taking dog abroad?

[ilovemarkb]

Myself, my partner and our 3 boys would like to go abroad either this or next year. My partner cant stand the thoughts of leaving our cav king charles and would like to take him with us, not sure how costly or complex this is. Does anyone have any good advice??

[elgreco]

We moved to Greece 5 years ago from the UK. We bought 4 dogs and a cat with us. Every animal had to be micro chipped. They all had to have anti rabies injections and all their normal jabs had to be up to date. There was paper work from Defra via the vet for each animal for each country we drove through. All this allows the animals to be bought back into the country without the quarantine period. Throughout the whole journey, no one asked to see the papers or the animals. The only persons concerned was the Channel ferry who charged 15 pounds per animal for the 90 minute crossing in the caravan. The whole performance cost in excess of 2000 pounds. Your local vet should be up to speed with the current regs. Hope this helps

[Buenchico]

The actual transport bit can be tricky. Flying means that special arrangements would have to be made for your dog to travel in a cage, in a heated hold, as freight. That can be very expensive (and potentially very stressful for the dog).

Cross-channel ferries are simpler but your dog has to remain in the car throughout the journey. You're not allowed access to the car decks during the crossing but, if you gave him an extra long walk first, he'd probably sleep all the way.

Assuming that you're going on holiday, rather than emigrating, one of the trickier parts of the procedures is that you must take your dog to a vet in France (or wherever you're travelling from) between 24 and 48 hours before your return journey, in order that he can be treated against ticks and tapeworm. That means that you've got to find a vet to do the job. The DEFRA website helps by providing a link to the French Yellow Pages (together with instructions on how to search for vets) but it obviously helps if you speak fluent French (otherwise misunderstandings might occur and your dog could be barred from return travel).

Full information can be found here:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/pet s/index.htm

Chris

[lankeela]

If you are intending bringing the dog back to this country, you need to think about this at least six months before you intend travelling, as the dog has to be microchipped and rabies jabbed, then you have to wait to see if the rabies jab has taken effect. If it hasn't then you need to have another.

If you are just moving abroad, then you don't need to wait six months, but each country has its own time scale. I am taking four dogs to Finland in a couple of weeks, via Holland, and they had to be microchipped and rabies jabbed, but also wormed 30 days prior to entering Finland, as they will not be going direct from the UK, but via Holland.
We are travelling on the Stena ferry where they do have some kennels available, but ours are staying in their cages in the vehicle. As said above, the return journey has to be carefully timed so you get them vet checked etc within the 24- 48 hour timescale.

[maggiemcgill]

Theres a good link http
://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=3415

From the brittany ferries website which I have been looking at as I would love to take my dog abroad

[ilovemarkb]

thanks for replies! After much much thought we,ve decided to put him in a boarding kennel for 7 to 10 days, hopefully he wont pine for us!! julie x

[lankeela]

Probably sensible, especially if you are going somewhere hot.
Also no-one has mentioned the possibility of catching one of the many 'foreign' diseases that can kill your dog (rabies is taken care of, but is one of many that we don't have over here).
Or finding that the microchip cannot be read (very rare, but can happen), and not being able to bring the dog back into the country without it going into quarantine.

[ilovemarkb]

thanks lankeela! Any tips on finding a good boarding kennel (he.s never been in one before! (i know he needs kennel cough vac) thanks julie

[woofgang]

visit and ask questions..loads look at where your dog will be boarded...ask about feeding, exercise, socialisation, get personal recommendations if possible and even then check them out. The local council will have a list of licensed ones but that will only cover health and public health issues, not welfare. If you are still in touch with the breeder you might want to talk to him/her and if you have other pets, you might want to consider a house sitter. There are also people who will take your dog into their house for your hols...check them out like you would a kennels....and if you choose now, check again nearer the time to ensure that the management hasn't changed/standards slipped

[ganesh]

out of interest ( as I'd like to move to Greece or Cyprrus one day) how do the dogs get on with the heat?

[ganesh]

...or rather,do you think that it may be a problem, especially long-haired dogs.

[shazza149]

Yes,

get a cat sitting service

http://www.catnips.co.uk