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I asked at my club today and understood a little of the answer. The bit I understood is that as a non-LOF you cannot become the "National Agility Champion" (nor a few other things), but you can compete. However, they started going on about the “brevets” and I lost understanding there. What is "tracking" - is that things like selecting the correct item based on scent (seek-and-find). Also when you say "... so it's just as well that I had no ambition to compete either!", do you mean that you can compete in agility or not. Certainly I had the impression from what they said that you can. I have very limited French and people at my club speak even less English (but we manage as things normally are not too critical). The reason it came up is that the applications for an Agility Licence have to be in by the 15th Nov and they had filled in a form for me assuming my dog was LOF. Apparently it’s a different form for non-LOF – hence the subject came-up.

The blank Pet Passports cannot be obtained by post. As I am getting desperate for one (for Christmas return visit to UK), I have contacted DEFRA and their reply: "1. No vet can send you a blank copy of the passport. 2. We cannot send you a blank passport. We are aware there are some difficulties obtaining passports in France and ask if you can delay your journey until the vet in France can issue an EU Pet Passport. If you cannot delay your journey, you should ask your vet if they are still able to issue you with an old style Pets Certificate. If so, you may wish to consider obtaining one. The documentation will be checked by carriers/ State Veterinary Service for entry as well as whether the pet is 100% compliant with the rules relating to the UK. Pet owners allowed to enter the UK with Pets certificates issued after 1 October will be advised to obtain an EU Pet Passport whilst in the UK." For option 2 I had actually asked if they could send a blank Pet Passport directly to my French vet. Certainly in France (according to my French vet and at my dog club) your dog needs to be vaccinated against rabies each year (irrespective of the brand of vaccine). In the 1st year (regardless or any UK rabies vaccination history) you get a Blue certificate and in subsequent years you get a Red one (so I’m told – I’m still on the Blue one) and these certificates are important.

Has anybody ever got AGF to pay for anything (in a reasonable timescale). I'm still waiting for them to settle a claim from back in January.

I have no plans to return to the UK, though, does anybody know if you get a French driver license, could you subsequently get a UK one should one return to the UK. I also still have an old paperwork one and to “change my address” had contacted DVLC and got nowhere (no response even). Also, having never seen a French drivers license, and given people here seem to know all about this stuff: 1. I (at present) don't really want to go through the "grief" to get a "Carte du Sejour" (sic ?) but find carrying round my UK passport a nuisance (my new passport will last no more than 1 year). In practice I rarely carry any ID around (which I appreciate is illegal). Does a French drivers license have a photo and does is act as photo ID (e.g. for writing cheques when an ID is required). If it does it may help if stopped when not carrying my passport.

Did you get the Pet Passport in France or the UK. In France I'm having difficulty of getting hold of one. I have to return to UK over Christmas and have one dog (French) who has passed everything but my vets cannot get the paperwork However, the proposed passport (as agreed by the Commission of the European Communities) included: 16 entries for rabies vaccinations ( 3 on page with title then 6 and then same again) 2 serological test entries 8 tick treatment entries 8 Echinococcus treatments 8 "Other" Vaccinations There was no separation between incoming and outgoing. The specification (L 312 27/11/2003) does allow the size and shape of the boxes to be varied by the issuing country but makes no reference to the numbers of boxes being varied. Maybe they modified it after that specification. I have only seen the specification document, not a real one.

I'm pretty sure I can just register him with the UK chip (I hope so as the Pet Passports stuff has to start from scratch if you re-chip - and then there is the ambiguity about which chip reads when going through checks). I’m sure I have seen somewhere that it’s a paperwork exercise. Fortunately the UK dog does not do agility - too obsessed with other dogs to be able to focus for long enough (he was quite fast at Flyball but they don’t seem to do that in France). The French pup is the one who does agility. To be honest I have no personal desires to become an agility champion. It is good fun (social for me), helps socialise the pup, she seems to really enjoy it (although she is a beginner). Who knows how she will “train up” (she is only 9 months old at the moment). The club certainly recon she will be ready for competition by the 18 month entry age limit. If that is the case and she enjoys it, then we might do a few competitions, but only if it’s fun. Likewise, my club is SCC registered, but that doesn’t affect the UK older dog (as he isn’t part of it atall). I have to spend some time at the vets when the Pet Passport paperwork arrives (I’m waiting of the paperwork for the French pup so I can return to the UK for Christmas), so I’ll sort out the UK dog registration at the same time.

