Europe with dogs? Help please

[Shinobi]

Hi,

We are looking to travel into Europe from the UK, route planned is UK – France – Belgium – Luxembourg – Germany – Switzerland – Liechtenstein – Switzerland – Italy – France – UK.

Looking for experience and knowledge into if this will be ok with a Pet Passport? I have checked with my vet, another vet and the Defra website along with many other FAQS are as far as I can see all ok as long as they have the Rabies jab 21 days before leaving the UK and tape work treatment 1-5 days before return. Austria seems to need a blood test done 3 months prior to entry so that’s off the list but not a problem.

Has anyone doesn’t any European trips with dogs from the UK? Is there anything else we need to think of/plan? Going to see the vet again for any European vaccinations that help keep them safe. As they are Rottweilers we need to have them muzzled in public, chipped and on a short lead but no problem with complying with any of that.

How about dog cages do we need to have them in cages? We have a large suv and the dogs lie down in the boot and no one sits in the back so works for us the worry is if any countries are funny about it/legislation.

Obviously biggest fear is having an issue coming back at the UK border.

Thanks in advance

[Shinobi]

Thanks for all the information so far, very helpful and very reassuring!

Please keep any info coming it's a useful thread for others and I'll update with our findings when we get back.

We have ours booked in for Rabies Jabs on Friday to start the Pet Passport process.

SGirl - thanks for the idea of checking where the chip is, as for the collars we were looking at Scalibor Anti-Tick Collar 48 cm https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004L8UPCU/ref=cm_sw_r... as seem to review well and the name popped up on a few sites I looked at. Any good?

Baker77 - Unfortunatly I think Rotties are on breed lists for most of Europe apart from England so we will have to Muzzle and keep on the leads. We are lucky that although ours are rescued they still have a whole tail and non mutilated ears so that's ok.

CardinalFang - Thank you for the comments about the queuing and process at customs, we are going by ferry from Dover to Dunkirk and will Defo email the ferry company for their procedure hadn't thought of that. I had read about the vet, who did you use out of interest? I expect there are specialist vets who speak English and advertise for the business?

Positronicray - Ferry booked Unfortunatly, forgot the train existed! Those bottles are ace, we use those all the time but need to find an XL one if they exist.

Pesty - excellent news about customs being so easy. Did you have to have a rabies blood test to get into Austria I noticed they aren't on the list for no blood test? Next year we were thinking Austria and Slovenia so this was a concern.

Mexican Cuties - thanks might look into one off cover as we don't currently insure we take the gamble with savings etc. Just had a Cruciate Ligament replaced so appreciate the unexpected can happen.

Thanks to everyone else! What a great forum this is.

[Shinobi]

Bit of a belated update but I thought it might be useful for people considering Europe with dogs.

First of all thank you to everyone who posted, all very helpful information.

The night before the trip I decided to book tickets on the Chunnel and forego our ferry tickets. Really didn't fancy leaving the dogs in the car and it was the best choice by far. Chunnel was as easy as going without dogs, even on the way back it was only a minor 10 minute stop. If anyone is wondering they have an excellent dog exercise playground on the English side with lots of things to interact with. The French side is just a toilet area but certainly adequate.

As for the trip itself it was fantastic, first night in Belgium (Followed a lovely Viper) , second night Luxembourg which I really wish we had more time in. Discovered a place known as "little Switzerland" which was very scenic with some great walks. We could have easily had 4 days exploring the smallish area.



Then onto Northern Germany, Southern Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Italy and back through France. Due to the girls being Rottweilers we had a mixed reception in some towns which we are used to. The only real problem we had was a Hotel in "Rottweil" of all places refusing us entry due to their breed. Highly frustrating as I had emailed ahead to let them know we had two Rottweilers also that we were on a sort of "Pilgrimage" to the last breeding pairs town and we followed all local rules and muzzled where necessary including a few public places where we could tell people were wary.

This was the only negative on a long trip, we aren't bothered about people's attitudes towards the breed. Where we can change opinion great we let the dogs do the hearts and mind battle. In Rottweil we had a fair few people cross the road to meet them and lots of people taking their photos especially near the statue.

All the other accommodations were very dog friendly with rugs in the rooms and would recommend most to people.

Chamonix was perfect for wandering around the outskirts with the dogs and the town was quiet off season.

Highlights for us was seeing the dogs discover snow on the Alps, playing with the villa owners Labrador each morning and being able to walk around these great places with our hounds.



For the return trip we used http://www.vetocapvert.fr as a vet. Effortless, I emailed from Italy and booked an appointment for the day before we travelled back. We supplied the tablets and she gave the girls a good check over and the tablets. Would thoroughly recommend, a personal service and wasn't expensive about £40 for the two. She liked the scalibor collars.

Leaving France we had to get out and get the dogs chips and passports checked which took about 5 mins so with a bit of exercise for the girls was about 20 minutes. So easy, thanks for the tips about locating the chips and also the Chunnel.

Finally thanks again, we will definitely be travelling Europe again with the dogs using the Chunnel. Luxembourg and the Black Forest will be where we spend our time I think.

P.S Has anyone headed north? Interested in Finland and the Arctic circle but will have to be over a longer period.

[Shinobi]

For ones reason I tried to upload a few pics and computer said no

[Shinobi]

BOR said:

IIRC, they are classed officially in Germany/parts of Germany as Class 2 Fighting Dogs, which can mean restrictions on ownership/higher Dog Tax, which means people are wary of them.

I think in Bavaria that might be the case but Germany was ok where we went, France and Italy they were classed as Class 2 working Guard dogs so we needed muzzles. Got around this pretty easily with a bit of peanut butter on the inside. By the end of the second day they were excited to get the peanut butter haha.