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The Ben Dog Chronicles

Moved!

Hey doggies! We've moved and I've survived! I'm now living in sunny (and HOT) northern Virginia, or NoVA as the people call it for short. What are my thoughts on moving?

1. Moving day was very stressful.

My lady had spent days packing things up, and continued to do so on moving day. And then her bf showed up, who I hadn't smelled in months, and I wanted to eat him. And then one of her lady friends showed up, who's been helping her pack for the trip, and I wanted to eat her. And then some people finally came to take my couch away, and I wanted to eat them, but my lady put me in the bedroom. When I came out, the couch was gone, and my lady put me in my crate shortly thereafter because more guys came and moved all our stuff out of my apartment.

It was not good. And then my lady dropped me off at a friend's house and left me there while she and said friends went out to dinner.

2. 10 hours in a moving truck is something I could live without.

After dinner, we all piled in a truck - me and the lady and her bf - and drove for a long time. All night long. They stopped for an hour to sleep at around 5AM, and I was stress panting. I panted the whole time they slept - when my lady went to sleep, I was panting, and when the alarm woke them up again, I was still panting. When we arrived at our destination, the lady and her bf left me in the truck for a few minutes while they ran in to buy some stuff for the apt. And then we drove to the apt for the first time.

3. Moving into the apt was stressful.

My lady knew I'd be anxious, so after she showed me around the new apartment, she tied my leash to the stairs where I could watch her and keep an eye on the proceedings. She gave me some water. I watched her and the bf and two guys carry all our stuff up into the apartment. I sat out there for two hours, panting, while they carried everything upstairs. And then I went up there with them, and I felt a little better that I could smell all the stuff from our old home, but it was all in boxes and I was still worried.

4. I didn't like it at first when they left me alone.

The lady and her bf still had to move his stuff in after we got all our stuff. They left me alone in the apt while they packed his stuff, and they left me alone again when they went to run errands and pick things up that they needed for the apt. I did not like being left alone in a new place, doggies. I barked. And barked. And barked. The entire time they were gone, I barked my head off, wondering where she was and if she'd come home again. Now that I can reach my couch again (it was hidden by boxes the first couple of days) I'm much calmer and I don't mind being left alone here. I get the idea that she's not abandoning me. But at first, it was bad, doggies.

5. The dog park in our complex is a joke.

There is a fenced-in dog park in our apartment complex that apparently really appealed to my lady. She thought it was a big selling point. Unfortunately, it turns out that very few people in our complex actually use it, and when they do, they don't bother to pick up after their dogs. I've only met one other dog in the dog park in the week and a half since we've been here, but there's lots of poo that people aren't picking up. It's hot and small and boring, and I don't particularly like it.

6. I LOVE the loft in our new apartment.

The new apartment is kinda small downstairs, doggies - a living space, a kitchen and a bedroom. But there's a staircase next to the kitchen, and it goes upstairs to a loft. And from the loft, you can look over the rest of the apartment, plus there's this nice spot in the back where I can curl up kinda like a den. I claimed the loft when we first moved in, and I love it up there. Now, whenever the people leave me home alone, I go hang out in the loft until they get back. It's great. I love hanging out up there when my lady works up there. And it's fun to watch over the apartment from up there.

7. My people found a new awesome dog park for me.

It's a bit of a drive, but my people have located a new super-cool dog park for me in a place called Shirlington. It's not quite like Fresh Pond was in Cambridge, but it's a long, wide fenced in area (like a half-mile long, maybe? My people haven't actually measured it). AND! Outside the fence, down a little hill, is a little river! And dogs are allowed to play in it! We went there once and my lady didn't let me go in the water, but we were there yesterday and she let me go down to the river to socialize with the other dogs. I LOVED it, doggies! I laid in the water and splashed around, and then ran around with the other doggies. It was great. I wish they'd take me there every day!

