Dogs on yachts going abroad

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Bettydotdee

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We have recently read the article in YM re the owners of a black labrador called Oscar going to Brittany with its owners, we also read 'Long Dog to Cauccasone' this summer. We have three dogs on our boat: two black labs and a terrier, they are all micro chipped, rabies vaccinated, titre scored and ready to go abroad. We understood that dogs could not arrive or leave France on a yact but must go through ports of entry i.e. ferry ports. Is this correct, how have these other people managed to arrive and leave with their dogs?
 
Perhaps it is returning to the UK that is more of a problem? Did the articles say if they were brought back to this country by ferry?
 
From UK to France is no problem - no restrictions at all: own boat is fine.

Coming back: big difference. Mutts have to travel on an "approved carrier" e.g. ferry or tunnel-by-car (not tunnel by passenger train). Need to be vetted before return also. The big problem seems to be that the carriers need you to present yourself and mutt in a car.

The Dieppe Newhaven ferry will take pets for foot passengers but only a small number, gets booked up and you have to provide a cage of approved design.

Others have posted on here that they have brought pets back as foot passengers on other routes but when I checked with the routes they said no. It may be that if you just turn up its different.
 
If you get caught smuggling your dogs back in you will be presented with three options.

1. Take them back to where you came from
2. Put them in to quarantine kennels (pricey)
3. Have them sent to doggy heaven (at your expense)
 
EdWingfield said:
If you get caught smuggling your dogs back in you will be presented with three options.

1. Take them back to where you came from
2. Put them in to quarantine kennels (pricey)
3. Have them sent to doggy heaven (at your expense)
Click to expand...

We investigated option 2 a few years ago, not in the context of smuggling, but in the context of bringing them in with an advance licence from DEFRA. It is pricey, but they don't need to be in for six months, more like about 4 days while the quarantine kennels get their vets to do the de-ticking then apply for an early release on account of having a valid pet passport. The quarantine kennels needs to pick up the animals from your boat, and I think it still needs to be at one of the approved ports (we agreed halfpenny quay at Harwich as i don't think we would have been welcome at Parkestone!)

We didn't do it in the end - the estimated cost of £350 for two cats was even more expensive than leaving the boat in the Netherlands, one of us coming back by ferry to pick up the car, going to vets over there for the worming, back again by ferry with cats, leaving cats with relatives at home, then getting ferry back to be reunited with pussies. However I imagine it would have been much less fuss.

By the way the initial DEFRA line was always to use the approved carriers - we had to discuss it quite a way up the food chain before we found the people to help us. The key thing to remember is that you're not trying to import an animal under the PETS scheme, you are importing an animal into quarantine, and then applying for early release from quarantine due to having a valid pet passport/rabies status.

I'd be interested to hear the comments of anyone who has actually gone through with this (if indeed anyone has?). We're planning to cruise the Azores in a couple of years time so will need to think about it again.
 
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Just looked at the current DEFRA website, they now specify Parkestone quay - previously they just said "Harwich". So maybe that loophole is now closed (as in agreeing to a yacht friendly quay at the same port).

However they don't specify a quay at Portsmouth........
 
Marees reply is very interesting. We stayed in uk this year because of new mutt. Looks to me like import into quarantine then apply for parole may be an answer. 350 beer vouchers is not too bad in the grand scheme of the cost of sailing. Thanks.

<edit>Been on DEFRA website and now understand what you mean about Harwich. Presumably it would be possible to land mutt at Parkstone from a yacht, with prior arrangement and avoiding times when big ships were in. Wouldn't need long.</edit>
 
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Check out this page : http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/travel/pets/regulation/eu-reg.htm which confirms "Animals that enter the UK on an unapproved route must be licensed into quarantine with a view to obtaining early release. This must be arranged before the animal travels to the UK. "

The current arrangements (as detailed on same page) are applicable until June 2010. Now the UK has already had a 5 year interim allowance for these draconian rules, followed by a two year extension and have apparently applied for a further 18 months to end of 2011. Hopefully one day there will be some relaxation to bring into line with rest of EU.

Contrary to popular belief, the rules on carriage are nothing to do with rabies - it's to do with the tick treatment. Some other EU countries also require the treatment, for example Sweden and Finland, but only require you to have it done within the ten days prior to arrival (instead of the UK between 24 and 48 hours) and have no problem about carriage on your own vessel.
 
Our experience

We arrived back last week after 4 months in France. Our 2 dogs were picked up a week earlier by a relative who came over in her car. We thought that we'd done everything by the book, vaccinations, passports, and worm and tick treatment between 24 - 48 hrs before departure on the Roscoff Plymouth ferry with dogs in a crate in the car. Relative set off with dogs to catch ferry and we quickly departed en route to Ile De Batz.

