.

In the weeks before the move:

Bring out one or two boxes at a time. Let the dog sniff, explore, even play around them.
Pair tape sounds with treats: rip the tape → treat appears → tape predicts good things.
Move small items around the house slowly over days, not everything in one manic weekend, if you can help it.

The aim: boxes, tape and temporary clutter = “boring” to your dog.

Client Story: The Door Dasher

A family I worked with had a young, nervous Spaniel. On moving day they forgot one key rule: if the movers are here, the dog is contained.

Door open, fridge coming through, human attention split…Dog saw a gap and bolted.

We got him back, thankfully, with a combination of scent, familiar people and calm searching – but the stress for both dog and humans was immense, and it could have been completely avoided.

So, let’s talk safety.

Phase 2: Moving Day – Safety & Sanity

Your goals on moving day are very simple:

Keep the dog physically safe.
Keep their stress levels as low as possible.
Keep your own bandwidth intact so you’re not juggling a sofa and a panicking dog.

Option 1: Dog Stays Elsewhere (The Ideal)

If you can, arrange for your dog to:

Stay with a trusted friend or family member they already know, or
Go to a daycare or boarding facility you’ve vetted in advance.

The key is familiarity. Moving day is not the time for “first ever daycare experience” if you can avoid it.

Send them with:

Their usual food and feeding instructions.
Their own bed or blanket.
A favourite toy or chew.
Clear rules about walks, safety gear, and no off-leash adventures.

Option 2: Dog Stays in a Safe Room

If your dog must stay with you:

Choose a quiet room that will be emptied last.
Set it up as a safe zone:
- Bed or crate
- Water
- Long-lasting chews or stuffed kongs
- White noise or soft music if that helps
Put a clear sign on the door for movers: “Please keep closed – Dog inside”.
Only one or two familiar people should go in and out.

Calm Before Chaos

Give your dog a decent walk earlier in the day before the heavy moving starts:

Keep it shorter but mentally rich: sniffing, light training, food scatter, calm engagement.
Avoid over-arousing play; we want them relaxed, not wired.

Think energy down, not “run till they crash”.

During the Move

Check in on your dog regularly. I use a 5 minute rule at minimum, I set an alarm on phone and check the dogs at least every 5 minutes.
If they’re panting heavily, pacing, unable to settle, consider a short decompression walk away from the noise.
Keep interaction predictable and soothing. This is not the time for rough play or teaching new tricks.

Travel to the New Home

Whether it’s a 10-minute drive or a long journey:

Use a crate or proper car restraint. Dogs roaming loose in a car are both unsafe and more likely to panic if anything startles them. This should be the case whenever your dog is in the car. I personally use a backseat hammock, as well as harnesses with a seatbelt attachment. This works for us because I have 3 medium to large dogs.
If your dog gets travel sick, speak to your vet beforehand. Don’t experiment with new meds on the day.
Load the dog last and unload them first at the other end, so they’re not stuck in a hot car while you debate where the lamp should go.

For flights and international moves, planning is a whole section on its own, so we’ll come back to that.

Phase 3: Arriving & Settling in

This is where we can make or break future behaviour. A few deliberate days on arrival can save you months of undoing bad associations later.

Step 1: Set Up the Dog’s Space First

Before you start arguing with your spouse about where the sofa goes, do this:

Put your dog’s bed/crate in a calm area.
Use the same bed, blankets and toys from the old home. Do not wash them yet – the familiar scent is priceless.
Set up water, and know where food, chews and training treats will “live”.

The message to the dog: “Your things are here. Your scent is here. You still exist in this new world.”

Step 2: The Guided Tour

Resist the urge to fling open all the doors and let your dog sprint around like a real estate agent on caffeine.

Instead, put them on a long lead and walk them through:

One room at a time.
At their pace.
Allowing plenty of sniffing, with gentle narration and the occasional treat.

We’re building a predictable map in their mind:

“This is the living room. This is your bed. This is the balcony, but we don’t go out without the humans. This is the kitchen; no counter surfing, please.”

Watch for:

Tail carriage (neutral to slightly wagging is good; tucked or high and stiff tells you they’re worried).
Breathing (relaxed vs fast panting).
Movement (curious vs creeping vs frantic pacing).

If they’re overwhelmed, shorten the tour and increase time in their safe zone.

Step 3: First Walk Around the New Neighbourhood

Do not pick peak traffic / scooter / chaos hour.

