Am getting really anxious about taking dog on overseas trip.!!

[drivinmecrazy]

We're leaving Sunday for a three month trip to Spain.
We're getting Le Shuttle to Calais and driving to southern Spain.
We obviously have all the paper work in hand regarding dog and car.
But we've never done such a road trip.
Any tips from seasoned travellers
would be most welcome!!

Make sure your dogs microchip details and your contact details are up to date, so if the dog does go missing in Europe and is scanned there is the correct number.

Have enough food as not all makes are available in Europe. T

Take a canine first aid kit with you in your motor home and have details of vets of where you are most likely to be. If you do not speak Spanish have a list of phrases if you do need to go to the vet.

Keep your dog hydrated especially if warmer weather and be careful in very hot weather your dog walking on ground surfaces which may burn paws.

Have a number of photocopies of the dogs pet passport or travel certificate.

Before travelling home (when you will need to get tapeworm treatment done) make sure you scan the microchip a couple of times to check all is well, and know exactly where it is on your dog (they do move) so there are no problems on the check in at Calais.

I have always found many EU countries to be very dog friendly.

Lastly buy a collar (Scalibor or Canishield) for flea,tick and sandflies - Leishmania is more common in EU than here.

Enjoy!

Have enough food as not all makes are available in Europe

Technically, post brexit you're not allowed to take pet food with you.

I don't know where I gave the impression we were in a motor home 😂

We're taking a 'reasonable' amount of his food with us, but hoping to 'smuggle' more if we are able.

Luckily my mum has sourced similar food at our destination. So we're thinking if we're stopped with his food they would just confiscate it?

Really not sure how strict border control are, can anyone share their experiences?

If you have done a long trip with dogs have they mainly slept?

So far the longest journey we've done is four hours. Ddog was happy with this.
But we're wondering how he'll be after multiple trip's with breaks.

We have two options, just to plough through with one overnight stop or to do it with two overnights.

DH is in favour of ploughing through with one stop. I'm not so sure

We've done a trip to Denmark three times with dogs - 3 hour drive, overnight ferry, 8 hour drive (12 hours one time!!).

We take enough food for the journey with the risk it would get confiscated (never has) and then can get the same food at our destination.

We normally do a good walk before the ferry, a good walk after and then just toilet, food and leg stretch stops.

Ours tend to sleep, although tend to pop their heads up to look around if stuck in traffic on the motorway or similar.

Never had dog food checked.

I have done long trips with dogs using cars and see the journey to the main destination as part of the holiday. It does depend on the dogs though, some become unsettled if somewhere different each night, others just chill.

I have also done long train journey with dogs throughout Europe including o12 hour overnight ones on OBB's Nightjets - the dogs have taken it all in their stride, including the youngsters. I was more stressed than they were!

Too late for this time but if you do it again you could try Brittany Ferries who sail from Portsmouth or Plymouth to Santander and Bilbao. It's around a 26 hour crossing and you can book a 'pet friendly' cabin for you plus the dog, or kennels on an separate deck which have outdoor excercise areas.
It's more expensive but OTOH you won't have the costs of an overnight stop in France, or autoroute tolls, or petrol to pay.
You can drive from the Spanish ports down to Andalucia in a day, about 9 hours, I think but you should be reasonably well rested after a night on board. The ferries are comfortable with various things to do, good food and some entertainment.
Driving down through France the autoroute rest stops, "aires" are fairly frequent and lots of people usethem to exercise dogs and children. Thry're usually well-kept although the loos can be a bit hit and miss. (Oops!)

We went pre brexit with ddog to south of France several times a year, always no problem. Certainly. Ever took food with us until he became diabetic which was a bit harder to juggle. Have fun.
IME
France is v dog friendly. Not sure about Spain as didn't get that far.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences, feeling a little more reassured we've got everything covered.
Our dog always uses the collars for fleas etc so that's all good.
We would have preferably taken the ferry but in our arrogance ignored everyone we knew who said you must book early when travelling with a dog.
Naively we thought booking in November there would be plenty availability.
Absolutely not so that's one lesson we've already learnt 😭

At this point I'm torn between being ridiculously excited about the adventure and being absolutely petrified!!

It will, I'm sure, be worth it.

I'm going to be in Spain for ten weeks with our little terror while DH will be flying home for work.

Luckily my DDs have trips planned to come and save my sanity.
I'm sure going to need it being on my own with an oversized puppy and elderly mother thrown into the mix.

I'm just thinking sunshine, sunshine, sunshine.
It always makes things better 🤞

Tbh, 26 hours on a ferry with a dog sounds like a bit of a nightmare. Especially if they've not been on a ferry before and that route is notorious for bad weather. At least in a car you can stop when you want. Ours really aren't keen on toileting on the ferry, so would rather hold it for 12+ hours. They do however, like to stand outside for a sniff so might pretend they need to go just to get a trip out to smell the fresh sea air several times a night!

We’ve done this a few times, and we’ve done the trip by car and by ferry (lived between Spain and England for a couple of years). We never had any issues at borders but it was pre Brexit. It is easy enough to find decent dog food in big supermarkets anyway.
Our dog was only just a year old when we first did the journey and he coped brilliantly. He mainly just slept, and when he started to get restless we’d stop for a walk and a wee.
First time round we drove the whole way; we planned for 2 stops but ended up on such a good run on the second day that we ploughed through. In hindsight I preferred the drives to the times we did it on the ferry, as it can be a nightmare taking them out on the deck for exercise/toileting etc when the sea is rough and the weather bad!
Our current dog gets travel sick so not sure we’ll be doing it again any time soon!

We have done a very similar trip, to Alicante with our Ddog (sadly now gone over the rainbow bridge). I can't say he enjoyed it but he managed fine. France has loads of rest areas, so we made sure we stopped frequently for a leg stretch and he had lots of cuddles in the back with DS. We usually took a route via Bordeaux and would stay there overnight in a pet friendly travel lodge type place. You just have to pace the journey a bit more, but it very much depends on how good a traveller your dog is. It was worth it when we went for several weeks in the summer, but not worth it just for a short stay.