Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

We are going on holiday to France in the summer and have decided to take Phoebe, despite having massive reservations and feeling anxious every time I think about it!!! We have thought long and hard about it and there is no way we can leave her. By the time we go she will be 11 months ish and I suppose when we booked it ages ago I did think that it would all be okay by then, although now realise that maybe I underestimated the puppy phase!!!
Anyway we are taking her and just wondered if anyone has any advice / experience? We will be travelling through the tunnel and doing the journey over a few days so that we can have loads of stops and only short distances In the car. When we arrive there we have over 2 weeks in a farmhouse with loads of land and own pool etc so should be lovely (although maybe not relaxing!!!!). My biggest worry is making sure we protect her against ticks / sand flies and other similar things. Does anyone know the best protection as information online is quite conflicting?

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

Hi Jo

Haven't travelled with Juno much for any great distance but used the tunnel when we brought the cats over to live here in France and we found it not too bad an experience as even our most vocal cat went to sleep after we were loaded on the train and it was darker and quieter. Travelling in France is not so bad as all the major routes have plenty of services or open air picnic areas.

Where abouts are you travelling to for your holiday?

My vet advises the use of Advantix for Juno which works against ticks, sand flies and other nasties

http://www.viovet.co.uk/Advantix_Spot_for_Dogs/c375/?sct_t=1428691795&sct_q=advantix+dog&sct_r=1

You'll need a pet passport to travel, not sure what the return requirements are for flea/tick treatment as I haven't been backwards and forwards with animals.

Please feel free to message me if you want any info on travelling with animals in France etc. etc. happy to help/advise if I can

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

Sounds very exciting indeed , I`ve only done the journey once , that was coming back from ten years in France with four dogs and a cat , you can get all the info you need on the website for Defra

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

Thank you and Rosemary I probably will come back to you with any questions. We are staying just south of Bordeaux so South West and I wasn't sure if we needed a Scalibor collar? But it looks like advantix would cover everything. I am planning to have a chat with my vet about it soon - I was leaving it for a bit as always seem to be in there asking questions!!!
I know we need to see a vet before we come home for some tapeworm treatment and the people who own the house are going to give us vet details.
I want to get excited about it but at the moment am just very anxious about it all - it's not until August so hopeful Phoebe will be a nice calm dog by then (ha ha!!)

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

As Kate says all the info you need to travel is available on the DEFRA website including the tapeworm treatment needed to take Phoebe back into the UK. My main advice would be not too leave the rabies too close to departure, minimum is 21 days from the vaccination to travel, as it can make animals feel a bit poorly for a few days.

It's worth chatting with your vet about the best treatment but I find the advantix good - 1 pipette a month, followed by a Milbemax. Job done.

If you need any other info or advice, you know where I am., actually feeling jealous as we currently have no plans for a holiday. so much going on in life at the moment that we can't look that far ahead. :

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

Hullo! I'm in Andorra and will be travelling to the UK with my two at the start of May, going through the tunnel. We're driving up in one hit, overnight so hopefully the dogs will sleep. They already have their passports and rabies as a matter of course living here, so all we'll need to do before travelling is the tapeworm treatment the day before we travel, and a kennel cough vaccination because they'll be spending a night in kennels when we're over there.

We live in tick country here because of all the sheep and goats and our vet recommends Advantix, so they have that applied monthly. It's really easy to do - it's just a spot-on treatment.

We're taking ours on holiday in Spain with us in August, too - and my sister is bringing her cocker from the UK to join us.

The main bit of advice I was given by my sister was to make sure you go to the pet registration office BEFORE you get your tickets at the Channel Tunnel. I'll let you know how my trip goes in a couple of weeks!

