Homesick dog resists new family home

Monica KreberBy Monica Kreber

My family raised the best golden retriever in the world in the best house in the world.

When we sold the house, naturally the dog was coming with us, but my family wondered what her reaction was going to be. Mom said, “She’s going to be totally confused.”

I pointed out that our furry friend Fergie (no, she is not named after the singer) has moved houses before, but the last time she had to do that was more than 10 years ago, when she was not even 2 years old. After a decade, there really would not be much of an excuse as to why she would not be well-adjusted to our beloved house.

However, undeterred, Mom and Dad sold the house this summer, and we spent all of May, June and July preparing to move to another neighborhood. We started boxing things at the beginning of July, and Fergie laid around the house, oblivious. The only time she became concerned was when we packed up her toys and she could not find them.

We made arrangements to move out of our house on July 16, but we could not move into our new house until July 23, so a family friend kindly lended us his condo in the middle of town for the week so we would not be homeless.

Fergie sits on the steps in the backyard of our old house prior to moving to the new house in July. File photo by Monica KreberAlthough the condo is very well-kept, it is pretty small for a family of four and its big golden retriever. Nonetheless, the day we left our old house behind, we put Fergie in my car and caravanned through town to the condo.

Fergie was really the biggest challenge that day. The only times she ever has to get in the car is when she is:

A. going to the vet, or

B. going to the kennel because we’re heading out of town.

Both A and B are a no-no to Fergie, so she promptly started shaking like a leaf in my backseat and aggressively licked my right shoulder from behind as if to say, “Please turn the car around!” She took some comfort in sticking her dark red muzzle out of the car windows and lapping her tongue in the wind. Fergie paced across my car’s cushions as I drove. I could build another dog with the amount of red hair she left behind.

Although she cooperated with getting in the car, arriving at our friend’s condo was when she decided to become a problem. I parked my car next to my mom’s, and she and my little brother Zach went ahead to go unlock the condo’s front door.

I turned off my car and opened up one of the backdoors to let Fergie out. Fergie, however, had other plans. She glued herself to my backseat cushions as I took hold of her collar and tugged on her to get her outside. That animal, upset with the unfamiliar surroundings, must have thought she was about to get euthanized because she would not budge.

Mom came to my aid and ordered Fergie to get out of the car, but all Fergie did in response was furrow her doggy brow, as if she were pouting, and dig her front paws further into my suffering backseat
cushions.

Mom told me to go to the other side of my car and push while she pulled. I climbed into my backseat behind Fergie and pushed on her haunches to move her forward as Mom coaxed her from the front. We physically had to remove her from the car. Finally, all four paws were reluctantly planted in the grass and Fergie took off down the road, dragging Mom by the leash behind her.

Zach and I went to go hold the front door open, and Mom finally got some control over Fergie and brought her back to the condo. The stupid dog put on the brakes again and refused to enter at the front step.

Eventually, we got her to the living room and took the leash off, and Fergie hyperventilated the rest of the day. She would not leave anyone’s side; if you stopped petting her to try and calm her down, she would breathe all over you and nudge you with her nose until you resumed stroking her silky head. If you got up to go to the bathroom, she would follow you and wait for you in the kitchen until you came back out.

I’m writing this from the living room of our friend’s condo. Fergie is now very tranquil and is laying on the floor next to me. She has not been a nuisance since we arrived. I guess she finally decided she is going to live through this.

It is not over yet, though -- Friday is the big move into the new house.