Taking dog to EuroCamp in Italy, Summer Hols

[Plant2628]

Has anyone done this and how did you find managing the dog around the heat? The accommodation is air conditioned along with our car.
Thanks

Where in Italy and when in the summer? I've spent a couple of summers in France and Italy and it was so unbelievably hot. Dog owners were walking their dogs at 5am and 11pm.

By one of the big lakes ... Hmm tricky one. Feel it's a stress if we leave him and a stress if we take.
He is a small dog and not high energy. I couldn't take a cocker for example.

Perhaps plan a holiday you can take him on then? Surely you understood abroad holidays with a dog would come at a stress to the animal by abandoning him for a week or two?

Yes but sadly it's not that simple. This dog is loved for sure hence the debate!! But I can't put our family experiences on hold through my children's childhood in terms of travel
I'm not sure that's right either

We took our dogs to Italy last October and found it fairly straightforward.
Before you leave dog must have rabies vaccination, 21 days prior to travel.
You will need an Animal Health Certificate AHC produced by a vet, valid for 10 days, so commence journey within 10 days of issue. If you live in South try Travel Vets next to Heathrow airport, reasonably priced.
If your dog was originally imported from central Europe it may already have a European Pet passport in which case you won't need an AHC, lots of Facebook groups discussing this.
A vet will need to administer a tapeworm treatment 24 to 120 hours before you arrive back in UK and vet will need to sign off your AHC that this has been given.
The motorways through France (in particular) have excellent/large picnic stop off areas where you can exercise dog, get fresh water and very good clean toilet facilities for yourselves.
You will need secure, cool (air-conditioned ?) accommodation where you can leave the dog if hot during the day.
We had a fabulous sandy dog friendly beach near us. If it's hot I wouldn't consider taking the dog during the day but early morning, late evening walks are glorious.
We are very dog responsible and poop scooped, had dogs under control/on lead and never allowed them to be a nuisance.

I must say I found it a joy to have my dogs with me and travel was fine but I don't have young children or other family to consider and dogs welfare comes first.

Very helpful thank you. And yes I think that's true, children are another dimension to think of.

Could you have a cooler climes holiday in the summer and go to the continent in Easter / October half term?

I do feel your pain, I hated leaving my dog behind on holidays, especially when he got older.

I would also say it takes around 24 hours non-stop driving to get to Italy, so you may need to plan an overnight stay in dog friendly accommodation.
We camped in a service station with the lorry drivers near Dijon which is about halfway for us. We were towing a caravan so stayed in that.
It was one of the most fun things to do :-)

I'd take him if he is small. Use a pet carrier to carry if ground too hot. Shade, stops in water and just being very mindful of how the heat is affecting them.

It's costly. I wouldn't want to wait to go to Folkstone on the day to have the AHC ready just in case. It was £250 + cost of the appt to check dog + rabbies vaccin, so close to £400 all together but they now have a pet passport established in France, so all good.

Our friends camp in Italy and have said that the last site they stayed on actually had a dog swimming pool! How good is that?

It was really hot when I went over to Lake Maggiore - we were camping in Switzerland and decided to venture over to Italy. It was just too hot for our dog - she couldn't go on walks until the evening, so we scarpered back to Switzerland and the cooler mountain air! I don't know if I would take my dog unless I was going to spend an awful lot of time messing around in rivers/the sea. Just a tip - if you use Italian public transport you might need a little muzzle (our dog does but she is larger than yours so best check the rules).

If your staying at Bella Italia, then there’s a dog beach 5 mins walk away. All fenced in. They even have dog sized sun beds. You can take dogs on the other beaches too.
If you’ve not driven before, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised of the abundance of rest areas on the motorways. Your even allowed dogs in Mcdonalds. Make sure you stop at the best one in Europe with the roof top terrace just south of Munich.
I think all the restaurants allow dogs, as well as most shops. The Grand Affi shopping centre allows dogs. I think it’s just supermarkets you can’t take dogs.
you’ll probably find dog baths on site too.
It may also be possible to get an EU pet passport out there, which means you can go in and out of the UK as before. I haven’t done it myself, but I know someone who has. Admittedly they own a property, so we’re able to supply proof of address, but I’m guessing a €50 bribe would cover it.
mad a PP said, you’ll need to do the vets visits each way.