Taking our dog on holiday.

[Wewereonnabreak]

Has anyone else taken their dog with them to mainland Europe? We’re thinking of a bit of a road trip, family and cockerpoo.

Any tips / hints / lessons learnt?

Thank you! 🤗

We’ll be away for about a month, so not rushed.

Get this moved to The Doghouse - you would be more likely to get people with the experience.

Oh ok thanks. Never heard of it! Appreciated

My old boy has travelled with me often, including a month away in 2019. The younger one has only been to Ireland so far.

Headlines to consider

1. You'll need an animal health certificate. This means your dog will need to have had rabies vax and a clear 21 days from that (if it is the first one) before travel. You'll then need a vet to do the AHC. You can get them from companies / vets which specialise at around £100, from your own vet it is likely to be at least double that.
2. When you cross back you'll need to get your dog wormed at a vet between 120 and 24 hours prior to landing in the UK. I've never struggled with finding an English speaking vet to do this but tend to have it booked in advance.
3. Where are you planning on staying? I've done all my trips in a camper van so that makes it reasonably easy, but France is pretty dog friendly on the whole and we've stayed in hotels too there.
4. Travel - personally I prefer crossing on the tunnel so that we are together in the vehicle. Our dogs were in on board kennels on the ferry to Ireland and they didn't like it much, you can leave them in the vehicle as well but you can't access the vehicle when at sea. Eurotunnel is more expensive but it is pretty flawless and easy with pets.

Ask away - I love travelling with mine

Thanks for this thread @Wewereonnabreak ! I was thinking of taking the dog to Jersey with us next year. I don’t think it’s the same requirements for health certificates etc. but interested in people’s experience with taking their dog on a ferry.

My parents took their dog around Europe for three months in their campervan. We were considering a few weeks of it this summer with our mutt, but they cautioned against it for a few reasons.

1. heat - on several occasions they struggled to keep the dog cool enough in the weather. They made lots of detours to rivers and lakes to try to cool him down.

2. you can't really leave the dog for long in a van or at all in rented accommodation or hotels, so you're restricted if you can't get a cafe or restaurant that'll accept you with the dog. They had issues several times for that reason, as they failed to plan a trip to a supermarket when driving through more rural locations where supermarkets are fewer and further between.

3. same problem for going out for the day to sight see. It really restricts you on where you can visit. That said, he's been into Schlosses and on ski lifts up mountains, so the dog is probably better travelled than me.

4. the pet passport restrictions - all advice I've seen is to book in well away from the port areas as it'll be much cheaper!