Taking the dog abroad - not the logistics but the experience

[Fifer2020]

We are getting a caravan and a dog - that is the plan anyway

our intention once I retire would be do take both to europe for a month at a .

I understand many logistics , pet passport etc will need to be navigated but I just wondered if any one had experience of what it was like to be abroad with your dog.

cafes/restaurants/public transport just the whole experience. Do you like it/hate it .
was it a caravan/hotel/motorhome etc etc etc

thanks

Oh that's an interesting question!

We were meant to take ours with us to France this year but obviously it all got cancelled.

We definitely plan to take him to Europe as soon as we are able to have holidays again.
Would love to do what your doing and would be interesting to hear others experiences

We have taken ours to France camping, 3 years running (did not go this summer unfortunately) It's been great, he sleeps in the car on the journey and in the tent with us when camping. France is incredibly dog friendly and you can take him almost anywhere. Do check areas though as some areas are stricter than others, beaches etc. We have brought our own food but he is not sensitive so could eat supermarket food if we ran out. The most difficult was booking a vet on our first journey but you can always ask the campsite to do it for you

We’ve taken our dog to our holiday home in Spain. We drive down stopping off at hotels on the way.
We’ve been/stopped in France, Belgium. Germany. All the places mentioned very dog friendly.

We've taken ddog for years to France. Static rather than a caravan but it's easy. He's a good traveller!

France is very dog friendly.

He's quite small though so a bit easier than having a lab or similar in a tent or small caravan!

It may depend on the temperament of your dog.....I had one very travel savvy, happy travel companion dog. When I got my second dog I went through the same training/exposure to ensure she was as happy but she hates it! It is such a shame so taking her to Europe would definitely be too stressful for her (even with medication). Just something to consider when choosing breed and making your plans.

That said your retirement plans sounds amazing so I really hope it all comes together for you.

we have taken our old dog to Europe several times and it's been great. Obviously a new puppy this year/covid restrictions has meant we have taken a break but we fully intend to continue. We have a motorhome and campsites have been fine (France, Belgium & Netherlands)

We took our old retriever to Spain for 9 weeks earlier this year (actually got stuck there with Covid and ferry cancellations 🙈). We were in a small house with a big garden up in the mountains where we did lots of walking. We often walked into the nearby village to eat outside at lunchtime and lots of people had dogs with them.

We got a special collar which protected her from a nasty parasite found on the beaches and had to have her wormed before we left to come home but the whole experience was pretty easy.

The only thing that terrified her was the overnight ferry on the outward journey. We had a dog-friendly cabin but the was really scared of the engine noise, the trip from the car deck to the cabin and the exercise area. She was great in the car and we had a lot of driving to do. The French and Spanish also have lots of pet-friendly hotel rooms.