Leader2014

Hi all,

As some of you will know from my previous posts we have now arrived in Arnhem. Picking the keys up to our new property this evening and then the removal company are bringing our furniture over tomorrow.

It's the simple things you take for granted, while staying at the hotel last night we got up and had breakfast and then took the dog for a walk across from us in some woods. There was a sign up of people walking with lots of text, the in,y word I recognised was paard as I had learnt horse due to trying to find a place to bring my horse.

Now does anyone know the etiquette of walking dogs over here? Are they allowed loose of the lead in woods or can they only be walked in certain places and only off the leash in certain places?

Also I have heard mixed info about if we need to register as owning a dog and pay a license in Gelderland as I know not all provinces need to pay.

Car hunting begins next week and we have got an appointment with the municipal for completing our BSN Forms, but hoping we can bring them away and get help with filling them in

Red_Wine_Fairy

The gemeente should help you with filling the forms in: you only have 5 days (I think) to register with the gemeente so taking them away won't be an option. Don't sweat it though, it's not a complicated form, someone will probably talk English to you (they're used to international students in Arnhem), and let them know at the time about the dogs and they'll tell you if you need to pay. It's not like an interrogation, and the person you speak to will probably be totally disinterested rather than looking for things that are wrong. Take your passports and rental contract and you'll be out in 20 mins. They'll tell you that they want your birth/wedding certificates with an apostile... again, don't sweat it - I still didn't get round to that after all these years although you won't be able to claim child benefit without it.

Your gemeente website will tell you what you need to know about dogs (honden). My experience with Dutch dog etiquette is let them do whatever they want and sh*t everywhere and don't bother picking it up (my cynicism is healthy and based on real experience). In my gemeente, there are red and green dog routes, each with different rules (I don't have a dog so don't know the difference) but I imagine this varies widely.

Welcome to the Netherlands!

BEVS

I'm nowhere near the Netherlands at all but welcome from me too. I hope your dog settles happily with plenty of good walks.

Now there. I am loving the username of Red_Wine_Fairy but I may well have told you that before.

About time you found an avatar to match. There are some lovely images out there and it would be great to see your user profile with one.

Netpon

I'm in Hoek van Holland and there are signs up telling you where you can let your dogs off lead but I also find that people don't tend to take much notice!! There is a no dogs rule on the beach during daytime in the summer and I always see dogs on the beach!!
You probably will have to pay dog tax, mine is about 120 per dog for the year but I believe ours is one of the more expensive ones. I have no idea what I pay it for as there are no designated dog waste bins and no one ever cleans up the dog mess!! It still surprises me that in an otherwise clean and well looked after country, there is dog mess everywhere!

Leader2014

Thanks all, loving the hot weather at the moment, still lots of boxes to unpack but been shopping today and daughter starts school next week, now to find somewhere around Arnhem that sells summer housesor a wooden play house for the garden for my daughter but don't know anywhere yet just been driving around to look.

Hypochondriac

I'm visiting Arnhem in two weeks. I hope the hot weather is still as nice as you describe! I actually have something to ask you which I will do in a minute if that is OK.