Kristine

Anyone know if there are any zumba classes in the Charente area ?

That's really awful Christine about Lilly , and whenever I visit France I always buy several of the specialist staffie , type dog magazines ,and know from the heartbreaking stories in them about various wonderful pets , but of no provable ancestry being taken from their families and killed . I truely thought that with the staffordshire bull terrier having been taken off the list that the same then would apply to staffie crosses or pure staffies with pedigree's but just not registered . After all , if it's not a crime now to be a staffordshire bull terrier , why should it be a crime to look like one ? Breed specific dog laws , whatever the country concerned are just so wrong . At the end of the day I personally would prefer that the law would be that ALL dogs have to be muzzled in public places , then we would all be safe from any potentially dangerous dog , be it ,pitbull or yorkshire terrier , and the dogs would all be safe from each other . I'm going to visit the sites you mentioned , so I wxpect to have a very unhappy hour or so now .

I was living in France when the law was first implemented and it appeared that "staffordshire terriers " concerned "staffordshire bull terriers . Thankfully ,  due to a lot of hard work from the french and english S.B.T. clubs this was resinded . I understood perhaps wrongly that because of that , staffies are now treated , by law , in the same manner as all the other breeds of dog not classified in either catergory .I did'nt think that they were still going to come under some restrictions .  

Hi Christine , I realised that the staffordshire bull terrier had been taken off the catergory two list meaning that staffies do not now require a licence , but does that not apply to non- pedigree staffies as well ? By the way , I would class a non -pedigree staffie as a pure bred staffordshire bull terrier , but without papers . If it's not pure bred then whether or not it looks like a staffie , it's really a mongrel , not that I have anything at all against mongrel dogs before anyone thinks otherwise ! Sorry about your neighbours lurcher Jo , cannot comment on it as I don't know the circumstances behind the attack and kill . Was it a staffordshire bull terrier , or an "irish staffordshire bull terrier " ie pitbull .      

My suggestion would be a staffordshire bull terrier . They are usually extremly good with children ,being known as "the nanny dog . They are medium sized so don't take over the whole house , yet strong and sturdy . Short haired , so when returning from muddy walks , it's not such a daunting task to brush them down , relatively hardy ,definately loyal , because they can look intimidating they are good as guard dogs , when they bark , they really sound the business, but are wonderful companions .I consider the staffie to be a "good all rounder ," nut of course we all have our favourite breeds . Good luck .

Many thanks cooperlooa , I've made a note of that , any more folks , or do the rest of you only frequent the expensive places ?!

My friends and I are coming to Paris from Spain next spring to celebrate a birthday . We want to see and do as much as possible , but are concerned that the difference in restaurant prices between Spain and France will be a bit of a shock . Any suggestions where we will be able to eat ( breakfast , lunch & dinner .) at reasonable prices for good food would be welcome . We all like our food !

I have lived an equal lengh of time in both france and Spain, believe me if you find French systems ,banks,health system etc archaic ,don't ever consider moving to Andalucia .Compared to the way things operate there french systems are wonderful .At least if you go with the flow and follow the laid down proceedures everything works and you achive your goal. In Andalucia no system works because the people will not work to a system.Stay where you are and be thankful you're not here !

For 9 years we have held an account with a branch of Credit Lyonnais. For reasons that are too varied to go into here we want to change , we think to a french branch of Barclays, mainly for the internet service. Has anybody experience of changing banks, is it straightforward ? Any users of Barclays France, good ,bad , or indifferent ?

Thanks for the info , this will however be a government pension,and I was hoping that it could be paid into a UK bank or building society and then transferred to a sort of "sister " bank in France. This then , as it would be a regular monthly swift or similar transfer ,ought to be free. I know that this is how it works in Spain between certain banks, ie Lloyds - Unicaja , Halifax - Banco Halifax Hispana , Nat West - Sol , but am not sure about France, when we lived there we worked and did'nt at that time receive any pension.By the time we return to France to live , we will be receiving a UK pension , and wanted to be able to use the same type ofsystem , if it is available.

I already operate a french bank account ,which deals with income earned in France. However I know need to know more about transferring money , ie pension from UK to France. Does anybody know which , if any , UK ,offshore ,or high street banks or building societies offer a free  money transfer service  to which reciprocal french banks .I wrongly assumed that Barclays would operate this service ,but apparently not.

It was nice to read that both  St Amour and Cassis had good experiences with french dog owners at their respective establishments,as I had written earlier ,I do think that the french attitude to dogs is far better than that of the brits,( In general!),as is their general attitude to life ,which is proberbly why you are all living there.The point Deimos made was well intentioned , but I would imagine night tempreratures in a reasonably ventilated car would not be too bad, so long as people realise on booking that they either can or cannot bring animals and or children ,and whether or not they are allowed to smoke I would see no problems,then the choice is for the client,whether to stay with one or go to another that you think might be more amenable to their way of living. Thankfully in France there is a huge choice of all sorts of accommodation ,all levels all prices,I don't think that Miki needs worry too much ,I don't really think that Deimos expects you to have to go to such lengths to appease us awkward dog owners !!

  $]   I'm good with children and dogs , but as you can tell pretty useless with computers !! The spellings not so hot either ! I ought to pack in the training and agility classes and enrol in some that tells me how to use this thing. I wonder what short dog owners are like ?

Many thanks to those people who have answered my query with useful information,especially the book  , ( which I have ordered . ) I will be coming to France later this year , will as always stay a couple of days with our french friends and their two small children , who happen to be extremly well behaved ,our dog will  be sleeping indoors with us in his soft collapsable crate which we use when we travel and at shows. At home he sleeps in a separate room in a large dog crate , as he was crate trained from a 7 week puppy. No tall dog owners are irresponsible,neither are all parents , many people are able to strike a happy balence, enjoying the company of a dog ,whilst raising pleasant agreeable children , even , when like myself, my working life , including two years in Saudi Arabia before coming to France , was spent working with children in clinics and hospitals. Thanks  again for  resolving my query.[:D]

Poor old" Lotman ". Has he never heard the expression "never assume," It makes an ass out of u and me !" He "assumes " I have no children, I have two sons and a grandson,hopefully I never inflicted them on anyone else,in the same way that I don't  intend to inflict my dog ,which is why I wanted a "dog friendly " place to stay other than the french hotels that we have used very happily in past years. Why would you think I would be better off "staying with my chums (yuk ) in southern Spain," would you like to generalise or assume on that point as well ? Many thanks to those who made useful suggestions.The best suggestion was the drink , I don't think the sun is quite down over the yardarm yet , but I'll put a bottle of cava ready.

Wow , that really opened a can of worms. I hoped for answers from people who knew of ,or ran dog friendly places to stay, I really did'nt expect, ( or want,) to hear from people justifying their refusal to allow dogs,because that is of no use to me.I lived in France for four years before coming to Spain,as my huband worked for a large multi national company ,and we lived first near Paris , and then in Pau.We have always travelled with a dog, and generally found the french attitude to dogs to be excellent. However this year we thought we would try the Dordogne area and having seen many english people advertise gites,hotels etc,thought we might try that, but after reading some replies it's put me right off staying with Brits.Here in southern Spain we know many people who rent out villas and we have cer,tainly seen and been told just what british children can do, we also see how badly behaved the little darlings are in the local restaurants.Give me a dog anyday ! No, I don't dislike children, just find most these days are'nt kept in line,I think they would proberbly be better off on a lead and sleeping in the bread oven.!  

We like to come and visit France from Spain bringing our dog , and usually stay at Campanille hotels ,but we would like alternative accommodation. This year ,October we hope to visit the South West,does any one know of any travel books that list dog friendly hotels, gites,B&B's etc ?[:)]

I live in Spain, though we did live in France for several years before. We regularlytravel between the countries visiting friends and although you should have the full passport ,we have never been stopped,( who would stop you ,and where ? ) so long as you take the vacination book with you I don't see a problem, .There are a lot of ticks in southern Spain ,so it's only common sense to treat the dogs as you proberbly do now.

That was very interesting and informative and I shall print it off , thank you. Do you know any books,or similar that give addresses of hotels ,gites etc that allow dogs in France. I know the Campanile chain does, but sometimes I would like to try different hotels,but other than turning up at the door and asking the question have not managed to find a comprehensive list.

We travel very often to France from Spain with our dog,usually we use Campanille Hotels,there is never a problem with accommodating animals here.However we would like to try some other hotels,guest houses etc.just for one or two nights at a time,Has anyone out there any reccommendations,we tend to be in the following areas:Nabonne,Albi,Toulouse,Pau.

[quote]I thought I would share will you my experiences! I have 2 dogs, both had the old style UK pet passports. Both had rabies jabs as soon as they were able (ie 14 weeks). One is aged 2 and the other 3....[/quote] I totally agree with all thats been written,the situation in Europe tends to be farcical when anything to do with the UK is concerned. We bought our first dog when we were living in Paris,we bought him from Belgium and flew Air France with him in the cabin in a basket,he was 12 weeks. We travelled throughout France,Italy,and regulary to Spain,never once having to show any documents either for him or our equally well travelled cat. It´'s only when the UK is involved that it all goes pear shaped.We have solved this problem,we never travel back to the Uk together ! Drastic,but it works,and until they sort it out for once and for all,this is how it will continue for us.