Background worker Picturebox gif - vb.net

Question

I have a picturebox with a gif (the gif works). My program is written to open up a document file that is located on a drive on the other side of the country, so it takes some time.
I have set picturebox.visible = true when the program starts the connection process, but the gif does not animate during this process; but only when idling.
A Google search led me to the background worker control, but in all the examples I found, I could not find one that could either:
Just have the gif running in a background worker permanently (I assume this wouldn't use up too much memory, as it is just a gif)
or
Have the gif animate while the application is connecting
Can anyone help?
From the comments, I'm assuming that this entire thing needs to be in a backgroundworker.dowork, but I just keep getting errors because I'm changing controls here.
Private Sub btnLoad_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnLoad.Click
'Displaying "Loading"
picLoading.Visible = True
tblMain.Visible = False
'If the application has loaded at least one sheet
If FirstLoad = 2 Then
worksheet.Cells(1, 31).Value = ""
workbook.Save()
workbook.Close(False)
End If
Filter = cmbFilter.Text
'Go to page 1
CurrentPage = 0
workbook = APP.Workbooks.Open(Path & "\" & Filter & ".xlsx")
worksheet = workbook.Worksheets("Sheet1")
If Convert.ToString(worksheet.Cells(1, 31).Value) <> "" Then
MsgBox("The sheet for " & Filter & " is currently being used by " & Convert.ToString(worksheet.Cells(1, 31).Value) & ".")
workbook.Close(False)
Else
FirstLoad = 2 'Indicate that the application has loaded at least one sheet
worksheet.Cells(1, 31).Value = User
'Make all textboxes and comboboxes visible = false
txtSearch.Visible = False : btnSort.Visible = False : btnSortUrgency.Visible = False : btnSave.Visible = False : btnPrevious.Visible = False : btnNext.Visible = False
Label1.Visible = False
Label2.Visible = False
'Count entries and calculate how many pages there are
Entries = worksheet.Range("B1048576").End(Excel.XlDirection.xlUp).Row 'Count how many entries there are (the first row always counts as an entry)
TotalPages = Math.Ceiling(Entries / 8) - 1 'Calculate how many pages there are
If TotalPages = (Entries / 8) - 1 Then
TotalPages = TotalPages + 1
End If
'Determine how many entries are on the last page
LastEntries = Entries
While LastEntries > 8 'Keep subtracting by 8 to determine how many entries are going to be on the last page
LastEntries = LastEntries - 8
End While
'Add categories for the Urgency comboboxes
Me.cmbUrgency1.DrawMode = DrawMode.OwnerDrawFixed
Me. cmbUrgency1.DropDownStyle = ComboBoxStyle.DropDownList
Me. cmbUrgency1.ItemHeight = 15
Me. cmbUrgency1.BeginUpdate()
cmbUrgency1.Items.Clear()
Me. cmbUrgency1.Items.Add("1")
Me. cmbUrgency1.Items.Add("2")
Me. cmbUrgency1.Items.Add("3")
Me. cmbUrgency1.Items.Add("4")
cmbUrgency1.EndUpdate()
Me. cmbUrgency2.DrawMode = DrawMode.OwnerDrawFixed
Me. cmbUrgency2.DropDownStyle = ComboBoxStyle.DropDownList
Me. cmbUrgency2.ItemHeight = 15
Me. cmbUrgency2.BeginUpdate()
cmbUrgency2.Items.Clear()
Me. cmbUrgency2.Items.Add("1")
Me. cmbUrgency2.Items.Add("2")
Me. cmbUrgency2.Items.Add("3")
Me. cmbUrgency2.Items.Add("4")
cmbUrgency2.EndUpdate()
Me. cmbUrgency3.DrawMode = DrawMode.OwnerDrawFixed
Me. cmbUrgency3.DropDownStyle = ComboBoxStyle.DropDownList
Me. cmbUrgency3.ItemHeight = 15
Me. cmbUrgency3.BeginUpdate()
cmbUrgency3.Items.Clear()
Me. cmbUrgency3.Items.Add("1")
Me. cmbUrgency3.Items.Add("2")
Me. cmbUrgency3.Items.Add("3")
Me. cmbUrgency3.Items.Add("4")
Urgency3.EndUpdate()
Me.Urgency4.DrawMode = DrawMode.OwnerDrawFixed
Me.Urgency4.DropDownStyle = ComboBoxStyle.DropDownList
Me.Urgency4.ItemHeight = 15
Me.Urgency4.BeginUpdate()
Urgency4.Items.Clear()
Me.Urgency4.Items.Add("1")
Me.Urgency4.Items.Add("2")
Me.Urgency4.Items.Add("3")
Me.Urgency4.Items.Add("4")
Urgency4.EndUpdate()
Dim DataCollection As New AutoCompleteStringCollection()
txtBlank.AutoCompleteMode = AutoCompleteMode.Suggest
txtBlank.AutoCompleteSource = AutoCompleteSource.CustomSource
AddItems(DataCollection)
txtBlank.AutoCompleteCustomSource = DataCollection
txtBlank2.AutoCompleteMode = AutoCompleteMode.Suggest
txtBlank2.AutoCompleteSource = AutoCompleteSource.CustomSource
AddItems(DataCollection)
txtBlank2.AutoCompleteCustomSource = DataCollection
txtBlank3.AutoCompleteMode = AutoCompleteMode.Suggest
txtBlank3.AutoCompleteSource = AutoCompleteSource.CustomSource
AddItems(DataCollection)
txtBlank3.AutoCompleteCustomSource = DataCollection
txtBlank3.AutoCompleteMode = AutoCompleteMode.Suggest
txtBlank3.AutoCompleteSource = AutoCompleteSource.CustomSource
AddItems(DataCollection)
txtBlank3.AutoCompleteCustomSource = DataCollection
workbook.Save()
Call DisplayInfo()
End If
End Sub