# Taking a dog to UK



## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Has anyone taken their pet dog to the UK from Spain under the PETS scheme. 
If so:
Did you fly or drive?
Which route did you take car- ferry/tunnel?
How did you cope with the vaccination more than 24 hours and less than 48 hours rule? If you went cross channel did you get a jab in France or Spain ?

Any other tips or info?
Thanks


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## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

baldilocks said:


> Has anyone taken their pet dog to the UK from Spain under the PETS scheme.
> If so:
> Did you fly or drive?
> Which route did you take car- ferry/tunnel?
> ...


we brought our dog over here by air,so Iguess it would be the same in the reverse trip. when we btought her from HK to Scotland via London she had to boarded at approved kenel before being allowed to make the final part of the trip.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

dunmovin said:


> we brought our dog over here by air,so Iguess it would be the same in the reverse trip. when we btought her from HK to Scotland via London she had to boarded at approved kenel before being allowed to make the final part of the trip.


We want to avail ourselves of the PETS pet passport scheme which does not involve their being boarded or quarantined. According to DEFRA there are only certain ways you can do this:
By car and then ferry (Spain-UK, France-UK, etc)
By car then tunnel
Fly but the dog has to go air cargo and has to be handled by a cargo handling agent, which means b*ggering about at MAD (appropriate 3 letter code for Barajas) since BA and Iberia don't have handling agents at GRX or AGP.

Also according to DEFRA bmi and bmibaby are authorised carriers but there is nothing on their websites for pets.

My preference is to drive to Calais then take the tunnel. We could probably take him without declaring him and get away with it, having seen the number of illegal immigrants that still somehow manage to get through!


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

A friend of mine did the quick-jab-48-hour dash through France with their dog recently. Total madness! You can take them on the Santander/Plymouth ferry for a reasonable amount and they get their own kennel.

Flying with a dog costs about €400 each way and not all airlines do it.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

baldilocks said:


> My preference is to drive to Calais then take the tunnel. We could probably take him without declaring him and get away with it, having seen the number of illegal immigrants that still somehow manage to get through!


Why not just dump him out of the car at the French end, drive through and then whistle him up from Dover?


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## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

baldilocks said:


> We want to avail ourselves of the PETS pet passport scheme which does not involve their being boarded or quarantined. According to DEFRA there are only certain ways you can do this:
> By car and then ferry (Spain-UK, France-UK, etc)
> By car then tunnel
> Fly but the dog has to go air cargo and has to be handled by a cargo handling agent, which means b*ggering about at MAD (appropriate 3 letter code for Barajas) since BA and Iberia don't have handling agents at GRX or AGP.
> ...


Don't eventhink on that one, if you get caught , you only get fined, but the dog gets dead.


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## Southview2010 (Sep 15, 2010)

I agree with the last post, not a good idea.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Alcalaina said:


> Why not just dump him out of the car at the French end, drive through and then whistle him up from Dover?


That was how we got him in the first place - he was either lost or abandoned in the now last winter!


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

i also agree with the last post on this one, coming from the UK to spain the documents never get checked BUT on the return they do. If your dog does not have everything in order you will be facing 6 months quarantine!

i guess if you decide to drive through france you could always locate a french VET along route to give the final wormers etc etc if you dont fancy a mad dash!

A friend of mind said that they went to the UK with the dog and the vet post dated the final tick and worm treatment by 24 hours giving them 3 days to get to the UK, I guess some vets may be willing to do this... not strictly legal but then again this is spain, I don't think its really going to endanger public health in the UK too much is it!

best advice, talk to your vet here, see what they recommend!

I presume you have the passports and it has been a min of 6 months since the blood tests were all done and passed for rabies?


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## Seb* (Mar 22, 2009)

The easiest way is to get your spanish vet to change the date of the worm and parasit treatments a bit to give you more time. If you don´t find a willing vet I would suggest to locate a vet in Calais (or where ever you take the ferry from). I am sure they get to do the treatments a lot.

As others said, make sure the bloodtest (or rather the date when the blood sample was taken) is at least 6 months old, cause this is the most common breaking point for importing cats and dogs into the UK.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Have just had an e-mail from P&O to say that their Portsmouth/Bilbao service terminates at the end of September and they have no plans to reintroduce. They also say that they did not carry pets on that service because it was too long.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

baldilocks said:


> Have just had an e-mail from P&O to say that their Portsmouth/Bilbao service terminates at the end of September and they have no plans to reintroduce. They also say that they did not carry pets on that service because it was too long.


This is correct - a real shame that P&O are stopping this service, the pride of Bilbao was a great solid ship that made Biscay seem like Dover-Calais (usually, although I have been on it in severe storms!!) :tongue1: Their crossing takes a while and they dont take animals anyway...

Brittany Ferries only take 24 hours for the crossing and have kennels!


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

baldilocks said:


> Have just had an e-mail from P&O to say that their Portsmouth/Bilbao service terminates at the end of September and they have no plans to reintroduce. They also say that they did not carry pets on that service because it was too long.



