Anyone been to France recently with their dog?

[Sheldock]

Has anyone been to France recently with their dog?
What do we need to do in terms of vaccinations, passports, vet trips (here and there) etc
We will be travelling on the Shuttle rather than by ferry.
The dog had his rabies vaccination 18 months ago when he also got a pet passport (pre-Brexit) but the passport is no longer valid.

All tips gratefully received.
Many thanks.

Some friends of mine have just left in their van for Spain. In order to get their dog an EU pet passport they drove to Scotland, took a ferry to northern Ireland, stayed at a friends house, registered the dog with a local vet using friends address and got a EU pet passport.

You will need to go to your vet to get an Animal Health Certificate. This has to be carried done a few days prior to travel. The cost varies but we paid £240. You need to get a certificate every time you travel. You need to take your dog and the certificate to the pet control reception prior to proceeding to the train.

It is wise to check the form for errors when you receive it back from the vet. Any errors will mean you’re unable to travel.

On return you need to go to a vet to administer an anti tapeworm tablet. This needs to be certified on the AHC.

It’s all a bit of an expensive nuisance.

You need to get a Health Certificate from the vet (ours was from Vet4Pets and cost £180). It has to be done within 10 days before your trip and is valid for the return trip as long as it’s within 4 weeks of departure I believe). It’s a very long document and takes the vet a day or even until the next day to complete. It has to be signed by the person who actually travels with the dog.

Also, check that the rabies vaccination is still valid and you don’t need a new one because it has to be done 21-30 days (from memory) before your trip.

On the way back, you have to take your dog to a local vet so he is given a worming tablet at least 24 hours before your return trip. The local vet will need yo to sign the health certificate.

It was actually surprisingly straightforward as long as you follow these rules

The whole set up at Folkestone and Calais is extremely efficient. They wave the scanner over your dog's microchip, check the paperwork and wave you on your way. Vets in France are far cheaper than in the UK and very used to dishing out tapeworm treatments. If you have a property in France (or know someone whose address you can use), you can apply for an EU passport cheaply and register with a French vet to do their rabies vaccination. That then negates the need for an animal health cert each time they travel back and forth, as long as they travel on the EU passport.

Excellent, thank you everyone.

We have and used the opportunity to get them EU passports. Lucky fuckers