Unfortunately my French is somewhat “limited” (though I am learning, going to classes and not just ignoring it) – which makes my understanding of some things liable to mis-interpretation. The dog I do agility with is non-LOF (though is a Border Collie) and I have assumed this is the same as being non-pedigree (?). Nobody has told me there is a problem competing, though I also would be very interested if anybody knows the real situation (my dog is too young to complete for some time to come). Also, I don’t know if they would require your dog be registered with the SCC (which I’m told it probably should be anyway). What I have been told (though must admit have not yet got round to it with my UK dog) is that if your dog is in France for more that 3 months he/she must be registered. I asked my vet when I first moved about rules, etc. and they did not say this. However, others have said that in France, vets to not regard themselves as “enforcing rules” so may not push you to do this. However, the French Authorities do not have access to the UK microchip database so, should your dog get lost, etc. then they would not be able to find you through a UK registered microchip. As a slight aside, when I had some initial problems getting the pup and older dog to behave properly together, I telephoned one of the main UK Border Collie Rescue Societies for advice and mentions Carol Price’s book. I have a copy but they were very “down” on it (saying you should ignore much of it) – which surprised me as many other places recommend it.

Were the comments from others at your club in UK or France. I have the impression that castration and spaying are not quite "the norm" as much as they are in the UK. I've noticed on an SPA information sheet (information for people adopting a dog) that they recommend that you have the pet castrated/spayed. I thought in the UK the Rescue Centre had the pet castrated/spayed before you could take him/her home. My local vet surgery (France) has some small posters encouraging neutering of cats. I did not have to explain why I wanted her spayed, they didn’t question it. My male was castrated in the UK quite young. My (French) pup was spayed recently and I've not yet received any comments (though we have only recently started going again after the operation). It will be interesting so see. When I originally took my older male to puppy classes in the UK he was terrible (still is ?). He spent the entire 45 minutes scrabbling on the floor trying to meet and play with the other dogs (would not do any of the sit, stay, walk, stuff). The person running the class kept saying not to worry as he would “grow-out of it”. One class she took him from he to a corner and tried to get him to sit. 5 mins. Later, having been unsuccessful she returned him to me with the comment “he’s a difficult dog to handle”. I now believe that had I been able to address his behaviour at an earlier age he might be better these days.

A French teacher was explaining to her class that in French, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine. "House" is feminine -"la maison", "Pencil" is masculine - "le crayon." A student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?" Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups -- male and female and asked them to decide for themselves whether "computer" should be a masculine or feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for their recommendation. The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la computer"), because: 1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic; 2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else; 3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for immediate retrieval later; 4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it. The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine ("le computer"), because: 1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on; 2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves; 3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time THEY are the problem; 4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

Probably everybody saw this years ago (but it's new to me): http://www.mnug.org.au/copy/1998/07/mscfgm.html amusing (It's Newsletter of the Melbourne Novell Users Group web site) Ian

I’m considering purchasing a small camper van to allow me to travel round and see a bit more of France. Having never owned/driven a camper van before I have a few questions people may be able to provide advice on. Looking small (VW micro-bus (?) sized but probably not the “classic” VW micro-bus). Me, couple of dogs, loo, fridge, some washing/cooking facilities – that sort of thing. 1. I’d be looking at the lower priced end of the 2nd hand market (higher mileage, older). Any particular makes/models to avoid or any particularly recommended ? 2. What sort of diesel consumption does one get out of such vehicles ? 3. I’ve been told that these vehicles tend to be insulated to make them better in the heat. Whilst I am always careful about dogs in cars, insulation could extend the times of year I could go travelling (due to temperatures and dogs in vehicle). Is this the case and does it have much effect ? 4. Any additional running costs above a normal car (e>g> additional certifications/inspections/etc. needed ? 5. Anything else I may have overlooked ? Many thanks

Saw this on another web site and thought people might find it amusing   Puppy Property Laws             If I like it, it's mine.               If it's in my mouth, it's mine.               If I can take it from you, it's mine.               If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.               If it looks just like mine, it's mine.               If I saw it first, it's mine.               If I'm chewing something up, all the pieces are mine.               If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.               If you are playing with something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.               If it's broken, it's yours.