Are you sure?? Cos we were booked on the Bilbao - Portsmouth ferry on 7th August just gone and our dogs were booked into their kennels on there for the trip! (altho it may have been Brittany Ferries??)

As for the Tick and tape worm jab, our local vet was only too happy to post date the record so that we had a little more time to get to the ferry. She said that she was happy that it was safe to do so and she'd done it often. Apparently the vets in the ferry towns are horrendously expensive cos there are a lot of people who have to use them, for obvious reasons!

Jo xxx


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Baldi, are you going back to England then????

Jo xxx


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

jojo said:


> Are you sure?? Cos we were booked on the Bilbao - Portsmouth ferry on 7th August just gone and our dogs were booked into their kennels on there for the trip! (altho it may have been Brittany Ferries??)
> 
> As for the Tick and tape worm jab, our local vet was only too happy to post date the record so that we had a little more time to get to the ferry. She said that she was happy that it was safe to do so and she'd done it often. Apparently the vets in the ferry towns are horrendously expensive cos there are a lot of people who have to use them, for obvious reasons!
> 
> Jo xxx


Definately Brittany with the kennels!


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## uffington15 (May 4, 2009)

Seb* said:


> The easiest way is to get your spanish vet to change the date of the worm and parasit treatments a bit to give you more time. If you don´t find a willing vet I would suggest to locate a vet in Calais (or where ever you take the ferry from). I am sure they get to do the treatments a lot.
> 
> As others said, make sure the bloodtest (or rather the date when the blood sample was taken) is at least 6 months old, cause this is the most common breaking point for importing cats and dogs into the UK.


The six months runs from the date of the blood teat showing clear not from when it was taken


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

uffington15 said:


> The six months runs from the date of the blood teat showing clear not from when it was taken


i may be wrong on this BUT i was told it was 6 months from the date of the blood being taken... in spain it took 3 months to get the blood results back from Madrid...but the vet said to me we can travel 6 months from the date he took the blood!

forgive me if i am misinformed on this


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

steve_in_spain said:


> i may be wrong on this BUT i was told it was 6 months from the date of the blood being taken... in spain it took 3 months to get the blood results back from Madrid...but the vet said to me we can travel 6 months from the date he took the blood!
> 
> forgive me if i am misinformed on this


I was told (and their passports confirm this) that provided the blood test was found positive (containing rabies anti bodies) then they can travel 6 months after the "blood taken" date! Of course this could be a problem if you have to wait for three months for the results if they come back negative (no anti bodies) and you then have to go thru the whole thing again!!

Jo xx


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

jojo said:


> I was told (and their passports confirm this) that provided the blood test was found positive (containing rabies anti bodies) then they can travel 6 months after the "blood taken" date! Of course this could be a problem if you have to wait for three months for the results if they come back negative (no anti bodies) and you then have to go thru the whole thing again!!
> 
> Jo xx


sounds like my vet was right then! mind you my six months are well and truly up!

another word of advice though.... in the UK the vet stamped in their passports that they rabies jabs are every 2 years, the vet here did advise for dogs to do it every year... don't know if he is after a few quid extra or if he has a point but we took his advice just to avoid any problems if we do ever want to return to blighty


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

steve_in_spain said:


> i may be wrong on this BUT i was told it was 6 months from the date of the blood being taken... in spain it took 3 months to get the blood results back from Madrid...but the vet said to me we can travel 6 months from the date he took the blood!
> 
> forgive me if i am misinformed on this


Our vet does the testing himself & you get the result quite quickly. He'll also post-date the paperwork by 24hrs. Another thing is using the tunnel when you are going to the UK there's a 30 pound charge ( that was in 2002 , probably gone up by now ! ) for checking the dogs paperwork. There's no charge coming out of the UK though. Don't know if there's a charge on the ferries . 

Yes Jo, the Bilbao portsmouth run finishes in september.

Steve as far as I know it's the law here, DhppiL + rabies every year along with worming every 3 months. It all gets noted in the book. Worming was only done once a year in the UK & not recorded in the book !


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

steve_in_spain said:


> sounds like my vet was right then! mind you my six months are well and truly up!
> 
> another word of advice though.... in the UK the vet stamped in their passports that they rabies jabs are every 2 years, the vet here did advise for dogs to do it every year... don't know if he is after a few quid extra or if he has a point but we took his advice just to avoid any problems if we do ever want to return to blighty


Mine said the same. Renew them every year regardless as its cheaper and less time consuming than if you were to leave it until you think you need to go back. You've just gotta do it havent you! Its different in the UK, you dont have to wait the six months if you're leaving there, also there is no rabies there. So maybe every two years is ok

Jo xx


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## Seb* (Mar 22, 2009)

uffington15 said:


> The six months runs from the date of the blood teat showing clear not from when it was taken


It´s definitly from the time the blood was taken.

And yes UK vets write 2 years into the passport. All spanish vets renew it yearly. We had ours refreshed after one year, when we put the chips on the spanish database, just to be sure.


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