taking a dog to Europe (and back)

volatis

volatis

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 May 2007
Messages
4,017
Location
Warwickshire, England
www.volatis.co.uk
So I have had a quick look on the defra website but I wondered if anyone had first hand experience of taking a dog from the Uk to say Germany or France, and then returning back to the Uk at some point later.

I know the dog ahs to be chipped and vaccinated and you need to apply for a pet passport (does the vet issue these?) but fromn what I can understand the dog can only come back to the UK after it has been blood tested clear for rabies in germany, and that must be 6 months in advance. I know that cant be true as if you take your dog on holiday you surely dont wait 6 months before bringing it home.
 
I think the dog has to test clear for rabies six months after the vaccination - effectively a quarantine period that can be served 'at home' so to speak. Most people wanting to take their dog abroad from the UK will vaccinate well in advance, so the dog can then travel when they want to. The chip, vaccination and blood test must be done in a particular order, otherwise the dog will be ineligible to travel.

You can only use certain approved routes, probably listed on DEFRA, and I know that you must have the dog tretaed for tick and tapeworm 48 hours before coming home, so you will need to arrange this Germany, france or wherever you are holidaying - if this treatment is done too early or late you could find your pet being bange dinto quarantine on arrival at home awaiting veterinary clearance at your expense...

Haven't done it myself, but studied the rules as part of a college course a few years ago...
 
^^^^^^^^^^ What she says :D plus, some friends of mine take their dogs to France every year and I know they have to take the dog to see a French vet for a health check within (I think) 12 hours of arriving in the country.
 
Volatis yes the rabies thing (having to wait 6 months) is true, but it's a one-off, once in a lifetime thing (because after that initial process, all you'll have to do is simply do a yearly booster for the rabies vaccination) you don't have to repeat the whole thing every time the dog goes abroad ;)
We have done it for Florimell just in case she ever has to come to the UK with me and it really was a straightforward process.

The tick and flea treatment will be easy for you to arrange from where you are, a friend of mine had some 'logistics' problems when she went home to the UK from Italy and couldn't find an open vet in the right time 'window' and in the end missed the ferry, if I remember correctly, but you are in Northern Germany and it's such a short drive to the port (assuming you'd get the ferry from Belgium or Holland) that it really should be dead easy to organise.
 
As I understand it and correct me if I am wrong:

You need to have your dog microchipped and have an approved vet inspector (most vets are approved) issue a Blue Passport. At the same time you can vaccinate for rabbies.

This is sufficient for exporting the animal to a country like France for example.

For re-entry to the UK you need proof that the vaccine for rabbies has been effective. Dogs are tested twice, once 3 weeks after the vaccination and once six months after. If they show rabbies antibodies they can be imported in the UK.

You can spend this 6 month period in the UK well before you travel, or spend it abroad after you have left the UK (or half and half, or whatever, the main thing is 6 months between first rabbies shot and blood testing). Some vets recommend a second rabbies vaccination in the 6 month period to ensure the antibodies show on the blood test.

You then need yearly rabbies vaccinations recorded on the Passport.
 
The dog must have a full pets passport before being allowed into the UK otherwise it will go into quarantine. The procedure is the dog must first be microchipped, then rabies vaccinated (those 2 can be done the same day). Approx (varies with vacc manufacture guideline) 3 weeks AFTER the rabies vacc blood is drawn and sent off to an approved lab for antibody titre test. Once the titre shows a minimum of 0.05 IU/ml then the dog will be issued with a pets passport. Whenever the dog leaves the UK after it will still not be allowed back in until 6 calendar months have passed from the date the blood sample was drawn.

The tick and tapeworm treatment to allow the dog back into the UK is to be given by a vet and the passport stamped, time and date recorded, and signed no less than 24 hours of check in for the journey back to the UK (I.E. ferry check in etc), and no more than 48 hours. The treatment is also product specific, the wormer must treat Echinoccocus multilocularis (prezinquantel), and the tick treatment licensed for use in the administering country (Advatix, Frontline, etc).

If someone takes their dog out of the UK on holiday they normally would have applied for the pets passport a good 10 months in advance to allow for a possible fail titre and therefore a chance to retest.
 
I just started the process and I can verify that the passport is issued at the time of microchipping and rabbies vaccine. You can then choose whether to finish the process in the UK and then export and be ready to import at any time, OR export wait for the tests and then import.
 
One oddity to add - I have a friend whose springer x cocker goes everywhere with them - she has been passported and goes out for trips to europe.

However, there is an odd quirk - they share a plane so can fly Holly out but means my friend has to get the train back because the dog can only come back into the UK by certain routes! This dog has been to Austria, Spain and France. Travelled more last year than I did!
 
I don't know the exact procedure, but many german shepherd exhibitors take their dogs back and forth to Germany for showing and breeding (my Evie was conceived in Germany), and this is usually only a trip of 2 or 3 days.
 
Booboos said:
. Dogs are tested twice, once 3 weeks after the vaccination and once six months after
QUOTE]

The blood test is only 3 weeks after the initial vaccination. You don't get another one done in 6 months again. The only exception would be if you were travelling into Sweden and then their time scale for the titre is different to ours, they require 120 days after the vaccination.

