Canine requirements

Hello,

I will be moving to Spain shortly from the UK.  My darling Retriever has her pet passport and required vaccinations for entry to the UK but what does she need to enter Spain?  UK vets can inform me about DEFRA requirements but no other.

Anything useful would be greatfully apperciated.

Many thanks,

We drive to and from UK with a dog once or twice a year. Getting into UK with a dog is strict - as we all know - but no one has ever shown any interest in the dog's paperwork when leaving - as long as one has paid the dog's fare. We've never been checked for anything when driving from France into Spain - there aren't any border posts. (sometimes checked driving from Andorra into France, but they're only interested in ciggies). At other times I've taken a dog off the Santander ferry coming into Spain and no-one's shown any interest in the dog.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. It's a great weight off my mind especially as I'm travelling alone.  One less anxiety.

Do you have any advice re. prepaying tolls through France and Spain? Or indeed some great dog friendly hotels on the way?

Kind regards.

Hi,

I'm taking the furbabies over to Spain for a month later this year. From what Ive read its not too bad leaving the UK (although they will have to have their passports/rabies etc in place). I think the main issue is coming back to the UK. They require some jab (tick/worms) to be administered between 24-48hours prior to arriving back in the UK. so guessing we will have to visit a vets in France a day prior to getting on LeShuttle. Re dog firendly hotels, I went onto Booking.com and selected the pets allowed option and it will give you a list.

Up to 5 days to get them back

Site will not let me put a link,says my account has not been approved...only been a member for a few years

Must be ommitted from the chosen few

Can MOD cast some light on this for me

M

Hi, we take our 2 staffies by road to Spain every year, we get the ferry from Dover to Calais and stay in the cheap F1 hotels which we have always found to be clean and have suited our needs they are 30-40€ a night and accept one dog per room, you can book in advance or out of peak season just turn up, even out of hours they have like a service till in the wall where you can pay by card and you are then given authorisation codes to gain access to the front door and your room.

We have never been asked for paperwork for the dogs other than re entering the UK. if you are going to touristy areas it`s handy to have all the paperwork with you especially if you utilise the Playa canina (dog beaches)

On return to the UK the dogs need to be given an oral tablet and something like frontline which is put on the neck, check the date that the vet writes in the passport as we almost fell foul of an incorrect date written into the passport. Once you have had this done you are able to re-enter the UK between 24-120 hours after the pet passport entry.

We have found a massive difference in price for the re-entry treatment, in a touristy flashy Engish speaking vets in Spain we paid 100€ for one dog, from recommendation of a spanish neighbour we used the local vet in our nearest village and paid 33€ total for 2 dogs. she did not speak English and we spoke little spanish so I just wrote down what I needed to ask her and she used a translator on her laptop, in susequent years we have learnt more spanish and she has learnt more english as she realised there is a market from us Brits and her prices are still low.

Good Luck

Gary

Hi well I have looked into all this in case I want to travel with my dogs & although many may not bother looking at the dogs paperwork I can assure you if they do you might need to be up on everything...I live in Spain & I have been asked to go to the local police station & show all the docs of my dogs & they are all down on record here..not that they or I have done anything wrong it's just that they were checking up on dogs & who wasn't keeping up the shots/chips & so on.....I am very actively involved with dogs which they all know around here being that I clip half the dogs in the village & walk my dogs around but no matter how well known I am I was still asked & it's not like I have any tendances of being a irresponsable dog owner..but I was still asked

HOWEVER!!!!...entering the UK I've been told that all dogs need to have been treated for ticks at the vets a few days before travelling...there is a page in the passport to show they have been treated for ticks..100 & odd hours or something they have had to have been treated...which stands to reason seeming ticks carry diseases & pretty nasty ones at that..

Regards Jake

Thank you for taking the time to pass on your advice.

Greatfully received.

We drove 2 dogs we adopted in Spain back to the UK, got all the rabies tests etc, took 6 months, then got the last minute shots in France the day before sailing. We stayed in Ibis hotels all the way as they allowed both dogs, medium sized, in the room with us. They were a pointer/beagle cross and German Shepherd cross. The dogs liked the hotel too :). We came through the tunnel so just a short time and the dogs stayed in the car with us.

