We are leaving NZ in 2 weeks and moving to the UK and the dogs are
coming. Sam is 8 and Roz is 7 and they have never been crated ever, but
soon they are going to be in wooden crates sized perfectly for each dog
with just enough room to stand, turn and lie down for 37 hours with no
food and only water in a strange environment (airplane hold) with no
familiar faces to support them.

I have just picked up the crates they will be transported in so I can
get them used to being in them to reduce the stress of the trip.

The dogs sleep in our bedroom in their dog baskets, they have been
removed and the crates put in there place with open doors and the
blankets have been put into the crates.

I have asked each dog to enter the crate, praised them and told them how
lucky they are to have new beds. (Yeah right aren't we just spoilt rotten).

Now this is only day 1 but last time I looked Sam was quite happily
lying in his crate (with open door) while Roz still prefers the comfort
of under our bed since her bed has been replaced with the crate. No
problem yet but I'm surprised as Sam is the one who hates confinement
and I thought he would be the one who may be hard to convince, where as
Roz never seems to worry about confinement but isn't getting into the
crate too soon, maybe she's just sussing things out, seeing what the big
picture is.

I'm not expecting any problems, I'm sure both dogs will be sleeping in
the crates without a thought in a day or 2 but I'm surprised which dog
accepted the crate first, you just never know.

Another thing about animal intuition, the day the house sold we bought
our tickets to the UK, the dogs knew something was up immediately, not
good not bad but they knew a change was coming I could tell, it wasn't
as if they were worried what the changes were but they were concerned
that they may not be included and they just made sure we knew they were
there and wanted to be part of it.

Paul