Moving house can be one of the top stressors for humans, but what about your anxious dogs? Behaviourist Toni Shelbourne advises on making the transition as smooth as possible.

TONI SHELBOURNE has over three decades of experience working with dogs and wild canids. She is an animal behaviourist (full member of INTODogs and ICAN), a Tellington TTouch instructor, real dog yoga instructor, and author. She lives in Oxfordshire. For more information visit www. tonishelbourne.co.uk

The whole family can help to make it a less stressful experience for your dog.

Extrovert, confident dogs may thrive on the chaos of moving home — seeing it as an adventure with lots of new places and people to interact with.

But, if you have a nervous dog, the experience can be quite different. Add to this your dog picking up on your stress, and it turns into a perfect storm. However, much can be done, both in preparation, on the actual day of moving, and to settle your dog into your new home.

UPSIDE DOWN

Start supporting your dog early. Change can be very upsetting for anyone, but if you don’t know why your familiar surroundings are being packed up and moved about, it can be extra worrying. Try to keep your dog’s main space untouched for as long as possible. Also, take time to stop and play with him or go for a lovely walk between packing up your worldly goods; it will do you both good to have a break.