8. The new guy isn't so bad.

I wasn't sure about my lady's bf at first. He's a guy, and I tend to not like guys. But I did remember him from when I saw him last in April, and he's always been nice to me. He's now walked me a few times, and walked with me and the lady a few times, and taken us to dog parks, so I'm starting to take a liking to him. I actually played with him at the dog park in our complex the other day. And I may have snuggled with him on the couch the other night - I'd never actually admit it, but it may have happened. Possibly. So I think, if I had to relocate and live with some strange man, he's not so bad.

On the whole? The moving thing was stressful, doggies, but I'm adjusting. I like my new apartment itself, and I'm happy now that a lot of my stuff from the old apartment is accessible. And I like that the people are trying so hard to find dog parks for me. I miss my old pals in Cambridge, but I'm ready to make new friends here. Moving isn't so bad, after all!

Moving next week, and MORE trauma?!

Doggies, my house is in total upheaval. My lady has been trying to sell my favorite couch in the study in preparation for the move. (I keep telling her I've left my mark all over it - no-one will want it at this point except me.) She's been selling other stuff, too. And she has so many boxes full of stuff sitting around the apartment! I'm getting anxious about the move. I know it's coming soon, and I don't know how I'll react.

Every time she leaves the apartment these days, I'm dying to go with her because I'm anxious about what's going on... and every time she comes home, I act like I haven't seen her in a month because I'm so grateful she came back. My nerves can barely take it, doggies!

But she just told me about something even WORSE this evening! Apparently, somehow, she's booked tickets to go not just out of town, but out of the COUNTRY in late July. How long will she be gone, doggies? TWO WEEKS! My lady is leaving me alone for half a month!!!! The longest I've ever been away from her is the 3 or 4 days when she went down to DC in March (and now we're moving there, so we all see how THAT went) and now she's leaving me alone for TWO WHOLE WEEKS?!

It's not fair, doggies! This is going to happen less than a month after moving me to a new place. Just as I start to get settled into a new routine, and having a new pack member, she's going to go away for two weeks and leave me with some stranger! She's apparently already looking into potential dog-sitters, even though she's not even living there yet - apparently that long of a stay is going to set her back financially, and she wants to make sure I get good, personalized care.

I say I don't care, doggies. She can just suck it up and pay. Or better yet - decide she can't afford to find me a dog-sitter for two weeks and stay home.

Hmph.

Oh, the torture!

So, doggies, in light of my upcoming move, my lady has been making sure that I have everything done by my established peeps here before we go. What does this entail?

My annual vet visit was last week. Bah. They poked me with needles and trimmed my nails and felt me all over and stuck a thing in my bum and drew blood. My lady apparently told them that I'd been more sedate at the dog park lately (I'm not all that interested in playing with the other doggies, much of the time - I just hang out near my lady a lot and ask for pets and scritchies) and she didn't know if it was because I'm getting older or because I'm unwell. So they tested for Lyme (I was negative) and decided I was just becoming a cuddle pup. Well, duh! I could have told you that! I still romp like a crazy man when we go walking around the lake, and I'll definitely miss that lake walk. My lady and her man better find a good place to take me in DC.

Then, to add insult to injury, she took me to get groomed on Tuesday! Groomed! I was overdue for my Spring grooming, she said - I said I could be perfectly happy to pass. They trimmed the fur around my paws, and my ears, and my tail, and brushed me out real good.

They also told my lady that although she LOVES the FURminator and thinks it gets lots of fur off me, we actually need a different kind of brush to get my undercoat because my top coat is so long, so she's ordered a new brush for me which is supposed to come today. So much for the boatloads of cash she spent on the FURminator! But I got a bone out of the deal, so I didn't mind too much.

In prep for this whole move thing, my lady has gotten a LOT of boxes and is slowly packing up the stuff in my house. This makes me nervous, doggies. I don't know why she's putting everything away, but I think it can't be good. And I've even heard rumors that she's trying to sell my couch in the study. That's MY couch! How dare she sell it? She says she's got people coming by to look at it today, but I hope it falls through. Where am I supposed to sit while she's working in there if she sells my couch?

Bah. I don't think I like this moving thing very well so far, doggies.