I'm moving, tips please!

I haven't moved in a while, but after college when I got my first dog, my SO and I moved a few times before we bought our current house. We would always wait until until everything was packed and we were ready to sleep at the new place and we were offically out of the old place before bringing the dogs. I think moving in general is always a bit stressful for dogs. Our guys would get antsy when they saw us packing up. Usually the first night at the new place there would be some pacing, but as long as the dogs had thier beds set up they would settle in fine.

Not sure how long you should wait until you leave Rory alone in the yard...I have never dealt with seperation anxiety. Might be a good idea to do as you said, leave her long enough to walk to the back of the yard so you can watch her for a few minutes then come back.

Good luck on the move!

Thanks for the input. Her seperation anxiety isnt real bad but has been worse since this stressful time. Last time we moved it was easy becuase the condo we moved into was already inhabited by my current roomate whom we had visited many many times so she was moving into a familiar place. The first two nights she did as you said, a lot of apcing and wouldnt crawl in bed with me like she usually does, she just slept by the door. She does get antsy when i pack to go on a trip, she knows the signs but it is going to be soooo helpful having my mom near where I can take Rory for the first couple of days while I work instead of leaving her in  a new strange place the whole time.
I just know once we get settled and she realizes that she has a whole yard to herslef she will be so happy!

I've moved twice with Lana.  The first one was across town so I took her with us everytime we moved a bit of stuff into the house.  This gave her a chance to walk around, explore, relax for a few hours then go home at the end of the day.  When we finally moved in, I gave her about 3-5 days with me there with her then I started to leave her.  Short periods at a time first then longer and longer. 
 
The second move was different since this was a move to a different province.  We didn't get a chance to warm her up to the place first.  When we moved, we walked around the house so she can explore and look around and we told her this was her new "home".  (We give the home command on our way back from a walk or when their out back and we want them to come inside).  For this place, I was able to stay home with her longer since I was still job hunting.  I stayed home with her for a good week before starting to leave her for short periods at a time.  She settled in quite nicely.
 
During both moves, I made sure that I showed her where her new eating place was, where her toy box was, her beds, etc.  Her old toys and beds made it more like "home".  We tried to keep her schedule the same.  We didn't want to change her routine since we didn't want to stress her out even more.  And lastly, we just have her lots of love and attention and understood that she might be a little stressed from the move (especially the 2nd move since it was an instant change).

We just moved across town and our dogs paced more and felt like they were under feet a lot after we moved in.  But they were fine.  Kota has seperation anxiety too, not real bad but he paces, whines and drools all day while we're gone.  He's done fine in the new place.  I think all the old familiar smells help.  Plus if you can go and vaccuum the place with your vacuum and maybe if you've ever shampooed carpets in your current place, do that too.  This will help the floors smell more like the old place, plus help get rid of the old tenants "crud". 

And if she does have SA, I would be VERY careful about ever leaving her outside if she's never been before.  Dogs will do amazing things to get to their owners.  Including jumping on propane tanks to clear a fence or just jump the fence!  Or climb the rail on the deck(deck was only 2 feet off the ground but top of rail was 8 ft in the air!).

I've never moved with my dogs, so I don't have much insight. I know it's controversial, but I thought I'd add something that I heard from Cesar Milan once. I won't be offended if you don't agree with it, I just thought I'd throw this out there. He was describing how naturally dogs are used to moving from place to place by walking. He recommends walking the dog from your old home (or if that's not possible, drive somewhere around your new neighborhood and walk to your new house). At any rate, he says that it's easier for a dog to understand the move, if they walk there. So take them around the new neighborhood before introducing them to their new house. Sounds somewhat logical to me and if nothing else, your dog will get some exercise and be more tired when they get to the new place.

Wow great feedback everyone thanks a bunch! The walk idea is great because there is a small lake down the street with geese that I'm going to make our usual walking route. I cant wait for her to see her new big yard and it has 6 ft fencing all the way around except for the entry gate so I'm going to have to find a solution for that but hopefully my dad will have some ideas.

Oh yeah and the vaccum idea is great too. I always sprinkle dried alvender on the floor before I vaccumm so thats the first thing I'm gonna do tommorrow when i get the keys, make it smell like home.

may sound silly, but I always leave apiece of my dirty laundry with my dog - sort of a Mom smelling security blanket until he settles in (just don't tell the new neighbors)