chair911

I´ve been he aring conflicting info on this. I always assumed we couldn´t go to England for any time longer than a weekend because we can´t bring our dog. Then someone told me that actually, they can give your dog shots in Calais when you take the boat and all is fine. Does anyone have any experience nwith this?
I´d like to go and stay in Kent for a month or so, do some walking, but not if I need to quarantine my dog to do it!

Pete_R

It's not quite that simple, you have to start the process 6 months before you travel.

You need to research the PETS scheme: http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quar...pets/index.htm

hetismij

Actually if the dog hasn't already had a rabies shot you start 7 months before travel. The testing can't be done until the rabies shot is at least a month old, and then you have to wait for the results to be sure it's high enough. If it's not high enough it means another rabies shot, and another month wait before the test can be done. The test must also be done at an approved lab, and the jab must be an approved vaccine.
If it is high enough then you wait six months before you can travel. The dog then has to be de-flead and de-wormed 48-24 hours before entry into the UK. The timing of this is vital, too early or too late and you will be turned away. I have seen it happen. Oh and it must be chipped before you get the dog/cat/ferret tested for the rabies jab so the chip number goes through the whole system, to be sure you are not using a ringer.The dog will be scanned before being accepted for travel.
Having gone through all this it is vital to keep the rabies jabs current or you will ave to do it all again if you want to re-enter the UK with your pet.

BKP

Just to add -- the chip must be the European one -- your US (I assume) chip isn't recognized here.

Dukey

I guess I'll go ahead and ask the inevitable question: why would you do this to the dog?

jamikins

chair911 - where are you coming from? It sounds like France?

For N. America it is a bit of a pain, but doable...but I wouldnt do it for a month.

We moved here 2 years ago and brought our pugs from Vancouver Canada. It cost us more to get them here than it did to move us! It is a long process that involves blood tests done through a university in kentucky, rabies shots, wait time of 6 months, having an international chip, has to be with selected air carrier etc...View the PETS scheme link above.

I would never do it for a month...it was VERY stressful for our pugs but even more stressful for me! The only time I will ever put them on a plane again is to take them back to Canada if we ever move back. I dont even want to do that.

Bitter

You mention a weekend. Do you not have dog boarders where you live? Must be less expensive and less invasive than the procedures being discussed.

hetismij

Dukey, if you are in mainland Europe and want to go to the UK it is worth doing. If you are elsewhere in the world and are only going for a short period it isn't. It isn't fair on the dog to take it on intercontinental flights just for a month or so. Far too stressful.
Our dogs are set up and ready to go, because we took them once on holiday to the UK but vowed never again unless we had to. It was no holiday for any of us. Now they go to the kennel and relax and we go on holiday and relax.
Nevertheless having gone through all the expense and hassle we keep up the jabs just in case. The Netherlands doesn't have a rabies problem so rabies jabs are not compulsory unless taking your dog with you elsewhere in Europe.

flanneruk

I've kept the flannerpooch away from this thread because he'd only say how much he hates the jabs.

For all of ten seconds.

When jamikins talks about the stress to the dogs, I'm sure she means the stress of flying. The pooch gets tetchy about the jabs in the same way he gets tetchy if his evening walk's late. But you can't really call them stressful.

However, except for a few long Spain-Britain sailings that have kennels on board, all ships require the dog to stay in the car while you're on deck, and I suspect some dogs might find that stressful because it's a bloody huge garage and the ships can toss and turn. I don't THINK any planes let them in the cabin: pretty well the only way you can keep the dog with you across the channel is by taking your car through the Channel Tunnel.

Which the pooch adores.

chair911

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the replies! Guess I´ll give it a miss , waaay too much hassle. There go my fantasies of walking the Yorkshire Dales with Dog.

I live in Southern Spain, where rabies is rather a big thing, so I have to give Dog her rabies shots twice a year anyway. And then there´s the sandflies, and the whathaveyou. Don´t think she gets stressed out about it.

Plenty of kennels and friends who´d take her, it´s just that I´m a bit of a sap, and I like to keep her with me. She´s small enough to be allowed in the cabin of a plane, luckily, so maybe we´ll go to Canada instead! (gorgeous country, and they seem nice about dogs)