I (personally) don't like choke chain collars and don't use them.  Similarly, I don't tug/jerk, etc. the lead.  Dog must listen/watch and be guided (one day they actually might - and I'll probably be so shocked I'll ...).  I don't do obedience, just agility when she can (and does) run around like a mad thing. I’ve always been taught (and tried to do) that you should reward a dog a.s.a.p. after they have done something correct.  I’ve noticed (in France) that there are often long delays between action by dog and reaction by handler (both positive and negative).  One day at the club there was a minor scuffle between a couple of dogs (to my mind trivial sort of thing tghat always happens), yet the “initiating” dog was “told of” several minutes after the incident had finished.  Positive stuff is the same – sometimes a longish delay before the reward. I’m not an expert so please do not interpret my comments as criticising anybody/anything.  I have certain ways I train my dogs and am sure others have different ways that are equally successful.  Each to their own techniques.

Whilst it’s a bit off the original question.   My reason for starting the pup so early was that she was very timid and scared of things and I figured it would help socialise her (particularly with other dogs)  However, her 1st go at agility and she was doing the tunnel (reliably) by her fourth attempt and the Chaussette tunnel within 6 attempts.  The Passerelle was pretty well straight over and she gave all the impressions of being “a natural”.  The Bascule was the obstacle we/I had a small issue with.  We thus moved to the “agility-only” class.   She is still scared of other dogs – can sometimes tolerate a brief sniff but gets decidedly unhappy at more than that.  She can quite happily sit next to another dog if the other dog pays her no attention.  She can quite happily run around the area with all the other dogs provided none pay her any attention.  If she gets unhappy she will start to lift her lip.  If the other dog does not move away she will start snapping in the air – as yet we have not had anything worse than that and I’m hoping as she gets more used to other dogs she will get better.  I’m very open to suggestions about anything else I can do to improve her.  (when I have a visitor in the house I have to shut her away at the moment ‘cos she just barks and barks at them).  However, both her parents were timid as well.   I had to complete a 1 side of A4 form (address dog name LOF (which mine isn’t) and that was about it).  I was advised that (in France) it is a good idea to carry her rabies certificate around but never asked to show it.  They are a proper club, do competition, affiliated to the national authority (last weekend we had the regional “agility chief” visit with open training for loads of clubs in the region/department.   Ian

My club (in France) also does this defence training, though with relatively few dogs and the formal obedience.  Their Saturday afternoon meet is 1hr obedience (sit, stay, etc.) then 1 hr agility (which in all takes over 3 hrs).  I gave up doing that as the dog I do agility with is quite timid and tends to avoid other dogs and the Saturday sessions have more newcomers whose dogs were a bit “in her face” and were not helping her.  The “hard core” agility dogs are better at saying hello briefly and ignoring her (she prefers being ignored by other dogs). However they also have separate training times (Wed and Sun) where there is none of the "sit, stay, etc." - all the time spend doing agility.  Some people have two dogs and run them both.  When you join the club, if you go with more than 1 dog it’s a higher membership fee.  Its fairly small and informal.  Some people leave their dogs clipped to a fence and some dogs spend some of the time just wandering around playing, saying hello, etc. I did not have to take any obedience tests before doing anything.  I might be that they thought she had such potential they skipped that stage. When I joined the club I was quite surprised as it was the first time (in France) that there had been any real recognition by anybody about the need for dog-dog socialisation.  My impression is that general dog training techniques do seem slightly different in France.  I have on one occasion just avoided an obstacle as I was not happy with the training technique they wanted to use.  I cannot say their technique was wrong (I’m a beginner), just that I did not want it for my dog.  I constructed the obstacle in the garden, trained her on that and they there was no problem (I avoided the “issue”). By the way, my dod is a pup (9 months old), so we dont even do all the obsticles at the moment.

