Going abroad with your dog on holidays

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adorado

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Hello,

Has anyone gone on holidays with their dog? Lets say from Ireland to Spain or France.

Any feedback on bringing the dog on the plane and/or Ferry?

Thank you!
 
Re: Going aborad with your dog on holidays

I've taken one of my dogs on a flight from UK to Ireland and personally I wouldn't do that again unless I REALLY had to. You'll need the right size crate/carrier for starters. We also got thrown out of Dublin airport as soon as we landed cos dogs aren't allowed in there. Air Lingus took her over for about 30 Euro though which was very good. If your dog is ok getting hauled around in a crate he should be fine, just allow more time for check in etc.

For France or Spain I've heard the ferry is very good, you leave the dog in your car or the onboard kennels but you can go down to walk them round and visit and such. Just bear in mind that if it's summer you're going, those places will be much hotter (we can hope) than Ireland will be.
 
Re: Going aborad with your dog on holidays

How long in advance do you need to check in? How did you think staff treated the dog? You seem to have had a really bad experience...

So, would you recommend the ferry over the plane, even though the plane may be a couple of hours and the ferry nearly one day?

Thanks a million for your comments.
 
Re: Going aborad with your dog on holidays

To put it into perspective, we were emigrating to Ireland so it was a pretty emotional and somewhat stressful day. We found the Dublin staff didn't take care, her crate wheel was broken and when my husband pointed it out he was told to write and complain but he had to get out cos dogs weren't permitted. She seemed fairly unfazed by the flight though, she just didn't like getting wheeled round in the crate.

If I was doing something like that again I'd seriously consider going by ferry. Dogs stay in the car (which they're familiar with) and you can go overnight so they might sleep most of it. I'm going to France on the ferry this year but we decided to leave the dog at her "country club"....and we recently aquired another four legged buddy so they'll be company for each other anyway.

Thinking about it, I'm not sure which option I'd chose now to be honest.

We allowed an hour over and above recommended check in time, I'm not sure what that is now, it's been a while since I flew anywhere.
 
I would appreciate any advice to pass on to a friend who wants to bring her dog to France, as they have a property there and will stay for a couple of months.

The only option seems to be to take the car, as dogs are not allowed with walk-on passengers on the ferry. However, they are nervous about driving their car down through France and would prefer to hire a left hand drive when they arrive or travel by train.

We were thinking that they should bring somebody with them on the ferry who could take the car back to Ireland. This also means that the reverse trip will have to be done when they are coming back. Is there a better solution, for example to garage their car for the duration when they arrive off the ferry?
 
Going to France in Sept and will take our dog for the first time. To avoid any distress to him we have decided to go the Landbridge route, two short sea journeys by fastcraft and drive through the Uk, not ideal either but we will stay overnight in the Uk so dog will get plenty of breaks on way down. Happy holidays
 
We brought our dog to France and the MAIN thing is that the dog has a valid up-to-date pet passport.(cost me a few hundred euro all in)

There is no problem getting your dog out of the country
The problems arise trying to get your dog back in.

YOU NEED TO HAVE THE PASSPORT ORGANISED AT LEAST 7 MONTHS BEFORE YOU NEED TO BRING THE DOG BACK.

This is because the dog has to have a rabies vaccine (amongst other things) the vet needs to check antibody levels a month after the vaccine...the is a small chance the vaccine will have to be repeated....then the dog is not allowed back into Ireland for 6 months AFTER the positive antibody check.

You also need to have the dog certified to travel by a vet either a day or max 48 hrs before departure AND before return. (check these times....very NB)

You are NOT allowed leave your dog in the car on the ferry.
You MUST book a kennel. If the voyage is rough they may not let you check on your dog.
Kennels are often booked up, so can restrict your choice of ferries.
Only Irish Ferries (I think) do kennels.

You are restricted on return from France which port you can return through as not all have animal checking facilities. I "think" Cherbourg does...but not Roscoff....need to check. Ring the ferry company.
 
[broken link removed] item from last Saturday's Irish Times may be of interest, a question sent to the travel team re bringing a dog on holidays.
 
hi, me and my boyfriend are moving to spain in two weeks...its really only a test-run for maybe three months or so. but if we like it we would like to bring our dog over to us. and im wondering how id go about doind that? my aunt is looking after her for the time that were gone...but i dont want to leave her there forever? what should we do.? shes a chinese shar pei so shes a small enough dog?? plez help
 
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