One thing dog owners have to bear in mind is the breed of dog.   Retrievers are never a problem!   But there is a list of 15 potentially dangerous dogs (including any mixed breeds from these dogs) in Spain that need to wear muzzles in public and always be on a lead, be kept in secure areas, and the owners must have all the relevant paperwork needed and insurance cover.  If not and something happens they can be in serious trouble.   The police are becoming more vigilant about this and people have been stopped and asked to show papers if the dog is unmuzzled.

It´s the same in England, in that you cannot just take any breed of dog into the country and walk about with it unmuzzled if it is classified as a potentially dangerous breed - except that in Spain the list covers far more breeds.

One problem is that different regions have different lists of potentially dangerous dogs some cover all 15 and some less  -  so if driving and stopping you also have to check what regions you are crossing through apart from the region you are staying in.  For example, Valencia covers 14.   There are lists available on the internet to check that show classification region by region.

I think that the original question has probably been answered and I would reaffirm that it is essential to ensure that all the annual anti rabies are kept up to date and recorded in the passport and once a year it is obligatory to have the passport stamped for anti worming tablets (many of the Spanish dont bother with chips, passports or even innoculations so I guess its a question of whether you want to fall foul of the law).

As Moonbeam says there are regional variations into how dogs are considered dangerous and in Andalucia it is actually illegal for ANY dog in excess of 20 kilos to be out in a public place without a lead or a muzzle. We have 7 rescue dogs - 4 retrievers, 2 Belgian Malinois and a Setter - while the Malinois would POSSIBLY find themselves on a dangerous dogs list as they are Shepherds none of the others could by any stretch be considered dangerousWhen we only had 3 in our family (2 Goldies and the setter) we used to take them for walks on Marbella paseo but had to stop as the Ayuntamiento started deploying plain clothes inspectors and the fine was 3000€ per dog unmuzzled. It should be said that this was about 3 years ago and the Town Hall was desperate to raise money by any means possible so possibly they have relaxed a little but as a consequence we no longer walk any of the dogs in Marbella and the last time we went on the paseo last year larger dogs were conspicuous by their absence. 

We've even been out in the campo walking 4 of the retrievers off lead and been stopped and warned by Policia Local (thankfully one of them knew us as he lived close by and saw us walking our dogs on the streets near us and knew their nature) not to walk them off lead as it was considered a place where families might go to have a picnic or something.

Make sure you know the local rules and regulations as it isnt a one size fits all throughout Spain

I'll use Smiley's informative post to wind people up with the "Real Spain" perennial. I gather Smiley lives in the Marbella area. An area that treats dogs as potentially dangerous and believes in muzzling them. What wimpos!

Here in rural La Vera, Extremadura, practically every neighbour has at least two giant mastiffs. Some have half a dozen. They all roam free, escaping the tumbledown fences and open gates that nominally enclose their properties.. We have local shepherds, goatherds and cowherds who regularly drive their hundreds of animals along the lanes and over the hills where my wife and I walk, accompanied by countless mastiffs and other dogs. Often the herders are on horseback...it's a very colourful and romantic image. The nightime baying of hundreds of these dogs greeting one another can be tiresome, especially around full moon.

Extremadura. Land of conquistadores. A man's country (according to Michener in Iberia). The Real Spain, lol

These days Guy we live about 40 minutes from Marbella having moved into the Campo where its more conducive for our Magnificent 7 dogs - probably not as rural as Extramadura but we get sheep and goats being herded on the roads here as well although never seen them being driven by horseback riders - we do have plenty of dog neighbours as well so our 7 just add to the twilight bark and love to chase the cyclists who cycle past the end of our drive - fences all secure thank God!

Other side of the country I know but I have recently had a client with 2 labs who lives in Galicia who has encountered a stricter regime with walking her dogs on the beach and in the dunes. Lived in Spain most of her adult life and knows local law enforcement really well and recently been warned about where she can and cant take the dogs and whether she can have them off lead.....the right way the wrong way and the Spanish way :-)