Ferry to France with dogs

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Parhelion
Bongonaut
Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2016 7:49 am
Location: Dorset

Ferry to France with dogs

Post by Parhelion » Sun Jul 10, 2016 11:43 pm

Hi, has anyone done this please? If so, how did it go? Many thanks, Kate
jprenaud
Junior Bongonaut
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Location: Inverness

Re: Ferry to France with dogs

Post by jprenaud » Tue Jul 12, 2016 12:30 am

Several times, it's never been a problem except first time when we did not understand we needed a visit to the vet just before driving back. What do you want to know? Does your dog have a pet passport?
Parhelion
Bongonaut
Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2016 7:49 am
Location: Dorset

Re: Ferry to France with dogs

Post by Parhelion » Fri Jul 15, 2016 6:24 am

Hi, we've usually dove an overnight crossing Portsmouth to St Malo and wondered how the dogs would cope if in the car or kennels, how often you get to visit etc. trying to decide whether that's fair/wise/feasible or whether we need to use the tunnel - but it adds a lot to our journey.Many thanks
jprenaud
Junior Bongonaut
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2014 5:45 pm
Location: Inverness

Re: Ferry to France with dogs

Post by jprenaud » Fri Jul 15, 2016 9:22 am

I guess it will depend on your dogs.

With our dog, we've done several times Hull-Zeebrugge, once Newcastle-Amsterdam, and in the past Rosyth-Zeebrugge, all of these are overnight ferries.

We walk the dog for a good bit before we go to the ferry terminal (we now have a glace in Hull to do this). Boarding is usually around 17:00 but there is some waiting in the vehicle beforehand. Whilst waiting, we try to keep him out near the vehicle until the last minute but the environment is not great for that.

Once you board, the dog is put in an on-board kennel. It's usually on the car deck and the staff direct your car nearby, quite roomy (for a cage), un-staffed but locked, and usually quiet. Hopefully people use common sense and don't put a cat in the cage opposite or something like that. There is also water, bowls for food etc but we always take his soft bed in. For the Amsterdam route, we had the opportunity to leave the dog in the van but we thought it would be more stressful as he had been in the kennels several times already.

We get given the opportunity to see/feed him at least once at night, usually around 20:00. Sometimes, there is a wee bit of space for "exercising" but to be honest when we visit, he's usually a bit stressed to see us, gets overexcited and not interested in going for a walk, so we tend to make the visit quite short.

On arrival, we stop immediately and give the dog a good walk. Zeebrugge is not great for this but again, we now stop just before town where he can go exercise safely off the lead for a good while.

We've never had a problem but again, it will depend on the dogs. There is no other way to put it: if they can't "hold on" for basically 12-14 hours, it will get messy.

For us, the alternative would be a massive drive from Inverness to Dover which would take a full day, or leave the dog in kennels at home. On balance it works well for us.
Parhelion
Bongonaut
Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2016 7:49 am
Location: Dorset

Re: Ferry to France with dogs

Post by Parhelion » Fri Jul 15, 2016 6:03 pm

Thanks JPrenaud - very useful
flossie
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Location: By the river, W Berkshire

Re: Ferry to France with dogs

Post by flossie » Tue Dec 13, 2016 2:14 pm

Yep took three Newfies over to show and subsequently just one of them - nice and easy not stressed . Couldn't do tunnel as hadlpg conversion
Liz
'99 V6 White over Silver - as yet unconverted but I may be converted!
flossie
Tribal Elder
Posts: 616
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2010 5:36 pm
Location: By the river, W Berkshire

Re: Ferry to France with dogs

Post by flossie » Tue Dec 13, 2016 2:15 pm

Oh and I have a microchip scanner - invaluable when theirs fail and your heart skips a beat . I only do the short journey Dover etc and so do most of my dog showing friends
Liz
'99 V6 White over Silver - as yet unconverted but I may be converted!
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