Choose a quiet time of day.
Keep the route short and simple. You’re not exploring the whole region today; you’re introducing the idea that “We still walk. You’re still with your humans. The world is different but survivable.”

Use:

“Touch” and “let’s go” to move past tricky spots.
Calm praise when your dog chooses to look back at you after a new sound or sight.

If they freeze, lunge or bark more than usual, that’s an information point, not a failure. Their arousal threshold is lower right now. Adjust expectations accordingly.

What to Expect Behaviourally After a Move

Even in the best-prepared moves, you may see short-term changes:

Regression in toilet training.
Barking at new noises (lifts, neighbours, kids, doors, pipes).
Clinginess or mild separation issues.
Temporary appetite changes.
More startle responses (sudden jumps at little sounds or movements).

This is normal. Their nervous system is adjusting.

Where we get concerned is when:

Barking escalates and doesn’t ease with management.
The dog can’t settle at all, even when tired.
They become aggressive or highly defensive at doors, windows or with new people.
Separation distress starts to look like full-blown separation anxiety (destruction at exits, drooling, panicking the second you leave).

At that point, you want a proper behaviour plan, and possibly involvement of a veterinary behaviourist alongside behavioural training.

Client Story: The Door Frame Eater

The family moved from a quiet landed home into a busy condo. Their dog, previously chilled, started barking at every lift ding, every voice in the corridor.

They tried to “tough it out” without changing anything for the dog. Within two weeks he had eaten a fair portion of their front door frame while left alone. Not out of “spite” – out of sheer panic and accumulated stress.

So, they contacted me and we went back to basics:

Safe room away from the corridor wall.
White noise machine.
Gradual alone-time training.
Desensitisation to corridor sounds with recordings.
More mental enrichment and decompression walks at quiet times.

Within a month, we had a very different dog – and a repaired door.

Moral of the story: early management is easier than late repair.

Bringing in the Four-Tier Framework

The way I approach moves, especially with sensitive or reactive dogs, is to use the same four pillars I use in behaviour cases:

Physical Management
Training Solutions
Behavioural Adjustment Training (BAT-style work)
Conceptual Rehabilitation

Let’s put that into moving-house context.

1. Physical Management

Make the environment work for you, not against you.

Consider:

Baby gates and pens to control access to doors, stairs, kitchens, and balconies.
Non-slip mats on shiny new floors; slipping increases anxiety and can create avoidance of certain rooms.
Visual barriers (frosted film, curtains) if your dog is triggered by seeing movement outside windows or balconies.
Door management routines:Dog goes to mat / “place” before anyone opens the front door. No exceptions.

This is where you stop problems before they start.

2. Training Solutions

Use the cues you built before the move, and keep reinforcing them in the new context.

Daily, short sessions of:

Mat/Place work in different rooms. Start easy: quiet room → gradually increase distractions, people moving, doors opening.
Orientation games (“check in with me” work). In the house, then on quiet walks: you move → dog follows and checks in → reward. This builds the habit of looking to you for guidance when unsure.
Impulse control (“wait”, “leave it”, calm door exits). Especially at the new front door and lifts or stairwells.

Think of this as teaching your dog the “operating system” of the new house.

3. Behavioural Adjustment Training (BAT-Style Walks)

Especially important for dogs who are reactive, nervous, or easily overwhelmed.

In the new neighbourhood:

Start at low-traffic times and areas.
Allow the dog to observe at a distance where they’re under threshold.
Watch for small signs of curiosity, softening of body language, and choosing to move away.
Mark and reinforce those choices with food, praise, and moving to a safer spot.

We’re teaching:

“You can make good decisions around new triggers, and your humans will listen to you.”

Rushing a nervous dog into busy areas “so they’ll get used to it” usually backfires and increases reactivity.

4. Conceptual Rehabilitation

This is where my behaviour geek side really kicks in.

Instead of only tackling “barking at neighbour” or “scared of corridor”, we also work on the underlying concepts:

Calmness – games and routines that reward lower arousal states.
Optimism – helping the dog expect that new things are likely to be safe or good.
Flexibility – coping with change, not just one specific context.
Independence – being ok when humans move away or leave briefly.

Examples:

Calmness games: settle on mat for increasing durations; “food comes when you’re lying down quietly, not when you’re bouncing”.
Optimism: gradual novelty exposure with choice – new room, new object, new sound, always at a level the dog can handle, with positive outcomes.
Independence: start with tiny absences in the new home – step out the door for 5 seconds, come back, no big drama.

