Driving with Dogs

Natalie’s experince

Thought it might help someone if I posted my own experiences. I spent a lot of time talking to the man at DEFRA and my own vet, so I am pretty sure that this information is accurate.

I have three golden retrievers, aged at that time, 13, 12 and 9 The eldest is deaf and blind, the two eldest suffer with arthritis and the youngest had a fairly bad mammary tumour, for which the vet gave a bleak prognosis in the UK.

The general consensus of opinion with friends etc was that I should have had them all put down or re-housed rather than bring them to Portugal. But one of the reasons I wanted to get here quickly was to give them a better quality of life (as well as for me of course!).

Despite the intense heat (we arrived in July) they have all become much happier, I would never have believed that a dog could get so depressed just faced with the same patch of boring grass and a walk along pavements to reach it – but one of mine did. (And yes so was I!)_ They all walk much further than they did in the Uk and have no trouble running now with no signs of any limping, which two of them did after a few hundred yards before…..even with all this rain, they are still healthier.

As for my little one, the first thing I did when I got here was to have her operated on for her tumour… this was something I simply couldn’t have afforded in the Uk, I had already spent hundreds of £s on her and seen no improvement. Here the operation plus all the change of dressings etc and excellent care cost just 150euros. Also the Portuguese vet was much more cheerful than the UK one and thought her chances of making a complete recovery were very high (unlike three vets I saw in the UK) Now she is healed she runs around and does somersaults just like a puppy, it was worth coming here just for that.

Anyway. .. this is what I did for the journey and I would recommend…..

PETS PASSPORTS….according to the man at DEFRA I didn’t need to wait for the blood test after the anti-rabies…my vet and others all tried to get me to have two anti rabies vaccinations and the blood tests, adding possibly hundreds of £s to the bill.

On the way out of the UK no-one is the slightest bit interested in your animals, it is only if you want to return to the UK with them that there are regulations you must adhere to. I knew I wasn’t going to return so I left as soon as they had had their anti-rabies, but you will NOT be able to return to the UK until 6 months after this has been given. I had already had them micro-chipped, as you need this if you do return to the UK.

As soon as I got here I took them to a local vet to make sure that they were covered for any local diseases. The vet fitted them with a Scalibor collar which protects against fleas, ticks and mosquito – You must NOT use this AND Frontline. Frontline does NOT cover for mosquitoes which carry the dreaded leishmaniose. I waited to get here as I wasn’t sure that the UK version (Excalibor) covered for this either. You have to re-new this collar every 6 months.

Because it was going to be very hot I had them all shaved so that they would be cooler, not sure if I will do it again next year I shall see if they are used to the heat by then.

I bought silver screens to fit all round the car and I put them up every time I left it, they make a terrific difference to the internal temperature of the car.

I bought dog car seat harnesses so that they were secure and wouldn’t fly through the car in case of an accident. I have used dog harnesses before and they were a disaster as they just hooked through the seat belt and the dogs turned round and round and became so thoroughly tied up that I couldn’t unclip the belt and they couldn’t move either. This time I did a lot of research and bought some that had a clip attached which utilised the seat belt clip and not the actual seat belt. They were a huge success. They were safer and I felt happier, also it was easier to manage the three of them on my own, they didn’t all try to jump out of the car together…I just clunk clicked every trip.!!!…… Ooooh sorry about that I couldn’t resist it!! it occurs to me that some people may not remember that Jimmy Saville advert when seat belts became compulsory!!-Oh dear!

I also covered in the space behind the front seats and laid cotton baby blankets(cooler) on top of the seat and across this ‘filled in’ space so they had no where to fall or get a leg wedged and it gave them so much space they could all lie down comfortably. (when I was trying to have a nap stuck behind the steering wheel I was really quite envious of them in all their comfort!)

Also, with them securely strapped in it was safe to have the windows wide open and they were always nice and cool, I don’t have air-con.

I caught the night time ferry so it would be cooler while we sat around waiting to drive on board. You cannot book on-line for the ferry if you are carrying dogs, you have to pay when you get there, but do phone and check the price – they tried to charge me more than twice what they had quoted on the phone. You don’t have to pay extra for the animals.

I also took the Dover to Calais crossing as it is the shortest and I didn’t want to leave them below decks on their own for too long. There is a dog area at the docks, I was soon spotted walking across to it and someone accompanied me for my own safety, (because of the traffic) the dog walking area was just a tiny boxed in area, pretty awful, so I would recommend that you stop before arriving in Dover to make sure all dogs are comfortable for the journey over.

I avoided all motor-ways because I thought if the dogs became stressed I wanted to be able to stop immediately, not have to drive for another 30 minutes to a service area. France is very dog friendly and you can pull up almost anywhere to go for a walk.

I stopped one night in a hotel, it was too hot to camp, the French hotel welcomed the dogs and made a small charge for them (about a euro!)

I drove all through the night after I had come off the ferry, stopped the next night and then drove all through the next night across Spain, the dogs just slept, it was cooler and there was less traffic.

I was really dreading driving down to Portugal in such intense heat and on my own, but the dogs were far less bothered about it all than I was, I certainly think it was far less stressful for them than going on a plane, especially as they were elderly and ill.

I am really so glad that I brought them, but I am also glad that I took the precautions that I did.

I hope this helps dispell a few fears that any dog owners may have. Incidentally, they were never once stressed out by the hot summer. In the Uk they were my shadows, here they just stretched out in the sun or went and found a bit of shade if they got hot and they never bothered any more to follow me absolutely everywhere, so I think that proves that they are much more relaxed out here.

Many thanks to Natalie for allowing us to reproduce her original post on Expats Forum

Article about, and links to suppliers of, dog seatbelts and harnesses: www.parkvets.com/petsandvets-seatbelts.html