Taking our dog to the France.

[asteven221]

Thanks again everyone for your advice and information. Ireland sounds at least an option. What I need to now figure out is if anchoring off the coast of the UK, is treated the same as landing in the UK. For us sailing from France direct to Ireland is like an ocean crossing! Maybe it would be a good challenge. Not so sure SWMBO would be up for that.

The dog carrier is possibly another option.

Thanks.

 

[sailingmartin]

I have done the Irish route back from NW Spain to the UK with my dog. As others have said, going out to France presents no problems. However, if you are planning to go to the Channel Islands, you must go directly from the UK, not via France. My dog has a Portuguese pet passport so visiting Ireland merely involves getting him a worm pill from the vet pre departure. I sailed directly from A Coruna to Cork. Ireland to England has no problems apart from ringing Yachtline on arrival. As far as I know, anchoring is like landing in any country, but you might get away with it if you explained your position and guaranteed that you were not going to land. There again, relying on the common sense of an immigration official is always going to be a risky strategy.

 

[Koeketiene]

You can also go via Ireland. They are happy to have your dog arrive by yacht and then we have a common travel area with them so you can cross the Irish Sea with your dog on board.

Not quite so



Source: Bringing pets to Ireland

 

[asteven221]

What's the deal with pet ferrets? How many people have pet ferrets? It seems that there must be loads of them, as all the government web sites say "cat, dog or ferret". I have never met anyone in my life with a pet ferret!!!

 

[footsoldier]

I have never met anyone in my life with a pet ferret!!!

You must have lived a sheltered life.

Out here in the countryside there are numerous people with ferrets - although most would describe them as working animals, not as pets - and I doubt if even the most ardent enthusiast would take them on trips abroad.

However amongst urbanites they are apparently quite a popular pet, hence the need for inclusion in the passport rules. My daughter has an AirBnB and is surprised by the number of guests who enquire if they can bring ferrets with them.

 

[asteven221]

You must have lived a sheltered life.

Out here in the countryside there are numerous people with ferrets - although most would describe them as working animals, not as pets - and I doubt if even the most ardent enthusiast would take them on trips abroad.

However amongst urbanites they are apparently quite a popular pet, hence the need for inclusion in the passport rules. My daughter has an AirBnB and is surprised by the number of guests who enquire if they can bring ferrets with them.

I must have led a sheltered life! I had no idea that Ferrets were so popular as pets. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Aardee]

Of course it wasn't us officer, but I know of people who innocently sailed back from France to the UK with a dog onboard with no bother. There's a very helpful vet in Cherbourg who gave our dog the required worm treatment and issued her a French pet passport on the spot.

 

[asteven221]

Thanks for the info Aardee. I am not surprised that some people could innocently take a dog back tot he UK without going through all the hoops. Indeed last year with our dog, we sailed to Northern Ireland, visiting Bangor, Glenarm and Ballycastle and nobody said a work about it and didn't show even the slightest interest. We didn't hide the dog in any way. Now that I have read the rules I am none the wiser if we broke the rules or not. In fact last week I emailed DAERA Armagh telling them what I plan to do and asking them to tell me what I need to do to comply with all the rules. They replied by saying that they have passed the email on to another department to respond. I am still waiting for that.

I also emailed the contacts on the web sites for the Channel Islands and Jersey. Again asking what I need to do to comply. Both email addresses (that are on the official web site) bounced backed saying that the email addresses don't exist!

At the end of the day this is supposed to be a fun pleasure trip, but the bureaucracy has made it such a pain, that we have decided to abandon the idea of France altogether. We are going to stay in the UK, although if Ireland can clarify their rules we will go there at some point. The Channel Islands, if we go there will be as close as we will get to France!

 

[ashtead]

I had always thought Northern Ireland had no canine entry requirements being part of UKingdom last time I looked. Once in NI I guess little to prevent a voyage to Eire surely?

 

[Sandy]

I have a German national friend, resident in the UK. His solution was to get a very expensive UK pet passport, with its incredibly short shelf life, then get an EU pet passport, acceptable in both the UK and EU. FREE and lasts for years and years. It might be worth investigating.

 

[Grehan]

I have a German national friend, resident in the UK. His solution was to get a very expensive UK pet passport, with its incredibly short shelf life, then get an EU pet passport, acceptable in both the UK and EU. FREE and lasts for years and years. It might be worth investigating.

Not quite true. The "UK pet passport" mentioned is the "Animal Health Certificate"; it is both expensive and lasts for one trip only. Getting an EU pet passport depends on having a friendly/co-operative French etc. vet and an EU address, and they will charge for the service, although comparatively, not that much.
A UK pet passport means that the dog can be allowed back into the UK (after a quick fleas and ticks treatment beforehand). The EU passport allows entry into the EU (in our case, France).
From direct personal experience.

 

[Sandy]

Not quite true. The "UK pet passport" mentioned is the "Animal Health Certificate"; it is both expensive and lasts for one trip only. Getting an EU pet passport depends on having a friendly/co-operative French etc. vet and an EU address, and they will charge for the service, although comparatively, not that much.
A UK pet passport means that the dog can be allowed back into the UK (after a quick fleas and ticks treatment beforehand). The EU passport allows entry into the EU (in our case, France).
From direct personal experience.

Oh well my German friend has a very different experience. Perhaps it is because he has a German passport and right to remain.

 

[AndersG]

I have a German national friend, resident in the UK. His solution was to get a very expensive UK pet passport, with its incredibly short shelf life, then get an EU pet passport, acceptable in both the UK and EU. FREE and lasts for years and years. It might be worth investigating.

