I’m a current senior in high school, and I plan on attending an university a little over two hours away from my hometown. My biggest worry about moving into my dorm this fall is leaving my pets behind. I have three beautiful Shar Peis who I have been raising for about four years now. I’m afraid that it will be difficult to adjust to life without them by my side 24/7, so I am looking for advice on how to ease the transition. Also, one of my dogs has horrible separation anxiety. Any advice on how to alleviate his stress would be helpful as well.
I assume their basic needs will be taken care of – feeding, walks, any needed grooming, attention/petting/play by someone else in your family. Making sure that is the case is obviously your first priority.
Generally it is not a great idea to go home a lot during the first year. Maybe plan one weekend home a month to see them & your family if you aren’t already going to be home on break or for a holiday? Take a lot of photos and get one of those frames that cycles through them, and make them you screen savers as well. See if your mom or dad will help you try Skyping or Facetiming with them. It may or may not work with them.
I assume your dog with separation anxiety copes while you go to school now. I assume it won’t be worse now – likely they can handle you being gone if your family takes care of them.
Leave the dog a few of your shirts or other items of clothing that you haven’t washed. He will be able to detect your scent on them and it will comfort him. That’s what I do when I have to board my dog when I go on vacation.
You, on the other hand, will be so busy with school, making new friends and having fun that I suspect you will adjust fine.
You can look to see if it’s possible to live off campus, if not this year than certainly the next.
Skype with your dog. Seriously. It’s what helped my bad homesickness when I was abroad.
This WILL be an issue for you. Pets make wonderful best friends and their absence will add to your homesickness. You will miss them a great deal and this is quite normal. I love the Skye idea. Coming home every other weekend would not be excessive, in my opinion. Mark you calendar and look forward to coming home–its always nice to have something to look forward to. Going to college is an exciting time of life and you can have tremendous fun and learn like never before. But it can also be traumatically scary and lonely. Plan out a formal strategy combining home visits, physical conditioning (you’ll feel better), study times, and social times so you can have the best college experience possible.