We are moving to Spain next year and wish to take our dog with us. I understand that to get the pet passport she will need a rabies jab, blood test and paperwork before we go.
My question is, how much roughly does this process cost and how long does it take?
Also, what is the best/cheapest option on taking a dog abroad? Ferry and then drive? Or aeroplane?

thank you

You presumably have a vet, s have a word with them. Ours, to the best of my memory had to have worming tablets shortly before going plus all the rabies stuff. It was a couple of hundred quid for two Labradors, -you can do it more cheaply without having the rabies verified, but then you can't bring the dogs back without repeating the whole process, and given the number of people who have to go back to the UK it's worth the extra.

They will need annual shots too.

Vet's bills here in Spain are a lot cheaper IMO. To get the vet to do a house visit, give rabies shots and worming tabs to the two dogs was 50 euros last year.

If I went to the vets in the UK just to get the tabs it would have been that much, and for the full set of treatments, much, much more.

We also found that there wasn't a lot of difference between flying them down and having them driven down by professional people.

In the end we had them driven down by our daughter and son in law as the older dog worries a lot about changes as he fears being left behind, and this way he felt safe and still part of the pack. He didn't turn a hair like this, but the cost, after paying them for overnight stays and petrol, tolls etc was again more or less the same as flying.

We expected the dogs to be pretty fed up after the trip, but they swanned in as tho they owned the place, had a beer to celebrate and settled in as calm as anything.

We have been here about 2 months and to take your dog out you do not need the passport. One of our dogs had not had any of the rabies jabs as we were not going to bring him but the other had only had the one. It is taking the dog back into the UK that requires the passport. As for cost that depends on the vet you use, we found that the prices varied between each vet practice. This is our experience of moving with our dogs.

The process goes as follows, rabies jab, microchip and all the other bits for the passport. 4 weeks later the blood test and should that come back clear after 6 months the dog can travel freely to the UK. We had the younger dog's first rabies in the UK and when we went to see about the blood test in Spain we found out that Spain now requires the dog to have 2 and then the blood test. The older dog has had both in Spain and it is now a requirement that all dogs have a passport although not everyone does it. There are lots of things people should do here but many do not.

As for travel, can not help you with flying the dogs over, we brought ours on the ferry and had a lovely drive down through France and Spain, lots of places are dog friendly so had no problem getting overnight accommodation you pay about 5e extra per dog and cost tends to be rooms not people. You can stop frequently and allow the dogs out as they are geared for this type of travel. We found it less stressful for the dogs as they were with us, but we have 2 very good travellers, they curl up and go to sleep. France and Spain do have a policy that expects dogs to be restrained by some form preferably carrier box but seat belt harness or boot shield can be used, they do not allow the dogs to be jumping about as a distraction but that said rules seem to be flexable depending on there moods and whimes.

Visit the DEFRA site that gives you more info, http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pet...avel/index.htm

What seems to be the saddest part of living here is that Brits have had their pets and not had the passports for them so when they return home to the UK they just abandon them as they can not or will not pay the extra in time or money. If they had dealt with it in the first place they would have not had an issue. There are many unwanted animals in Spain and a fair chunk of them have been dumped by the caring Brits who have gone home.

So would it be safe to say that crossing the border/getting on ferry TO spain, I don't need anything for the dog?
And wouldn't need anything unless we need to return to UK, and Spanish vets are able to supply all of the documents needed cheaper than UK vets??

thank you for replies

No idea. I do not know whether this would apply, and the logical thing would be for you to consult with your vet in the UK and or DEFRA, so that you have it from the horse's mouth.

The authorities in continental Europe are just not interested. I came here on my own yacht with a dog and had no problems whatever with the authorities in France nor Spain.

The ferry companies might well have a different view.

I agree with bill that contacting your vet and talking to DEFRA would be wise as I can only talk about our experience but when we left they did not even look at the dogs in the back of the car and as for landing in France we did not even see anyone for them to look. The general rule is that rabies is required in both countries so it may be worth having at least the first rabies jab in the UK and retain the paperwork with your passport, it is better to have something than nothing at all just in case they inspect.

Spanish vets are able to produce all the paperwork required to be able to return the dog to the UK and it may be cheaper but it should not be about cost it is about the welfare of the animals concerned and once here it will be very easy to keep putting it off and then they never get done.

