It’s hard to describe the first month in our new home country. It was hectic, but much of that feeling was due to a steep learning curve and a rough entry. In my last blog post, we had just arrived in Cleveland, and had one more stop in CT before we flew to Portugal. We were holding out hope that our flight would be re scheduled after the baggage handlers strike in Portugal ended, and luckily we got a call at the last minute that our trip would be delayed a few days, for just that reason.

Chase, our 13.5 year old dog, had been struggling the whole trip, vacillating between vomiting and diarrhea. We’d seen the vet in Portland before leaving, and all tests were normal. The extra few days in Connecticut, landed us at my mom’s small place with her two dogs, and Chase was not having it. He stopped eating, and continued with the other issues, so the night before we left we visited the emergency vet. All tests normal again. Could be stress, so said all the vets, so we were hopeful he’d settle after we arrived.

Let’s say getting to Boston Logan airport and getting the dogs through to Portugal may have been the most stressful part for all of us. We had two dog crates, 10 checked bags and our carry ons. We gave ourselves 6 hours to get there, check in, return the rental car and catch our flight. We got to the check in line to find a long line and nobody checking tickets, so we decided I would stay with the dogs, and Nick would run to get the bags 5 at a time (two trips). Everyone in line had questions about the dogs, what we were doing and why we were going, so by the time Nick brought the first cart of bags back, people were sort of cheering us on. Me: in line with two dog crates and a mountain of luggage, pushing each one forward a little at a time every time the line moved, and trying to reassure two completely freaked out aussies. I got to the front just as Nick came running with the second cart of luggage.

One very unhappy Aussie, at Logan International Airport.

Check in was slow, and then we had to take the dogs elsewhere to have them inspected and taken to the baggage area. This was so hard and poor Chase was not ok with any of it. Fast forward to the longest 6.5 hour flight ever, and we raced to collect the dogs! Only the dogs did not arrive immediately, or even sort of soon. In fact all ten of our bags arrived before the dogs did, and I sat on the floor and waited for them in a solitary hallway for almost two hours. They were zip tied into the crates- Stevie was screaming like a howler monkey, and Chase was effectively catatonic. The vet was not at the station for checking the dogs and aiding their escape from the crates, and when he did arrive he did not speak english or even check the dogs, just checked some paper work, took our money and waved us through.

Carlos, our ride from the airport was kind and helpful and full of stories. The ride from Lisbon to our place in Salgueiro, was the easiest hour of the whole experience. We had hoped Chase would start eating again once we got to the house but he continued his hunger strike. So, one of the first things we did when we arrived was find our new vet (who is wonderful). More bloodwork and more mostly normal test results, but the issues continued. Five days into our new home country we took Chase to the emergency pet hospital where they kept him for two days on IV fluids and running more tests. This just added to his trauma, and when he came home he just laid on the floor. No interest in food. Definitely no interest in the car or walks. He was so weak he could barely get off the floor, and was making messes in the kitchen while we slept… so we didn’t sleep much.

We thought we were going to lose him. I even called our vet and asked about putting him down, as the other treatment option was back to the hospital for a feeding tube, and we didn’t want to traumatize him anymore. She was convinced we weren’t at that point yet, and suggested liquid food and feeding him with a syringe. I had to force feed him- like hold his head and shove the syringe in his mouth. At first he fought me, but after a while it was like he remembered that he did in fact like food, and he slowly began eating again. He was back from the brink!

Now: he’s eating and gaining weight and excited to go for walks and explore our new neighborhood! He has some kidney and heart problems, but for the moment he’s happy so we are grateful to have more time with him.

Stevie on the other hand, bounced back immediately and loves our big yard! There are 6 goats that live down the street and she is fascinated by them. A herding dog, excited about goats, go figure! (I’m trying to convince Nick we need goats now). There are also lots of snails, frogs, lizards and wild rabbits in the area so every walk is an adventure!

*Enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of our new yard with Stevie.*

Our first two weeks here were largely focused on keeping the dog alive, and finding a car. Both of which we did, but we really didn’t do too much else beyond some online grief shopping at IKEA for bed frames, and storage stuff for our house and the future resident house. Here are some photos from our cross country journey, and first two weeks in Portugal: