pennylessinindia

someone in the Europe forum suggested a post on the french one so here goes
;

Wanting to travel with dog from India in Jan with the new rules, however no permitted route from India (ah well can not hope for everything) so have to travel in via Eruope. Looked at various routes and whilst Lufthansa is very doggie friendly getting from Frankfurt to the Chunnel is not that easy, well not as far as I can see. So now looking at Air France to Paris and then on by train ((know you can not do the eurostar). It is my understanding that worming not needed for entry to France but only the UK, so was planning to have in India prior to departure in line with 24 - 48 hour rule, which I take to mean the departure of the last leg to the UK given it is not needed in France.

Can someone tell me the exact process at check in , is it British Authorities who you deal with or French or chunnel employees. The reason I ask is that the staff for the train for the chunnel were particularly unhelpful today and tried to tell me that I could not travel in January from India!!! After a long flight and a train last thing I would want is some know it all who knows nothing!!!

catherine demorvan

The dog must have a chip and a passport and an in date rabies vaccination.

The French vet sees the dog between 24 and 48 hours prior to travelling, in theory he checks the dogs chip (but not all French vets have the equipment to do this), administers the anti-tick and anti-worm treatments, notes all the details of the drugs given, batch numbers etc. on the relevant page of the passport and stamps them with his official seal. (My vet always also gives me (the same) lecture on the prevalence of animal diseases in the UK...but this is an extra.) Then you pay, normally mine is about euro50 and head off for the port.

At the port you get into the special dog lane/ visit the dog booth (chunnel) . They hand you a device for you to register the chips i.d. (and you have kittens when you cannot get the thing to find the chip....), when you finally get it to register, they check the id no. against the one in the passport. They then check the rabies vaccination is in date, and the tick and worm treatment pages are in order. They also check you are in the 24-48 hour time slot. (I once turned up after only 23.30 hours. They made me hang around for 30 minutes before processing me...even though I was bound to be in the 24+ hour slot on arrival in the UK.

It is quite a procedure - but it has always gone smoothly for me. Don't try to short circuit it...I have also seen people being sent away from the dog booth at the chunnel to go and try and find a vet in Calais....

It is the chunnel / ferry company's French staff you deal with.

Good Luck.

P.S. You might want to look at coming via Singapore...I think Singapore to UK is fairly easy (it's an island so the UK is happy strange diseases aren't wandering across its land frontiers). My sister imported her cat from Singapore without any problems. India to Singapore may be more problematic.

Im_and_Er

You could try smuggling them onto a lorry at Calais, sounds like the easier and more certain option

dmu

Senior moment (embarassed smiley)

dmu

second attempt.
I'm just wondering, since you are considering waiting until just before departure to do the worming in India, whether your dog has already been vaccinated against rabies?
http://www.douane.gouv.fr/page.asp?id=46#2 (official French Customs site)
under "Vous souhaitez ramener en France un chien, un chat ou un furet" states that dogs (cats and ferrets) have to have undergone all the tests and vaccinations against rabies before they can enter France from a non EU country, with certificates in proof signed by an approved vet in that country. There's no mention of changes after 31st December 2011 nor of worming.
If you need a translation, I could do the relevant paragraphs for you, but, concerning rabies, it seems to correspond to the pre-31st December regulations for the UK.
If you have already done all this, then fair enough! I just wanted to post an official site, just in case...

Etoile de Berger

Perhasp it might be better to do the worming etc when you get to France and know that the rest of the journey will not be delayed. To do that in India leaves a lot of time for something to go wrong and for you to miss that 24 hour time slot.

Perhaps asking DEFRA for advice may help.

smithyandlisa

Either your vet is very expensive Catherine, or mine is very reasonable. We were last in the UK in August, and paid our (excellent) vet 38€ for TWO dogs. Both our dogs had their annual shots yesterday, including rabies 88,40€ Is that reasonable too?? Never been to another vet.

I absolutely agree with the importance of timing though. We once arrived 23Hours 20 mins after the vet, and were made to wait for the next ferry. I didn't mind. Them's the rules.

dmu

Hi,
apart from the questions of Customs Controls at Charles de Gaulle, Health Papers, and how to get your dog from Calais to the UK, do you know how to get from Charles de Gaulle to the Gare du Nord?
The RER train between the two accepts dogs (paying half-fare), but they must be on a lead and MUZZLED (otherwise you get a fine). Airport busses only allow small dogs carried in bags, as do the normal métro and busses. The RER isn't recommended if you've got a lot of luggage (+ dog) - a long way to walk at both ends, queues for buying the tickets, escalators,....
Theoretically, taxis should accept dogs but many drivers refuse. There's a service called Taxi-Canin which takes dogs (and their masters) but you have to book in advance...
You'll need €€€ for this part of the journey unless you take the RER and pay with MasterCard or the like.

pennylessinindia

thanks for all the posts. I did not really want to find a vet in France and wait 24 hours so was hoping that the worming was only a UK requirement and if so do it just prior to travel from India. Does anyone know if this is the case, seem to find various things on the net. Also saw a mention of Hepatitis .

Train wise I thought TGV or is that a problem?

Please do keep giving hints all helps. Thanks for the singapore thought did look at this but would need quarantine from India I think!!

dmu

The direct train from Gare du Nord to Calais Centre is a TGV - no problem except that you have to book TGV seats in advance...
There's no mention of worming or hepatitis in the above French Customs site as a requirement to enter France, just rabies and a chip, and all the necessary papers, including a "certificat sanitaire" that an "official" vet in India must sign. If I were you, I'd consult your nearest French Embassy for all info...
I've no idea how long it takes for a dog to be released at Charles de Gaulle, but, even without a pet, I'd count several hours between ETA at CdG and TGV departure from the Gare du Nord. There are so many imponderables....
A silly question maybe, but isn't it possible to take another Lufthansa from Frankfurt to London (or wherever?) and your dog would be transferred from one hold to another and you recover him at the UK airport? You could ask on the Germany forum for info on pets transiting from a non-EU country to the UK via Frankfurt. My German isn't up to translating Customs Regulations!

fionamw

This has book potential. I kid you not. Keep us all updated and I ghostwrite for a percentage!!

It does sound something of a nightmare..... good luck

pennylessinindia

Does the TGV not stop at the airport that is my understanding it looked straight forward on the Eruope Rail site

I do think lufthansa a better option but just do not like the thought of 2 flights!! and the chunnel seemed less hassle than heathrow but I am open.

The lufthansa person here is so helpful, the french consulate have been pretty unhelpful until I copied there unhelpful replies to the main office in Dehli and a speedy more helpful one came back

fionamw

Have you actually priced the flight costs? I did a couple of weeks back, spain-UK was in the order of £500 one way for the dog. Extortionate.

dmu

Sorry, but I checked on the SNCF site and the only way from CdG to Calais by TGV is via Lille in the north. Admittedly you'd have less hassle than taking the RER to the Gare du Nord in Paris, but you'd still have to change at Lille.