Halfway there we had a frantic phone call - when was Busters microchip put in? What's the relevance of when it was done, after all it hads to be done preior to him getting his passport, no microchip no passport. But that had nothing to do with it. Pure beaurocracy, seems our vet (who charged £30 just for the issuing of each passport!) had stamped and signed to say that Buster was chipped but omitted to put in the date. Because of this they were going to refuse to let him on the ferry. After many perplexed phone calls common sense finally reigned and he was allowed to travel but the French vet said this was a fairly common problem where the UK vet leaves just one piece of info off the passport and they regularly turn pet away. Apparently owner then has to return to UK to get passport ammended, travel back to France, have dog deticked and wormed and then and only then allowed to return with pet to UK.

Why DEFRA do not put a complete check list on their site heavan only knows. Without it how can an owner possibly know if there's something missing from the passport? Haven't done it yet, but I will be having an interesting conversation with our vet. His ommission could have caused extreme inconvenience and expense.
 
shmoo said:
Presumably it would be possible to land mutt at Parkstone from a yacht, with prior arrangement and avoiding times when big ships were in. Wouldn't need long.</edit>
Click to expand...

No. Dogs must go by approved route and ferry company/airline that has the chip readers and trained staff.
 
EdWingfield said:
No. Dogs must go by approved route and ferry company/airline that has the chip readers and trained staff.
Click to expand...

You are incorrect. We were discussing importation of dogs/cats under a DEFRA import licence into quarantine via a non-approved carrier. You are referring to the restrictions of the PETS passport scheme.
 
Yes, because it is an alternative to using the PETS scheme.

Perhaps a theoretical alternative as I've not actually tried it, but did discuss the possibility in great detail with both DEFRA and a licenced quarantine kennel in 2007. It would seem to be much easier on the animals than using the PETS scheme (from a boat - for most travellers in their own cars anyway, the PETS scheme is fine), however the costs were still very high, and in my case money was tight so we didn't pursue it.
 
How about the Channel Islands

Thank you for replies to our query re Dogs going abroad. Can we take our dogs unrestricted to Jersey and Guernsey?
 
Alderney

We took our dog to Alderney in 2007. She was chipped and passported and we had planned to go to Cherbourg first until we found out about the approved route approved carrier thing. Panic! So we went directly to Alderney, flew the Q flag and cleared customs there declaring the Canine crew member. This was officially recorded. We experienced no problems at all and presume the same applies to the other main Channel Islands. However, we did overlook notifying UK customs about our departure and return which I found out that we should have done on our return.
 
Seah0rse said:
We took our dog to Alderney in 2007. She was chipped and passported and we had planned to go to Cherbourg first until we found out about the approved route approved carrier thing. Panic! So we went directly to Alderney, flew the Q flag and cleared customs there declaring the Canine crew member. This was officially recorded. We experienced no problems at all and presume the same applies to the other main Channel Islands. However, we did overlook notifying UK customs about our departure and return which I found out that we should have done on our return.
Click to expand...

Where did you see the bit about informing UK customs both on departure and return? That's news to me having been many times with our dogs to the CIs.
 
Extract from HM Revenue & Customs website and the link for the 'Full Monty'.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channels...HMCE_CL_000289&propertyType=document#P22_1156

4.2 Do I need to notify Customs of my arrival?
Whether you need to notify your arrival to customs depends upon where your last port of call was. If you are arriving directly from an EU Member State, you need only contact Customs if you have goods to declare. However, there may still be immigration requirements that need to be met and you should refer to paragraph 4.9 for details.

When arriving direct from a country outside the EU (the Channel Islands are regarded as outside the EU for this purpose), you must telephone the National Yachtline on 0845 723 1110. You will need to inform them if any of the following apply:

VAT has not been paid on the vessel;
you have any goods in excess of the travellers’ allowance detailed in Notice 1 A Customs guide for travellers entering the UK;
you have on board goods which are to be treated as duty free stores;
you have any prohibited or restricted goods;
there is any notifiable illness on board;
there are any people on board who need immigration clearance; or
any repairs or modifications, other than running repairs, which have been carried out since the vessel last left the EU.
You will need to comply with any further instructions that the Customs officer gives you.

You may also be asked to complete parts (i), (iii) and the declaration box on Form C1331. If you already have a Form C1331 part (ii) on board from when you left the UK, you should complete part (iii) amending details of persons on board if necessary and sign and date the form again. You can get Form C1331 from most local yacht clubs and marinas, Customs offices listed in Section 7, or from the HM Customs and Excise Website at www.hmce.gov.uk.

You should place the completed form in the marina’s custom post box or post it to the local Customs office.

Except for contacting Customs as above, you must not land goods or persons or transfer them to another vessel until a Customs officer says that you may do so.
 
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