Having been to the Defense Language Institute for German, then transferred there, let me please tell you: It's a culture shock, but if you don't IMMEADIATELY start learning German, you will be absolutely miserable enough. It's a completely different culture and country (Their Kentucky Fried Chicken tastes like fish, because they feed their chickens fish meal), and you should prepare yourself as much as possible.

You must immerse yourself in the German language, like making a point of thinking in it as much as possible, and putting stickers on all things in your house, labeling them in the German nouns. TV is "Fernsehengeraete," (Far seeing machine) for example. Even with intense DLI training, and living there a year, it takes about 5 or 6 years to fully incorporate ones' self into another culture.

Plus, it's not a homogeneous society over there, any more, with MANY Turks, etc., "Illegal Immigrants," already crowding things out. You'd best research this well, in terms of getting a job, there.

If I were you, I'd leave the mutts with a family member back home...

Vielen Glueck!

Living in a foreign country without being able to speak the language is always difficult unless you isolate yourself and thats no good either.

In terms of obtaining a work authorization, as far as I am aware, it is treated simmilarly as it is in the US, meaning, the prospective employer has to prove that there is no EU citizen who could do the job as well as you in prospect of the job.

They do have schools in Germany.

You have to chip the animals and have them vaxinated something like atleast 3 months before but no later than 12 months before the flight. Make sure you give them a frozen bowl of water so they'll have something to drink without it running all over. It's a long flight. I am not aware of any sort of a ban in Germany but of course there has been controversy over this issue there too. Germany practically invented cellphones and public transportation is, atleast compared to the US, on time, clean and despite privatisation still affordable.

kölsch is a own language - this is an awful slang!