UK no longer issues pet passport and old ones are not valid for entry to the EU. Only way to enter the EU without an EU pet passport is a AHC valid for one entry in 10 days and valid for 4 months. Costs £99 at vets that specialises in them. Costs a lot more at none specialists and they often make mistakes rendering them invalid.

 

[AndersG]

Not quite true. The "UK pet passport" mentioned is the "Animal Health Certificate"; it is both expensive and lasts for one trip only. Getting an EU pet passport depends on having a friendly/co-operative French etc. vet and an EU address, and they will charge for the service, although comparatively, not that much.
A UK pet passport means that the dog can be allowed back into the UK (after a quick fleas and ticks treatment beforehand). The EU passport allows entry into the EU (in our case, France).
From direct personal experience.

France is difficult for non residents but many other countries are easy. Our dog now has a Spanish passport costing around €30 and we are not resident in Spain.

 

[Koeketiene]

I have a German national friend, resident in the UK. His solution was to get a very expensive UK pet passport, with its incredibly short shelf life, then get an EU pet passport, acceptable in both the UK and EU. FREE and lasts for years and years. It might be worth investigating.

+1
We did the exact same thing (though some time ago - 2016).
Paid 62 quid for the UK pet passport when we got the dogs.
Then, shortly before they were due to expire, we got a French pet passport for them (cost 12 EUR - no expiry date. When they're full, just get another one).

 

[sailaboutvic]

We cruised for 13 years non stop to every country in the EU , North Africa, Turkey and many other countries with a cat and a dog , been boarded many times other then Matla no one as every been interested in seeing their passport or vac papers.
even Malta now are no longer interested in cat as long as they don’t go ashore dogs are still checked that if you can get someone to one out to you , many people have said they given up waiting for a check.

the rules re bringing dogs/ cat to the UK ( not allowed to bring them back on your own boat ) is just ridiculous it just encourages people to smuggle them back , now people have to check back in there on reason why when reporting in and reporting you have a pet on board you told to go to a set port to get them checked back in .

 

[sailingmartin]

I had always thought Northern Ireland had no canine entry requirements being part of UKingdom last time I looked. Once in NI I guess little to prevent a voyage to Eire surely?

I am sorry but you were out of date following Brexit, but since the Windsor Framework, you are now back on track. The original Northern Ireland Protocal treated pet entry to Northern Ireland as if it were entry to the EU, needing arrival in a designated port of entry, of which there were none that allowed private yachts. As I understand the new Framework, pets can now enter Northern Ireland with no rules, but are still prevented from crossing the border to the Irish Republic as that is the EU, with the same regulations as going to France. Nothing is ever simple in this post-Brexit world.

 

[Arcady]

Thanks again everyone for your advice. It appears that our tiny Chihuahua, is making our early retirement dream of finally going cruising for a few months on the boat, a bit problematical! This country is becoming a bit of a joke. I can take my wee dog to Europe, but can't bring it back to my own country! Nuts. Totally nuts! Rant over. Sorry I had to say that!

I need to think of a way. Maybe I could ask one of the illegal immigrants to take Hamish from Calais over the UK and I can pick him up for the nice hotel they will be staying at for free. Sorry another rant, but this is very frustrating!!! Our dream of the last 30 years of sailing into the sunset is falling apart, just two months before the big day when we can go. I expected paperwork and vet stuff which is fine, but really did not expect not this problem. I see sailors with cats (some with dogs) on nearly every YT video travelling the world. How on earth do they do that and we can't go 25 miles from the UK to France and back on our boat?

Thinking about it, I have not actually confirmed that we can sail into France on our own boat with the dog? The conversation has been about returning. Do they have the same as the UK, in that is we need to arrive via an approved route? if that's the case then we would be as well to charter a frigging boat in France! Or get a motorhome!

What about the Channel Islands? Is there an approved route for ferries from France to the Channel Islands? Maybe that's an option?

Hire a delivery skipper to bring the boat back to the closest bit of the UK and we go by ferry?

Are the Channel Islands the UK? Yes I know they are part of us, but do they have their own rules about arriving, i.e. would it be the same rules as if we were arriving at Brighton from France for example?

Do the rules mean arriving in British waters, or does it mean stepping on to British soil? I was thinking that maybe we could sail along the south coast, anchor off the UK coast and then head across to Ireland. I am not sure if that would work, or what we would do from their if it does work. We would be getting closer to home!

As always, I really appreciate the advice.

I think you will find that France to the CI is effectively the same as France to UK, i.e. you can sail with your dog to France but you must come back to the CI via a ferry service accompanied with a certificate issued immediately before travelling confirming the pet in question is healthy.

 

[Beelzebub]

Of course. But if they are to talk to each other then they need to speak the same language, and there are several alternatives. Not only that but they need to be listening out to hear what each other is saying.

Lets put it this way - how well could you communicate with a deaf man who only spoke swahili?

Took me ages to get a system composed of bits of Raymarine, bits of B&G and some old Simrad to talk to each other. I only persevered out of stubbornness. Besty answer is to buy a full set of kit at the same time and from just one maker. Or go all trad.

I think you will find that France to the CI is effectively the same as France to UK, i.e. you can sail with your dog to France but you must come back to the CI via a ferry service accompanied with a certificate issued immediately before travelling confirming the pet in question is healthy.

Declaring passengers and goods - private vessels - States of Guernsey