Do this well and the next time you move (or rearrange furniture, or have renovation work done), your dog will cope better because their brain is used to handling change.

Multi-Dog Households & Moves

If you have more than one dog, moving can amplify existing dynamics.

Common issues:

Resource guarding of new spaces, beds, or humans.
One more confident dog “claiming” the new territory and blocking the other.
Increased arousal leading to more frequent spats.

Practical approach:

Individual safe zones where each dog can rest undisturbed.
Rotate: one dog out exploring while the other settles with a chew, then swap.
Remove high-value triggers (toys, chews) when they’re together in the early days.
Do individual training sessions as well as group work.

Never assume “they’ll sort it out.” In tight new spaces with stressed humans, that’s how fights start.

Kids, Dogs & New Homes

If you have children, you’re juggling everyone’s emotions at once.

Golden rules:

The dog still needs escape routes and no-kid zones.
Don’t suddenly let children play chase or wild games in new corridors and rooms “because it’s exciting.” The dog may already be near their threshold.
Rehearse gentle interactions: slow petting, reading to the dog while they lie on their mat, simple trick training with adult supervision.

One of my favourite things to do is give children a “Dog Detective” role: they learn to spot signs that the dog needs space (licking lips, yawning, turning away, walking off), and when they see them, they “earn points” by giving the dog room instead of pushing for more interaction.

International Moves & Flights

Now for the big one. I'll touch on it here. But, if you are doing this, I would highly recommend hiring an agent to help you with all of the logistics and if you are not confident in your dogs training, I would certainly hire a good force free trainer for the training element.

Moving country with dogs is a whole extra layer of logistics and psychology. I’ve worked with many, many clients relocating with a family and dogs, and even with my background, it’s a serious project that I ensure I am getting right every step of the way.

Key points:

Start Early

Crate training should start months (a minimum of 3 months, preferably more), not weeks, before the flight. The crate should become a safe, familiar place long before airports enter the picture.
Noise & movement desensitisation: recorded aircraft / transport sounds at low volume during happy activities can help. Advancing to louder sounds and movements when your dog shows comfort. Always staying within their threshold.

NO Last-Minute Sedation

Most modern guidelines advise against sedating dogs for flights without very careful veterinary oversight. Sedation can interfere with balance, breathing and the ability to regulate temperature.

If your dog is extremely anxious, or has a medical requirement, speak to a vet and a canine behavioural consultant about safer behavioural modification options and potentially long-term medication strategies that support both the flight and the post-arrival adjustment period.

Decompression on Arrival

After a long flight:

Prioritise quiet, safe rest over immediate sightseeing.
Keep the first walks short, predictable, and in low-pressure areas.
Remember that the dog has not only moved house – they’ve moved climate, smells, altitude, everything. Their stress bucket will be pretty full.

Give them time.

Red Flags: When to Ask for Help

Reach out to a qualified behaviour professional (and possibly a vet/behaviour vet) if, after the first couple of weeks:

Your dog cannot settle – pacing, whining, startling at everything.
There is ongoing destruction targeted at exits, doors or windows.
Barking has escalated into aggression towards neighbours, visitors or other dogs.
Their appetite, sleep or toileting are still very disrupted.
They show signs of separation anxiety that weren’t present before (or were mild but have now exploded).

With the right combination of management, training and, where needed, medication, we can usually bring things back to a healthy baseline. The earlier we start, the easier it is.

Final Thoughts: Moving as an Opportunity

Here’s the good news.

Moving isn’t just something your dog has to survive. Done well, it can actually strengthen:

Your dog’s trust in you.
Their resilience and flexibility.
Your handling skills and routine.

I’ve seen dogs who were nervous in their old homes blossom in new environments when the move was handled thoughtfully.

New place, new habits. Fresh start for everyone.

If you take nothing else from this:

Plan for your dog’s brain, not just their body. Moves are psychological events as much as physical ones.
Keep safety and routine at the core.
Expect some wobble, support it early, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

And if, halfway through packing, you find your dog hiding under your desk giving you the “What on earth are you doing?” face – take a breath, give them a treat, and tell them:

“Don’t worry. Wherever we end up, your bed, your food bowl, and your humans are coming too.”

That, in the end, is what matters most to them.