Taking dog from UK to Portugal

[sanitybubble]

Hi

I'm looking to sail with my dog from the UK to Ireland over to France then down to Portugal. I know
I have to email Ireland at least 5 days before I land there. Does anyone know what I have to
Do regarding France and Portugal? My dog will have a European pet passport and all the vaccines etc.

Thanks

 

[C08]

I may be out of date on this but if not others will be quick to correct it but you are not allowed to take a dog to france/spain/other EU etc by a private boat as it has to be an Approved Carrier ie a ship or plane. The pet passport is not relevant to this restriction however we never had problems taking out dogs to Eire from the UK but that may be just a UK.Eire concession as we do not have Rabies or Sandworm etc endemic infections.

 

[geem]

I may be out of date on this but if not others will be quick to correct it but you are not allowed to take a dog to france/spain/other EU etc by a private boat as it has to be an Approved Carrier ie a ship or plane. The pet passport is not relevant to this restriction however we never had problems taking out dogs to Eire from the UK but that may be just a UK.Eire concession as we do not have Rabies or Sandworm etc endemic infections.

This is not correct. You can sail out of UK on a yacht. You can bring dog back on a yacht though

 

[macd]

You can bring dog back on a yacht though

Want to edit that typo, geem?

 

[maxi77]

We did it back in 2010 and no problems were checked once in France by the Douaniers and they only asked if we had a passport didn't want to see it. No interest in Spain and in Nazzare where you had to be checked by customs and GNR they did check it but only because it was a trainee.

 

[geem]

Want to edit that typo, geem?

Oops! Yep you CANT...... RUSHING NEVER WORKS!

 

[maby]

This has been discussed and researched a lot here over the last couple of years. There are no restrictions on taking a suitably vaccinated and chipped pet to France and the rest of continental Europe by private transport provided you have the appropriate passport and, in the case of Ireland at least, give appropriate warning. Equally, it is clear that you cannot bring a pet back into the UK on private transport even if the animal is fully vaccinated and documented.

The exception to this seems to be if you make a stop in the Irish Republic on the way back. The rules in this case are rather poorly defined - Eire does permit pets that meet all the other requirements to enter on private transport provided you do the necessary paperwork and give them sufficient notice. Equally, the Common Travel Area arrangements between Eire and Northern Ireland permit the movement of animals by private transport. There seems to be no doubt that you could legally sail from France to Dublin with your cat or dog, land and stay there for a few months and then sail to Britain. I guess that when they drew up the rules regarding the movement of animals with Pet Passports, it simply didn't occur to them that this loophole existed and there does not seem to be any mention of a minimum length of time that it must be resident in Eire, so it seems that you can get round the rules simply by stopping off for fuel and a coffee in Dublin.