Have you dreamed about taking your dog on holiday to Europe? It may seem a little daunting at first, but it is more straight forward than you might think!
To travel to Europe with your dog, you will need:
- A microchip
- A rabies vaccination
- An Animal Health Certificate or Passport
- A veterinary clinic in your destination country to administer a tapeworm treatment before your return to the UK.
Timeline
1. First things first…
If your dog is not microchipped this is the first thing you will need to do. Your dog must also be at least 12 weeks of age to travel.
2. A minimum of 21 days before your first trip
If you are travelling for the first time you will need to visit the vets for a rabies vaccination a minimum of 21 days before travel. The 21 day period starts the day after your dog receives the vaccination. For example, if your dog was vaccinated on the June 1st you could travel from June 22nd.
The vaccination then lasts for three years before a booster is required to maintain cover.
3. A maximum of 10 days before you travel
Your dog will need an Animal Health Certificate to travel from Great Britain to the EU or Northern Ireland. Although you can’t get your certificate until 10 days before you travel, we would highly recommend booking your appointment well in advance if you can. The certificate must be issued by a specially certified vet and most practices only have one, so there is usually a few weeks wait for an appointment. If you are visiting a different practice to where your dog was vaccinated for your Animal Health Certificate, you will need to take proof of your dog’s microchipping date and their rabies vaccination.
Please make sure to thoroughly check your certificate - your dog’s microchip number appears on multiple pages and if your vet has made a mistake in the numbers anywhere you will not be allowed to travel until it is rectified (we know this from experience!).
Once you have your Animal Health Certificate you have 10 days to enter the EU or Northern Ireland.
Once you have crossed the initial border point, you can travel within the EU for up to 4 months before returning to the UK.
Unlike the pre-brexit passports, each Animal Health Certificate is valid for one trip only. You can still travel to multiple countries within the EU during this time, but you can only leave and return to the UK once.
4. Returning to the UK – A minimum of 24 hours and no more than 120 hours (5 days) before arrival
For your dog to be accepted back into the UK they must have received a tapeworm treatment from a vet. This must be recorded on your Animal Health Certificate with the vet’s name and stamp, the name and manufacturer of the worming product and the date and time your dog received it.
The wormer given must contain praziquantel or an equivalent proven to be effective against the Echinococcus multilocularis tapeworm.
The vet issuing the worming treatment does not need to be specially certified. We were quite worried about finding a local vet the first time we travelled but actually found it very simple. We just googled veterinary surgeries in the area we were staying and popped into the nearest one to make an appointment. You may find it useful to have google translate, or similar, ready on your phone in case of a language barrier. However, we found they knew exactly what we needed when we showed our certificate and said we were returning to the UK.
Travelling via the Eurotunnel with your dog
We have travelled to Italy via France and the Eurotunnel three times now and can’t wait to do it again! The crossing only takes 40 minutes and your dog stays safely with you at all times.
The process is very simple. When you arrive at the terminal simply follow the yellow signs to the “Pet Reception” taking your dog and your Animal Health Certificate with you. Your certificate will be checked and you will be asked to scan your dog’s microchip to ensure the two match-up. The staff will then issue you will a pass to stick in your windscreen and you are free to proceed to the train at your allotted time.
Eurotunnel has made a great effort to make dogs welcome with a special exercise area, a designated seating area in a quiet part of the terminal and allowing dogs in the terminal shops.
We would suggest having a water bottle that can be used in the car handy in case your dog wants a drink during the crossing. If you are travelling in summer heat, it is advisable to bring a cooling vest or similar for your dog as there may be some queuing in the car involved and the train carriages are quite warm during the crossing (your engine must be turned off when the train is moving so air conditioning is not an option!).
If you would like to see what to expect when using the Eurotunnel, we made a short video you can watch here.
