Taking a dog to France

[MmeBlueberry]

Has anyone done this?

My dog is microchipped. What else would we need to do?

Rabies jabs, I think they have to be done at least six months in advance.

Ah, OK, that scuppers it for this summer

Thanks.

Depends whether you are going permenantly or planning to bring the dog back

If you will be bringing the dog back, You need a PETS passport. Your dog needs to be vaccinated against rabies, then take a blood test to confirm his/ her rabies titre, and this needs to be done by your vet (who must be an LVI to be able to sign the passport, so you'd need to check that your vet can do this) It does need to be done 6mths before you are planning to bring the dog back into the UK.

The passport only allows you to bring the dog back into Britain. Some coutries (not sure if France is one) also want an export certificate. Your best bet is to contact DEFRA, as they will have the correct requirements for each country. Some countries will wat to see proof that the dog is fit for travel, and this usually means a health check at your vet 24 hours before travel, and treatment for fleas, worms and ticks. You might need to prove treatment of fleas, worms and ticks again if coming back to UK, and you would need to find a vet in France who will do a fit-for-travel certificate for you too. HTH

Thanks, JJJ. That is really helpful

Hi
We've been taking our 2 dogs to France for 3 years now and haven't had any problems.

As JJJ says you need to PETS passport. The dog must be 6 months old before the vet will give them the vaccination.

You must take the dog to the vet in France between 24 and 48 hours prior to your return trip. They are VERY strict on this. I've had the impression that if you're 30 minutes outside this you won't be able to travel. Also, you must ensure that the vet has both signed and stamped the passport in both places. We had an occasion when a signature was missing. Fortunately, the other passport was complete and Eurotunnel gave us the benefit of the doubt.

It costs an extra £30 to bring the dog back into the country on Eurotunnel (think it's about the same on the ferries). We pay approx. €30 at the vet for the worming, tick treatment and health check. I've got no idea if this is expensive or cheap though.

France is exceptionally dog friendly. We've taken ours into motorway service stations and normal restaurants without any problem.

One point is to check local issues of where you're going. We take ours to the Languedoc region and have been told by the local vets to avoid certain areas due to the ticks.

If you have any other questions please ask.