I feel your pain. Not wanting to leave our little Yorkie for a week was one of the many (some silly) reasons my DH cited for not wanting to accompany me on a LSV to TV this summer.

that story made me decide to bring more of my furniture than I intended....try to keep as many familiar items...maybe that will help mine when I move.

I wonder--and this is not a criticism by any means--if the toy and smaller breeds are a little bit more nervous than the 85-pound big lugs some of us have. Their nervous systems seem to be more sensitive to their environment. Maybe they are just smarter and pick up on what's happening better than your average retriever?

Our dog is, like, "Where's my next meal? Oh, there it is. Okay, everything's fine." He gets apprehensive over loud, sharp noises and when the vet comes at him with a needle, but that's about it.

I hope everyone's dog & cat make a smooth transition. I'm sorry for what happened to casita's dog. What a tragedy.

CFrance I think you are right on.

Think it is more temperament than size. Recently we took our 88 lb Aussie and 48 lb standard poodle to an overnight for boarding. The Aussie had his head out the window enjoying the ride and the moment and the poodle was fretting the whole time "where are we going, I don't think I like this, I want to go home, please turn the car around." Totally different personalities just like my kids - but that keeps it interesting!

Our first house in TV was a courtyard villa. Not awful for our Springer Spaniel and Cocker Spaniel. We walked the regularly but, in a pinch we could let them out on their own. Then we moved to a stand-alone house. Now I have to walk the dogs on a leash three times a day. Clearly, big dogs are a poor fit for TV, but what are you going to do. They are part of the family and we all adjust together. Trust me on this, your guilt is worse than any emotion the dogs might feel. The dogs don't really suffer -- especially when they get older and slow down.

Sorry, but I don't agree that big dogs are a poor fit for TV! Nope, not at all.

As you can see from my picture, we have a big dog, 70 lbs. And Lollipop gets to run and play off leash every single day where we're in TV. We take our dogs daily to the ten-acre private dog park on CR 101 where they can play off leash until they're exhausted.

I can add to this. We have a "Chukker," which is a thingy that holds a tennis ball and enables those of us who throw like girls to throw the ball farther. A couple of times a day I take our golden out into the back yard and chuckker the ball, which he runs to fetch and then retrieves--and sometimes even gives up willingly. After a couple of practice sessions I learned just how far to throw so it stays on our property. We play till he gets tired, i.e., sits down and starts chewing the ball.

This is in addition to our daily long walk, which one should be doing anyway with any dog, as it's good exercise and discipline for the dog--and the owner.

Until we moved here to TV our dog Bailey only had our yard for his exercise. He has gotten more active with our trips to the dog park and cart rides. The trips to the dog park meant more socialization for him.