If your trying to do the move on the cheap then your onto a loser because they need regular tick and flea stuff more so than the UK as they are meaner and nastier here so there is at least 8e a month for that, then there is the scalibor collars to prevent sandfly that is another 15/20e every 6 months, and that one is a no option I have seen what sandfly can do to a dog and it is not pleasant, and the cost of the collars is a lot cheaper than the treatment or other option would be to put the dog down that is the rules now, then there is the worm tablets again a real must have every 3 months 8e as well as all their regular annual vacs which you may well get away with doing every 2 yrs in the UK is pretty much a no option here.

With any move it is research, research and more research take a good look at your animal and see what is best for them not what is maybe the cheaper option. Sorry if that may seem a little blunt but pets seem to be the ones often dumped when it goes pear shaped, people would not dump their kids or leave them at risk but pets seem to be a disposable commodity.

Please don't get me wrong, if I was looking for the cheapest option I would rehome her, however I am taking her with us as it's either that or not go as I wouldn't leave my girl.
The only point I was trying to make about cheaper is obviously I would chose a cheaper option over an expensive option that isn't even required. I am more than happy to pay the 8 euros here and 8 euros there (or even 50 euros here and 50 euros there) I just don't have hundreds of pounds to pay out for something that may not even be necessary.

I will contact the vets this week, and will let you all know what they say

We bought our over by using the Export Papers that come from DEFRA to a vet that actually deals with DEFRA, not all vets do, all cats and dogs by law have to be chipped in Spain, not so sure how many are, but saying as is.always assuming you dont bother getting the paperwork, is it worth the risk of not getting pulled up.

We drove our two over in the car, flying is hugely expensive and we felt they would be better with us, you can stay on the way in dog friendly motels all over the place as well.

We bought our 2 westies over in October 2007.

We had them chipped in the UK and got rabies injections and then pet passports as well. I don't think the chipping was too expensive but by the time you add up the cost of the rabies injections and then the test to ensure it has worked, it does start to get a bit pricey. Our vet told us to allow 6 months at least for the rabies procedure as the test, which is done 3 months after the injection, often comes back negative so you have to repeat the procedure. We were lucky as both ours 'took' first time.

As we were coming from Scotland we flew to Barcelona direct from Edinburgh but our boys had to come via Frankfurt so 2 flights over 24 hours. We got a specialist pet travel company to arrange it, so delivered the dogs to them. They did the worming and flea treatment, supplied pet carriers and arranged all the flights and paperwork. It cost over £1100 for the 2 of them.

We were supposed to get a phone call when they arrived in Barcelona. They came in on an early morning KLM cargo flight. We never got the call but were waiting at around the time the flight was expected. No-one seemed to know anything about them and it took us 2 hours to track them down. By the time they appeared on a pallet carried out by a forklift truck I was almost beside myself.

There was no drinking water in the carriers which had been lined with newspaper. Both dogs were distressed, flithy and very thirsty. It was a baking hot day and as they wouldn't let us drive into the cargo area we had a 20 minute walk back along the busy airport road (with no footpath) and one of their leads had been broken.

The good news is that they both recovered from their ordeal, probably more quickly than I did. I complained to the pet travel company but they just said they had sent them off OK and after that it was out of their hands.

I would only ever put a pet on a plane in future if I was on the same flight myself and then only very reluctantly.

Rose

What a distressing story!

Contrast that with the ferry journey. We've done Calais-Dover return several times. If you've got a dog they let you on to the boat first. The dog stays in the car but it's for less than 2 hours. As you're on first there's no waiting in the restaurant - last time we had finished our meal before the boat left port. Nice relaxing journey, quick walkies at the first "aire" and you're on your way, Lovely.

Do Eurotunnel, takes about 30 mins and you stay in the car with your dog. We use the time to feed and water them.

That does seem like a horror story. We brought 3 cats over with Monarch, from Manchester to Alicante. They were brilliant, we travelled on the same flight. The pilot sent a message to tell me not to worry about them, they would be fine, and they were. We picked them up after collecting our cases at the cargo terminal where they were waiting for us. All 3 ( and two of them are really old) settled down in their new home straightaway. I booked them in with Monarch myself and we used our own carriers, it's a lot cheaper than using a specialist company. Whichever way you choose to bring your dog over, don't let one horrendous experience put you off flying your dog.

I would but I have been put off by a) The cost and b) seemingly strict rules about which train you can get and so on.

On the ferry you book which ferry you are bound to be in time for (i.e. sometime the day after you expect to get to the port), turn up, and they let you on the next departure. If it's the same system on the tunnel and the price is about the same I'll think about it.

Although I do enjoy the ferry

Think I'l use brittany ferries, they do an overnight to santander with dog for £250.... then it's about a 6 and a half hour drive to alicante.

And they only accept dogs with a pet passport so I guess that kinda answers my question