It's really not a difficult procedure, I remember years and years ago it was very complicated but it was a piece of cake from recent experiance. Once your pet has got his passport,rabbies shots and the rest of the checks, if you arent aware of them ask your vet or go on the Defra website, they are really good, and check there. We discovered that different ferry operators have different procedures and ways of handling pets depending on how long the route is for. We have travelled Portsmouth-Le Havre,Dover-Dunkerque and Dover-Calais with LD Lines,DFDS Seaways and P&O ferries,all charge a different ammount and have similar but not exactly the same check-in times.A good guide we got our info off is http://www.aferry.co.uk/taking-your-pet-abroad.htm and I have booked on their website before, didn't have any problems. Have also booked through http://www.ferrysavers.co.uk/dunkerque.htm and they were good too.Hope this helps!
------------- I got a plan to get us out of here
I've been working at the convenience store
Managed to save just a little bit of money
Won’t have to drive too far
Just cross the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs
And fin'lly see what it means to be living
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
We've taken our dog with no problems. We have done the shorter crossing so that he can stay in the car and have stayed on sites near a river so he can have regular dips to keep cool.
------------- Are you sure you've read the instructions?
But there's a man in a recent post (Ferry Interesting) who was thinking of taking 4 dogs with him to France. Imagine a wet day and 4 wet dogs sleeping in your caravan....
We've just got back (sob sob) from our first trip with dog and I was worried about various things, but it was absolutely fine. We had invested in a small 12v car fan that my kids turned on for him if he got a bit hot traveling - we had 35'+ for most of the five weeks we were there.
I tried to make sure I chose sites next to rivers or lakes, and he spent most of the time either in the water swimming round and round us, or finding small children to throw his ball into said river or lake, so he could swim for it. He's totally cream-crackered now, though!
One benefit of having him with us was that it made me choose sites we might never have visited and I've seen more water voles (including a mother and 2 babies) than I've seen in my life! And we'd never been to lakes before - but now we have discovered lake swimming I'm already looking for more for next year!
(Another benefit is that he is a really useful mobile waste disposal unit!)
I would say make a list of vets and collate them with camp sites you'd like to stay at before you go. I didn't as I thought I'd be able to use the internet to find them, but we had problems accessing it with my daughter's laptop. I found one at Chartres and took my dog along - only to be told that it was too soon, and that as I was leaving France on Sunday I would need to go on Saturday morning( this was on Thursday). I said that I thought it could be up to 5 days before, but my French isn't that good when under stress, and I ended up leaving. I then found one in Cucq near Le Touquet and made an appointment for Saturday morning but had trouble finding a decent campsite nearby. In face we didn't find a decent one but that's a whole different story!
We loved having him with us and didn't experience any drawbacks at all, so I would say go for it - I'm so glad I did!
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: taking dogs abroad
