International Pet Relocation

It's a nice feeling now that things are coming together. We'll be moving into our new house on Friday, and we pick up the dogs from Gatwick on Thursday. Very exciting!

Of course, things have been so overwhelming and busy at first that I've been able to take my mind off of Zeus and Zoey for a while. Now that it's "crunch time," my mind is fraught with the possible terrors of international pet relocation. I've spoken to a number of pet-owners here, and almost all of them have different horror stories. One airline even lost a one of my husband's coworkers cats...FOR A WHOLE WEEK!

(Sidenote: WHY do people tell you these stories before your pets arrive safely? As if I don't have enough horrible scenarios playing through my head without the thought of my furry babies being lost for an entire week. It's enough to make me ill!)



So now that the time of doggy reuniting is at hand, I'm riddled with anxiety dreams. (This is not helped by the fact that we've been watching season one and two of Alias. I recently launched myself out of bed in the middle of the night to avoid an explosion happening in my dream!)

Last night I dreamt that I left Zeus and Zoey out in a cardboard box in an unidentified front yard. When I went back out the next day to get them, Zoey had run away, and Zeus was inexplicably smashed under the box. Zeus was alive, but lethargic and unresponsive. I know that this is my mind's way of dealing with the fear that my dogs will be somehow altered from the experience of being separated from us so long and the long flight. I woke up feeling like a bad dog mom and made Thomas reassure me that I'm a loving pet owner.

(Incidentally, I've had two dreams two nights in a row in which I was in sweltering, summer-like heat. In the first one of Tommy's family members accused me of stinking! And I knew he was right! In the second I just remember feeling that gross, hot feeling. I don't know why I'm dreaming of summer when it's cold and dreary and wet outside!)

Anyway, I know this whole dog-seperation/relocation thing is probably harder on me than the dogs, but I just worry about them. I worry that regardless of months of planning that something will go wrong last minute. Or everything will go smoothly and I won't be able to find my way to London-Gatwick. (The thought of dirving on British motorways so soon is enough to give me more anxiety dreams!) But by Friday, hopefully all of this will be just a memory and I'll have my furry little monsters at home again. Yay!