Taking a dog to the French coast. Advice sought.

S

sailingcatlady

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 Apr 2007
Messages
177
Location
Live 10 miles from Oxford
Visit site
A live-aboard friend has a live-aboard dog. He is longing to go to France, has all the pilots books and charts; he has also got the pets' passport sorted. However, he doesn't want to go through the regular hassle, with using the approved ferry and so on and on ....
He is wondering this: if he sails over, and anchors within dinghying distance of the coast, but leaves the dog onboard, and never takes it ashore, would this be legal? IMHO it would be, but he is very nervous about this, so I am passing the question on to all you experts out there.
 
Easy

Sail half way over. Tie dog onto large buoy marking TSS somewhere. Have day out in France, get GPS to reciprocal course you back to dog. Bonus is dog will be delighted to see you even more than usual.

Sometime the answer is just staring you in the face. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Tim
 
[ QUOTE ]
Good plan but when does it poop? My advice is if live-aboard friend has any regard for Mr Poop don't do it. The dog is the one who will suffer whichever way it goes.

[/ QUOTE ]

poop?

mr poop?

what are you talking about????
 
Sail half way over. Tie dog onto large buoy marking TSS somewhere. Have day out in France, get GPS to reciprocal course you back to dog...

That's disgusting; how could anyone be so cruel as to make such a suggestion?

It would prove far less stressful for the dog if you were to have it put to sleep and stuffed before departing, then you could take it all the way to France and back; as you say sometimes the answer is just staring you in the face. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I think you will find that its coming back to UK when the dog must travel on approved transport and have been treated for worms/ticks by a vet 24hrs before travel. IIRR no problems going.
 
One of my duties is dealing with smuggled dogs.

Agree with others it's the return to Blighty that is your problem. Pet Passported dogs must still go through the approved routes. If you are caught smuggling you face unpleasant choices.
a) take it back to France immediately
b) quarantine kennels
c) euthanasia (dog not you)
 
Just imagine yourself explaining to the customs guy that you took the dog to France but didn't take it ashore. Is he likely to believe you? What proof do you have?

In theory you could be stopped if you bring a dog ashore after a trip round the bay and it would be up to you to prove you hadn't been abroad.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Taking a dog to the French coast. Advice sought.

[/ QUOTE ]

There's a few round here he can take whilst he's about it. Only tell him not to bring them back.
 
"a) take it back to France immediately
b) quarantine kennels
c) euthanasia (dog not you) "

Just curious, if someone chooses option b - quarantine, then providing a pet passport exists (and held for appropriate length of time, etc, etc) then the vet could come and administer the mandatory treatment, wait 24 hours then apply for a licence for early release from quarantine? Should only take a few days in total? Wouldn't that be easier than going via the approved route?

I'd always assumed that there'd be some sort of fine/sentence/criminal record involved?
 
[ QUOTE ]
"a) take it back to France immediately
b) quarantine kennels
c) euthanasia (dog not you) "

Just curious, if someone chooses option b - quarantine, then providing a pet passport exists (and held for appropriate length of time, etc, etc) then the vet could come and administer the mandatory treatment, wait 24 hours then apply for a licence for early release from quarantine? Should only take a few days in total? Wouldn't that be easier than going via the approved route?

I'd always assumed that there'd be some sort of fine/sentence/criminal record involved?

[/ QUOTE ]

I must admit I can see little reason for the UK's insistance on specific commercial carriers and the additional medical checks, so precisely what the implications of option b would be are quite interesting.
 
A quarantine kennels wont take a dog unless money up front. Too many times they've been left with a worthless abandoned dog.

They may ask for 6 months fees to be in their bank before they collect the dog. This may run into many £000s.

A ministry vet will assess the risk and may allow release anytime. Being so soon after BSE and Foot & Mouth they are very cautious about taking even the slightest chance.
 
[quote

I must admit I can see little reason for the UK's insistance on specific commercial carriers and the additional medical checks, so precisely what the implications of option b would be are quite interesting.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think that the reason for certain commercial carriers lies in the way the Pet passport system is operated. I obtained Pet passports for my two Springers when the passoprt system was first introduced.

When leaving the UK for another country, eg France, there is now no requiremet to produces any documentation to prove that the pet has had a rabies jab. It used to be necessary, in the early days to have a vet sign a document verifying the health of the animal, but that is not now necessary. So you can take your pet to, say France, without any documentation whatever. However if you are going to live there, the animal needs to be innoculated against rabies every 12 months, and as far as I know that is a legal requirement.

However, because the UK is rabies free it is necessary to have the documentation, which is compared with the animal by way of the embedded micro chip, checked prior to leaving the foreign country. Also it is necessary to have the animal treated for ticks etc. between 24 and 48 hours before leaving the foreign country.

It was obviously simpler and more cost effective to restrict the centres for checking the animals to the major ports so therfore the onus was put on the carriers to administer it. Remember there are probably more pet owners who are not boat owners who take their animals abroad. I did when I owned a property in France.

OK, I've do doubt that some people get away with it by taking Fido on the boat over to France, and because there are no import checks over there they get away with it, also if they are returning to their home port where there are no officials they will probably get away with it, but if they are found out then beware the penalties. The animal could be 'put down', or put into quarantine at their expense and they could be fined as well.
 
The authorised carriers are supplied with the emplanted chip readers. The info from the emplanted chip must match the passport info or no travel and dog remains overseas.
 
I hear what you say, but the reality is still that even with the need for the additional and in my view not required medical certification before leaving foreign shores there is no need for the restriction in modes of travel, and to a certain extent the use of such restricted carriers actually leaves us more exposed to improper landing of animals in the UK.

Interestingly the rabies prevention schemes in Europe are turning out to be quite succesful and the last data I saw indicated that WHO now considers France to be rabies free.

Personally I put most of our additional restrictions down not to a clinical need but rather to officials in DEFRA trying to get their own back for being forced to accede to the pet passport scheme.
 
I supoport the pets scheme, if you had ever seen anybody DIE of rabies, you would be a supporter as well!

Once Europe is rabies free, I will support stopping the scheme, until then......

Why does everybody moan about our scheme, think about Oz, you arent even allowed to take a chocolate bar there, never mind a dog. Stop knocking te system, when it works.

If you are going there to live, then fine you can jump through all the hoops, if not, leave the dog/cat at home or put it in kennels for a couple of weeks holiday, simple.
Cant see what all the fuss is about! Jeeze!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top