Design with Your Pet in Mind: Transitioning to a New Home

Harrumph. The new home renovation didn't go so well for Oscar at first...

by Shannon Levy

Taking on a renovation can be an emotional process. You're simultaneously stressed about how it will all come together and excited about the new beginning. (Most exciting is the ability to create the home of your dreams!) But in these moments of creation, sometimes things fall through the cracks...

My family and I experienced one of these such cracks when we were going through our recent renovation. We'd gotten our dog, Oscar, a big (ugly) crate when we first adopted him, but we figured he wasn't using it anymore. So instead of bringing the crate to our new home, we sent it off to my parents' house to collect dust.

Then, all of a sudden, Oscar started to behave like the frightened rescue dog he was when we first got him, separation anxiety back in full force. We were incredibly surprised and saddened by this change and started to think, "perhaps he really did need that old crate?"

We decided to bring the crate back and found a space for it in our new home. Then we took special notice of Oscar's behavior with the help of Dropcam.

Within one week, Oscar was using the crate again. Who knew that would happen? 

What we learned from our experience is that understanding all of your family's needs (pets included!) is a key part of building a happy home. Now that we know the crate is an important to Oscar, if we buy a new one, then we'll buy one with design in mind. That way we can merge his needs with ours - the perfect family compromise.

Oscar's certainly made himself at home in our new place now!