Mind you wait till 2012 and it could all well change. The EU is determined to bring UK, Ireland, Malta, Finland, and Sweden into line with the rest of the EU countries and have a standard protocol which may well end the rabies shots (or reduce the time to a month or so after vaccination) and the tick / tapeworm treatment for re-entry into the UK.
Click to expand...
 
Zoisrus said:
Booboos said:
. Dogs are tested twice, once 3 weeks after the vaccination and once six months after
QUOTE]

The blood test is only 3 weeks after the initial vaccination. You don't get another one done in 6 months again. The only exception would be if you were travelling into Sweden and then their time scale for the titre is different to ours, they require 120 days after the vaccination.
Click to expand...

I most definitely had to do a blood test after 6 months, and my friend who brought her dog back home to the UK also had to do a blood test after 6 months.
Click to expand...
 
FrodoBeutlin said:
Zoisrus said:
I most definitely had to do a blood test after 6 months, and my friend who brought her dog back home to the UK also had to do a blood test after 6 months.
Click to expand...

I have never had to do another 6 month test since inception of the pets passport, have 11 dogs travelling in and out of the UK to mainland Europe several times a year. Last trip was just over a week ago to Denmark and back. Just asked my vet about what your posts have said and she has no idea at all why they would require a 6 month test either.
Click to expand...
 
thanks for the advice everyone.

i am in germany, probably staying here for at least another year assuming a better job doesnt come up in the UK in the meantime. But then will be travelling back home. My dog is currently with a friend in the UK but I am missing him like mad. He is microchipped, but what you are all saying is, I need to arrange for him to have a rabies shot, and be issued with a passport.

Then I can bring him over on the ferry (on a route that allows dogs) and 6 months after his rabbies jab he can be blood tested and I can bring him back to the UK any time after that (assuming the blood test showed the rabies anti bodies). So I have to be certain I am going to stay here in germany at least 6 months from when he has the rabies jab.
 
FrodoBeutlin said:
Vet here - I have NEVER heard of any dog having to take a titre test after 6 months in the UK! The procedure in the UK is microchip - rabies vaccination - blood test 2 weeks to 30 days AFTER the vaccination (depends on vaccine manufacture guideline). Providing the titre is 0.5 iu/ml the dog is free to leave the UK anytime but cannot return until 6 calendar months from the date the blood was drawn for the titre test.

Did you have a fail on the titre and have to revaccinate? Or did you miss a booster - that is very date specific.
Click to expand...
 
I imported a dog from Germany (nr Dortmund) in 2007. He was chipped and rabies vaccinated at 3 months old (29th Sept 2006). Blood test sample taken on 30th Oct 2006, titre was good. Therefore the first date he was allowed to travel to the UK was 1st May 2007. He has never had to have another blood test at all even though I do travel him to shows in Europe. His boosters are done in accordance with my vet every 2 yrs.

I also imported a bitch from Sweden. Again exactly the same procedure and time spans between vaccination and being allowed to travel to the UK. Blood test done on 15th May 2007 and therefore allowed to enter the UK on 16th November 2007. No other blood test done after 6 months.

Just travelled 2 younger dogs to Denmark - both vaccinated 15/11/09. Blood drawn for titre test on 07/12/09. Both passed and if I had taken them out of the UK early on the first date they would have been allowed back in was 08/06/10. But again they did not require another blood test 6 months after the initial rabies vaccine.
 
volatis said:
thanks for the advice everyone.

i am in germany, probably staying here for at least another year assuming a better job doesnt come up in the UK in the meantime. But then will be travelling back home. My dog is currently with a friend in the UK but I am missing him like mad. He is microchipped, but what you are all saying is, I need to arrange for him to have a rabies shot, and be issued with a passport.

Then I can bring him over on the ferry (on a route that allows dogs) and 6 months after his rabbies jab he can be blood tested and I can bring him back to the UK any time after that (assuming the blood test showed the rabies anti bodies). So I have to be certain I am going to stay here in germany at least 6 months from when he has the rabies jab.
Click to expand...

No it is NOT 6 months from the rabies vaccination. It is 6 months from the day the blood sample is taken AFTER the rabies vaccination - providing the antibodies show in the titre as sufficient.
 
You know, I might have got awfully confused - maybe it was only one blood test and then a six month wait, the idea being that if the dogs HAS rabies then it would be dead within six months? Is this correct (if simplistic!)

I was 100% sure we had to do two blood tests but I do get things like this wrong occasionally :)
 
You had me in a bit of a panic for a while there! I was starting wo wonder if all this time I and my vet had missed off some important section. Even though I travel alot abroad with my dogs I always have a mild "butterfly in the stomach" moment when they check the passports on the return journey at check in! A couple of weeks ago I had a French ferry official tutting away and shaking his head at the dates on one dog's passport when he was checking the tick / tapeworm treatment stamp. I just KNEW I had doubled checked the vets entry on both dogs I had with me. The I realised he was looking on the wrong page.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top