On foot, on ferry with dog?

[shona]

Will be hh with my dog from Genova, Italy to Ireland next month, had planned however to get ferry from Cherbourg to Rosslare, but ferry ticket for dogs must be bought in advance and foot passengers not allowed to bring dogs on board. Anyone else had this problem? Have never hh before, any advice greatly appreciated.

[Fruupp]

Correct me if I'm wrong but unless the laws changed in my long absence from Ireland, you cannot bring animals into Ireland or the UK without quarantine inspection (6 months). As I said, I may be wrong but with the rise in Foot & Mouth, Bird Flu, Mad Cow disease etc I would imagine that there would still be tight restrictions. Don't mean to rain on your parade.

[shona]

She has a pets passport which means she does her 6 months quarantine in country of origin. She's free to travel from Nov 9th.

[Raus]

I can vouch for the pet passport. My dog can go anywhere in Europe with one, just had to get a steriological blood test done to be able to get into the UK, Ireland, and Scandinavia.

You probably have to book a ticket in advance for your pup because they make you put her in a cage on their boat. They may only have one or two of these cages on the ship. I had to do this going from Denmark to Norway. I can't promise anything, but on the Denmark to Norway ferry trip we got lucky because I didn't get a ticket in advance, and there weren't any other dogs travelling, so both cages were free.

[Fruupp]

[quote:1044686ed9="shona"]She has a pets passport which means she does her 6 months quarantine in country of origin. She's free to travel from Nov 9th.[/quote:1044686ed9]

Glad that it is all OK, things certainly have changed from when I lived in Ireland, they were anal about Rabies etc and it made it very hard to travel if you had pets.

Have a great trip Shona!

[hikecrazy]

In terms of hitching, if you want to do the whole trip faster then go from Genova to Milano, through Switzerland, up through Germany, across Belgium to Calais, Dover, London and west through Wales where you can get a ferry to Rosslare.

If time is not a concern then take the Cherbourg ferry but don't forget to stock up on food in France!

Now, as far as dogs go you might have better luck going via the UK but it would be good to do some research beforehand. Anybody I've seen bringing dogs between the UK and France brought them by car, that might be a possibility for you since you have the animal passport.