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01/04/2008, 17:01 Megan le Fey Joined on 31/10/2006 Posts 209 Passport for dog to enter France. Sorry guys, I am sure this question has been raised already but our furniture movers have just brought our date forward 2 weeks and suddenly we only have 14 days instead of almost a month - no time for doing searches, I am completely panicked.  We decided to bring our foster dog with us to France, poor old soul is almost 8 and will never get rehomed so he will be safe with us.  Unfortunately, he had never had a rabies jab and I only got it done for him 25th March.  Under the new(ish) European scheme they require "21 days from the date of the vaccination" before he may enter France  and there have been 2 replies from DEFRA to the question of whether the day of the vaccination and the day of arrival in France are or are not included in the 21.  My vet was told that 25 March(the day of the vaccination) counted as day zero, I was told that the 25th would be included in the 21 days and therefore be day one.  The other question was, did the day of travel/arrival count towards the 21 days or not.  There, they were uncertain.  As we really need to arrive on the 15th April we would be OK so long as either the 25th March or the 15th April counted to the 21 days but it would be just my luck if neither did.  Oh for the days when you just stuck them in the car and only worried about getting them back into UK. If anyone can give me the answer, I would really appreciate it,  especially of course, if it is the answer I want to hear. Anne, used to be Cassie who used to be Miggimeggi    Report

01/04/2008, 17:11 sweet 17 Joined on 05/08/2006 charente maritime Posts 2,669 Re: Passport for dog to enter France. Megan, I wish for all your sakes that I could be more positive.  But our experience is this:  it's not just the jab, there is the blood test and we were warned that the level has to be ridiculously high for the French authorities.  Therefore, after her first jab, our dog had to have another because the level of antibodies in her blood was just not high enough.  We had to wait for her to have a second jab and a second blood test. I am sure Christine Animal or someone who really knows will be along soon to give you the low-down.  I keep my fingers crossed for you.  Good Luck.    Report

01/04/2008, 19:28 Megan le Fey Joined on 31/10/2006 Posts 209 Re: Passport for dog to enter France. Sweet 17, thanks for your reply.  As far as I (and our vet here in Scotland) knows, the blood test is not neccessary to bring an animal into France, only to take it from France to the UK.  I hope we're right as we are now committed to a 3 year lease on a house to rent near Chateauroux and  must very soon vacate the holiday cottage we have been staying in in Scotland for the last 6 months.  Consequently, we don't have the option of waiting for blood tests and then 6 months etc. When I spoke to DEFRA they didn't mention a blood test to go to France so I don't think (fingers crossed) that that will be a problem.  I think perhaps you needed to get the blood test right because you intended to take your dog back into UK at some point.  We certainly will not want to take Ollie back to UK within the next 10 - 12 months, giving plenty of time to get all the other stuff done in France.  However,  on the 21 days since the Rabies jab thing,  that is a real pain in the neck.  Our furniture will be arriving some time on the 17th April and if we cannot arrive in Calais until the 16th we are going to be hard pressed to get to Chateauroux and get everything sorted before the movers turn up.  Undoubtedly it can be done but not comfortably and I do have the feeling that the interpretation of the 21 day rule may be left up to the person  who checks the passport.  It certainly seemed a bit ambiguous as it was read out to me. Anne, used to be Cassie who used to be Miggimeggi    Report

01/04/2008, 19:53 Anna Joined on 23/08/2004 Dordogne Posts 171 Re: Passport for dog to enter France. Hi Megan It's a few years now since we brought our pets (then 3 dogs and 1 cat) from Scotland (and I remember well being really worried about it all), via Portsmouth on the ferry to St Malo, to the Dordogne and nobody so much as glimpsed at our paperwork then. We only had export licenses for all but 1 dog, which was my Mum's guide dog. We had no intention of taking any of our pets back to the UK so only bothered to obtain export licenses for them. Our 19 yr old Scottish cat enjoys her life here in France and is really still well in life! However, I can tell you that my Mum has since gone back and forth numerous times to Scotland with her guide dog, who has a Pet Passport, always by air, and never, ever, has anyone on the French side ever looked at the dog's paperwork. If I were you, I wouldn't worry about it.....but then that's easily said, I know. Come on you folk on this Forum, has anyone any experience of having your pet's paperwork (Pet Passport or otherwise) looked at when entering France?      Report

01/04/2008, 20:08 WJT Joined on 22/09/2004 Posts 1,468 Re: Passport for dog to enter France. We travel very frequently back and forth from the UK to France with our dog. Not once have the French authorities ever stopped us or asked us anything regarding our dog. It is always entering the UK that we show the paperwork and scan for his microchip. I would assume it is like this with all carriers but we always travel by Eurotunnel or Speedferries. I hope you get others to confirm our experience if you aren't using the two carriers above to ease your mind because I don't think you have anything to worry about. Best of luck with your move.    Report

01/04/2008, 20:10 clarey c Joined on 05/12/2007 Puy de Dome (63) Posts 14 Re: Passport for dog to enter France. We bought our two dogs and one cat from UK to France about 2 years ago.  No one even asked about our pet passports (although we had them ready).  We went under the Tunnel and it was obvious that we had pets in the car with us. The information about blood tests is correct as far as I know.  Our animals are not expected to go back to UK and we were told by our vet in UK that we didn't, therefore, need blood tests (a saving of £95 per dog)  I know that wasn't the original question but at least this may help to aleviate a few fears. One other piece of advice though is that in the pet passport the UK vet said that the rabes injection was valid for two years.  Here in France the rabies injection has to be renewed every year  - just something to be aware of. Hope all goes well for you, I know how stressfull the whole move can be.    Report

01/04/2008, 20:26 Anna Joined on 23/08/2004 Dordogne Posts 171 Re: Passport for dog to enter France. There you go then. Just as I thought, nothing to worry about on entering France...just going back to the UK. Also, yes, that's correct about renewing the rabies jab annually here in France. Mother's guide dog has her's done annually and our French vet sends out the reminder. Good luck with your move. Whereabouts in the Dordogne are you moving to? Always short on Scots around us....plenty of English though!    Report

01/04/2008, 21:42 Jacqui Too Joined on 23/08/2004 Shropshire / Dordogne 24 Posts 683 Re: Passport for dog to enter France. Can I first ask how are you getting to France? Ferry or Tunnel? We have always traveled our dogs from Southampton or Poole to Caen or St Malo and we have always had to show our passports and have the dogs scanned before we get on the ferries, when we have returned (to England) they have always checked the vets report also, but never when we land in France or England, So I would assume that you will be checked and feel lucky if your not. Anna, how about any Welsh? Jackie    Report

01/04/2008, 21:54 Anna Joined on 23/08/2004 Dordogne Posts 171 Re: Passport for dog to enter France. Hi Jackie No, don't know of any Welsh at all round our way...or Irish for that matter....mostly English and some Dutch! Sorry, not quite clear (probably just my poor comprehension!) on what you mean in your posting. Did you mean that your pet's documents were checked going into France as well as returning to the UK?    Report

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