Dog Crates Moved In

The dog crates arrived a few weeks ago, courtesy of World Pet Travel. Technically, WPT just ordered them from Amazon and had them shipped straight to us. Either way, one day they showed up on our front porch, and let me tell you—I was not prepared.

First, I hadn’t even considered the emotional side of their arrival. For me, transporting the dogs is by far the scariest part of this move. It’s hard for me to even think about, and I get choked up almost every time I do. Then suddenly, here they were—these massive crates staring me down in the dining room. I just stood there, looking at them, with thoughts running through my head like: “Our fur babies are going to be put in these cages for over 24 hours. They won’t understand what’s happening.”

I worry about everything: Will they be treated with kindness, not like pieces of luggage? Will the crates be roomy enough for them to be comfortable? Oaks won’t have any trouble—she’s tiny, and once she settles in, she’ll be fine. Tyson, though, is a big boy and all muscle. I want to be sure he has enough space to move around.

And honestly, the crates are huge. Even in the box—stacked with the top flipped over into the bottom (yes, I know where your mind just went; stay with me here)—they were big. Back when we thought we could handle the transport ourselves, I imagined it would be no big deal: put the dogs in the crates, load the crates in the car, done. Ha! Turns out, one of these monsters wouldn’t even fit in either of our cars. Mikey put them together yesterday, and yep—they’re even bigger than I expected.

Now we’re working on getting the dogs acclimated. Tyson is curious. He’ll poke his nose in, then walk away like he’s thinking about it. Oaks, on the other hand, looks at them as if to say, “Yeah, I know what those are. And no, thank you.”

We’ve got just under three weeks left. Fingers crossed we can get them used to their new “time-shares” before October 14. I’m sure there’s more adventure to come.

COUNTDOWN: 18 days until we depart.