How To Travel With A Dog To Europe
I mentioned that I have a furry friend on this journey. I wanted to write an article to dispel some of the anxiety associated with traveling with your beloved pet. I personally read so many articles before we did our travel that said “leave your pet at home” as the sage advice and I understand that logic. But when your pet is your family and you decide to travel full time, that is a tall order. The choices are to leave it with family or friends. That is not an option for a few years unless you have golden friends or family. The other choice is to relieve yourself of the responsibility of having the pet. For me, giving up my dog, would be like giving up my child. Never going to happen. I accepted the responsibility for it long before I decided to retire and travel so he goes with even if it kills me. It didn’t.
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I address my experience of traveling with Tucker, my rescue to Europe. It does not address service dogs or emotional support dogs or dogs that must travel in holds. I have no experience in other travel, I leave it to others to address.
It is important to keep in mind that the preparation is usually more than half the battle. Taking a pet dog to Europe is a pretty straight forward process but does require reading and timing. Once you know what is required for paperwork and have the steps, the rest is purely execution.
All the requirements for travelling with a pet dog can be found on this site USDA There are basically five steps that apply to most EU countries except the UK. Check on the drop down for your country. Most of them are the same.
For Tucker, the vet (in Southern California) charged $150 to do the final exam and paperwork and the USDA authorization at the time was $38. If you can’t drive to your local USDA office, you will need to overnight the paperwork for the final signature.
We flew to Paris non-stop from LAX. For our travel it made the most sense not to stop. If the flight was longer than 11 hours, I might have picked a connection of 3-4 hours to allow some relief time. You should assess your dog’s needs in your travel plans. Tucker has flown across the US a few times so we had a certain amount of experience.
Each airline has a different pet policy so pick a few carriers and flights to your destination and then check the in cabin pet policy. Follow up with a phone call before you book to make sure you understand it correctly and that there is room on your flight for an in cabin pet. Once you have chosen your flight and booked it, call them back immediately to add your pet to the reservation to ensure a place on the flight. When selecting your seat, I do not recommend picking an aisle seat. On most airlines, the space is smallest and there is a lot of activity in that aisle so I generally pick a middle seat which has the most space and my husband does the window. If there happens to be a seat constraint we didn’t plan for we will switch for the best carrier storage.
A number of international carriers take in cabin pets. British Airways does not so if you like the idea of going through London, that will not work on British Airways. There are restrictions for carrier sizes and weights. Some airlines consider the pet your personal item even though you are paying extra to take them on the flight so check. For our dog travel crate, we used the Sherpa Original Airline Carrier which is available on Amazon and have never had a problem on any airline. It is well made and reasonably priced. If you have never traveled with your pet, get it used to the carrier well before your flight. When we first started traveling, I gave Tucker a small piece of cheese to bribe him into the carrier the first few times. I practiced carrying him around the house in it as I would when we travel. After the very first trip, whenever we take out our suitcases and the carrier, he jumps in and sits there! It’s adorable. Practice beforehand! Remember to keep all paperwork for the pet with you at all times. Lesson learned, I once left my carrier in a returned rental car and could not retrieve it. Had I left the dog’s paperwork in the crate, I would have lost it all. I keep mine with my passport in my backpack.
A ThunderShirt is a wrap sweater type product that is designed for calming dogs in high anxiety situations such as travel, fireworks and loud situations. It gives your pet the sense that it is being “hugged” so the pet feels more secure in these situations. I have always used it one so I don’t know how he would be without it. He has never made even a yelp on a plane so I have to assume it does something to calm him.
I have never given my dog drugs to fly. I do not recommend it. There are natural anxiety gels like Licks that you can use to calm your pet before the flight. It is an herbal base syrup that absorbs quickly. I used them once on a longer flight before take-off but when I ran out of it he was fine without them.
Most larger airports have dog relief areas within the secured area. Before travelling, check your airport information. Go to a relief area about 20 minutes before boarding and then give a small amount of water before boarding. You should be good to go.
When we landed with our pet at Charles de Galle, we just walked through immigration. There was no checking, no stopping with the pet. No onsite vet exam. For in cabin pets I think this would be pretty standard since everything is checked at the airport before you board. We go through border control and customs then pick up our bags and head for ground transportation where I let Tucker out of his carrier. Many people choose to walk the dog through the airport on a leash. I do that for two reasons. One is airports are crowded and crazy with families and small children and things happen. If Tucker is in his carrier those things won’t happen. Second is I am dealing with two pieces of luggage, a back pack and a pet. Best that I know where he is at all times.
Outside the terminal, if you plan on taking public transportation or a car shuttle, you will have to put your pet back in the carrier. I have found in most countries, pets are allowed on trains, metros and buses if they are in a carrier. There is no fee or a small fee. On a trip from Barcelona to Paris, we paid 7 euros for the dog reservation on a TVA train.
So, you have made it to your destination with your furry friend. I can honestly say it is really quite easy to do with an in-cabin pet. People will ooh and ahh at your furry friend as you travel. At least in Europe many destinations are pet friendly enough that you can travel safely and securely with your furry family member. If you have questions that I may help with, contact me on our website. Happy to help if I can.