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

Don't feel anxious,I think it's wonderful you can go on holis with your dog,you will have a lovely family trip x
Karen goes backwards and forwards quite a bit with Poppy and it looks like Fiona will have done a run just before you so I'm sure she will give you a heads up about her trip.The property sounds lovely....we have plans to fly Dexter back with us for Summer 2016 .....he will be nearly 4....... Think I might have underestimated the puppy stage ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

Sounds like you are really organised, and I am sure it will be a fabulous holiday! We are thinking of taking the dogs to France in September, so very interested in how you get on. Didn't realise the timing of the rabies vaccine, so that is useful to know

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

I just wouldn't go on holiday without my dog - when I got him, we just accepted that our holidays would be UK and Europe so he'd be coming too, and that's that. We've only done UK holidays so far, but nothing that I worried about eg would he pee in holiday cottages, be uncontrollable in strange pubs, fail to settle in a travel crate, and so on, turned out to be a problem. Sure, being out and about with a young, boisterous Labrador is guaranteed to bring embarrassing moments, but that's just something we all have to live with and learn to laugh about.

Take your dog, and enjoy it! I hope you get some good tips about travelling to and from France - it'll be interesting to hear them.

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

When taking your pet abroad the key area is preparation both for travel and every day needs. The DEFRA site gives very clear advice on the requirements to bring your pet back in to the UK, and I stress the entrance in to the UK. The checks on leaving the UK are minimal and from my experience of the tunnel consisted of a special window sticker and waving the pet passports at the check-in lady no other checks. She just presumed that I had the 2 cats I said I had in the car in their travel crates. :-\

Other bit of advice is to make sure you bring enough food for four legged friend. France still doesn't really have a concept of a pet store so you are restricted to what local supermarkets, garden centres or bricos stock, or possibly a local vet - why I order online and have delivered from the UK :

Happy to answer and questions....

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

Thank you so much everyone, I feel so much better and hopefully will start to look forward to it now, rather than dread it!!! I am going into the vet in a week to have a chat about tick / sandfly prevention and will book rabies jab and start pet passport process. I can imagine our roof box and car will be full of phoebe stuff - food / toys/ bed/ blankets/ treats/ crate etc etc.... Will just have to explain to my son that there won't be any room in the car for any of his toys and no clothes for my husband!!!!

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

Don't forget for the passport you must have a microchip first and then the rabies vaccination. Be prepared for the price of the passport. Outrageous price for what it is!

It's quite scary the amount of kit you need for the dog for a holiday - it's worse than having young children ;D

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

This sounds very exciting! I know what you mean about not being able to leave her, Jack & Barney are almost 11 months and I think they'd be distraught if we went away. We've booked a dog friendly cottage in England for a week in August, on a small working farm with a 1/4 acre enclosed garden. We're really looking forward to it, and we have full insurance for 6 adults and 2 dogs for just £32 which I thought was a bargain.

I would like to take OH back to New York for his 50th birthday next year, but still not sure I'll want to leave them in a year! We may consider asking out dog walker, who they adore, as they also offer dog sitting.

Lou x

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

[quote author=Looby Lou link=topic=10519.msg155817#msg155817 date=1428767370]

I would like to take OH back to New York for his 50th birthday next year, but still not sure I'll want to leave them in a year! We may consider asking out dog walker, who they adore, as they also offer dog sitting.

Lou x
[/quote]

I think it is important sometimes to have a break with our partners without having a dog or dogs along. The key is to find the dog sitter/kennels that you are happy to leave hour dogs with and try it out just for a night or two to begin with. I haven't left Juno yet as plans have kept changing this year, but when we first had our cats I visited every cattery in a 20 mile radius to us in the UK before I felt comfortable with one that I could leave my little ones with ;D

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

I agree Rosemary, and although we did find kennels we were happy with for our previous two labs, we felt as they got older it wasn't ideal for them, so they went to a dog boarder who lives a 10 minute walk from us and they loved it. The dog boarder also does doggy daycare and I just worry that the boys would get very little rest with other dogs around all day lol, the older two world take themselves off to beds out of the way. After losing our last two we made a decision to get two siblings, and part of that was to take them on holidays with us, to enjoy lovely long walks in the countryside Luckily our two sons who are 23 still live at home, so we could sneak off for a night away if we wanted.... But I think we would miss the boys too much lol ;D

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

[quote author=JulieT link=topic=10519.msg155745#msg155745 date=1428743039]
I just wouldn't go on holiday without my dog - when I got him, we just accepted that our holidays would be UK and Europe so he'd be coming too, and that's that.
[/quote]

I cry every time I go to the airport and in 2 years we've come back early from 3 holidays ;D
Unspokenly we seem to be doing tag team holidays now if it's a trip back to the UK...ie I go a few days ,chris follows on ,then I come back and Chris stays on....and I still nag about a camper van.....I think it's just mean that Chris won't give in!!!! ;D

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

[quote author=Looby Lou link=topic=10519.msg155888#msg155888 date=1428786557]
Luckily our two sons who are 23 still live at home, so we could sneak off for a night away if we wanted.... But I think we would miss the boys too much lol ;D
[/quote]

You mean you'd leave the care of your boys to your sons? How brave you are ;D ;D ;D

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

[quote author=MaccieD link=topic=10519.msg155974#msg155974 date=1428830157]
[quote author=Looby Lou link=topic=10519.msg155888#msg155888 date=1428786557]
Luckily our two sons who are 23 still live at home, so we could sneak off for a night away if we wanted.... But I think we would miss the boys too much lol ;D
[/quote]

You mean you'd leave the care of your boys to your sons? How brave you are ;D ;D ;D
[/quote]

I know!! We would have to build up with just one night at a time

We left our last two with them when we went to Ibiza for 10 days, as Max had just been diagnosed with lung cancer and we didn't want to leave them at the dog boarder. The list of instructions was huge, we still have it and it includes 'put Max's tablets in a piece of ham' 'say Ouch when he bites your fingers to get it' lol. My son text and said, what is wrong with the dogs when they've been fed, been for a walk, played fetch in the garden and he still barks at me??? The reply, he wants ham and more ham haha. Who trains who really.....?

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

[quote author=Looby Lou link=topic=10519.msg155975#msg155975 date=1428831085]
[quote author=MaccieD link=topic=10519.msg155974#msg155974 date=1428830157]
[quote author=Looby Lou link=topic=10519.msg155888#msg155888 date=1428786557]
Luckily our two sons who are 23 still live at home, so we could sneak off for a night away if we wanted.... But I think we would miss the boys too much lol ;D
[/quote]

You mean you'd leave the care of your boys to your sons? How brave you are ;D ;D ;D
[/quote]

I know!! We would have to build up with just one night at a time

We left our last two with them when we went to Ibiza for 10 days, as Max had just been diagnosed with lung cancer and we didn't want to leave them at the dog boarder. The list of instructions was huge, we still have it and it includes 'put Max's tablets in a piece of ham' 'say Ouch when he bites your fingers to get it' lol. My son text and said, what is wrong with the dogs when they've been fed, been for a walk, played fetch in the garden and he still barks at me??? The reply, he wants ham and more ham haha. Who trains who really.....?
[/quote]

Oh it's definitely the dogs train us ;D It's the ears cocked, head tilt and big eyes that win every time ;D

 

Re: Summer holiday - To France with the pup (Yes must be mad!!!)

I have been taking a dog to France 3 times year for 15 years since the inception of the Pets Passport scheme and can confirm that it is much easier now than when the scheme started. Speak to your UK vet and read/understand the instructions provided by the scheme. One important point often overlooked is the time that your French vet signs the passport is critical as there is a mandatory 24 hour delay from that time before you will be allowed to travel on the ferry/tunnel. I take my own Echinoccus drugs which I give to Benson but they are readily available in French vets. The cost (less drugs) is around 30 Euro. Bonne Chance!

Roger