Sorry, a couple of other things: When I called and found some, they were all very happy for me to visit (with my dog) to see what they were like before actually joining. There was no difficulties in that respect atall. I was allowed to fully join in (with dog, etc.). When calling round, I found a club and they asked where I lived - which was some distance away. They said "oh, there are some nearer you and gave me contact info for a couple of other clubs). The club I ended up joining in only listed on the web in one or two sites, etc. Another good site that lists club by department is http://www.chien.com/index13.html

Try: http://www.chez.com/cnea/ (the Commission Nationale education et Agility) The "Regions" button on the hone page is the one you want. Also http://www.cnea.net/ May sound daft but check in your local Yellow Pages. They list dog clubs. I phoned round these (in my area) and found about half of them did agility. One or two clubs I telephoned did agility but without competition (just for fun and they said if you want to compete then that was not their club). The club I’m a member of does both agility and “formal obedience” training and I recon many are the same (i.e. do more than just agility). Again, my experience is that in France agility is run in clubs that you pay an annual membership to join and there being no charge for each session. I recon there are a few minor differences between UK and France - mainly in training methods (and jumps are a little lower. Also, fewer Border Collies. I didn't do that much in the UK and would be interested in finding out how you get on. My experience is that people join their dog clubs to have fun and they are a pretty friendly crowd. Also, round your “part of the world” is where most of the Border Collies are in France (though maybe they all work on farms and don’t do agility). If you cannot find things, do ask and I'll try and turn-out more stuff. Regards Ian

When I moved out I got 3 quotes. Two proposed collection to delivery in a max 2 weeks (i.e. shared loads being stored at depots, etc.) and one came to collect everything, drive to France and unload everything. The quoted prices were that the direct move (load lorry, drive to France using ferry, then unload) has actually half the price of the other two. I ended up using Pickfords (the direct one - no storage/shared loads) at half the price of the other two and had no problems with the service they provided. I got quotes in advance and then gave them 3 weeks notice (requiring a specific date for the move) - which was no problem for them. Being a larger company they bring-in people from different depots to even the workload. I took up less than half of one of their big lorries. I suppose my point is actually - don't rule out dedicated loads on the basis of price as this may not be the case.

I have now been using the Mozilla Firefox browser for several weeks and find it very good. Previously I used just Mozilla, again I found that quite a bit better than Microsoft Internet Explorer. The main features where I believe it is easier to use the Microsoft Internet Explorer are: a. You can open pages in new "tabs" as well as a new Window (which I find makes switching between pages that are open at the same time much easier - particularly where the taskbar "stacks" different instances of the same application under one button). b. Download Manager (keeps track of requested downloads – even if you close/lose the link in the middle of a download). Some organisations rate is as more secure than Internet Explorer (including (it is alleged) the US “Department of Homeland Security). I do not have adequate knowledge to comment on this aspect. I have not yet had the confidence to make it my default browser and would not suggest trying to remove Microsoft Internet Explorer. Although I am told you can remove Internet Explorer, if you do quite a bit of stuff stops working. Also, Microsoft stuff often will not work in non-Internet Explorer browsers (it just says that you “must do this in Internet Explorer”). I thought I would mention it in case others might want to “give it a try”.

I have the same problem. Massive open fire (on a shelf), and when it really gets going all the heat goes up the chimney. Also, as it’s a wide chimney, it sucks a lot of heat out of the rest of the house as well. I need quite a lot of air coming into the room or I get smoke back down the chimney (it’s an old traditional fireplace and chimney and the fire is one side, the old “cooking alcove” on the other side. I got an estimate for an insert (incl. Tube up chimney, hot air circulator, fan, etc for large room upstairs) but ended a bit “over budget” (for the moment). It was a decent quality system but at €5000 I had other needs drawing on funds so will have to wait (or find something cheaper). I really wanted to avoid the €200 inserts from Bricomarche (as I’m sure they will not last, etc.) and in my quote the actual insert was €1700. Did others pay similar costs or was I going really top of the market ?

I had read that when not covered by “paperwork” from the UK (E106 or E121) and not working in France, one had two options – either start contributing to French NI through voluntary contributions (and presumably get CPAM cover) or take out your own health insurance (and that the latter may be lower cost).  "Will the …", am I right in assuming that this is what you have done when you talk about being a travailleur independent and using a organismes conventionées.

My young French pup has completed all the requirement for a Pet Passport, yet, living in France I am unable to get a Passport as there seems to bone of the paperwork available. I really "need" to visit the UK for Christmas and am beginning to get a bit concerned. I am aware that DEFRA say you can use the old paperwork, but their widely published rules say you cannot (after 30/Sept/2004). This route is not one I want to “push for” at my vets until time dictates it as the only possibility. I don’t want to check at my vets too often (as they will begin to get a bit irritated), but don’t want to miss it when they do arrive. Has anybody managed to get a European Pet Passport issued by a French vet yet ? Could people let me know if they become aware that passports have arrived with their vet (in France) – maybe reply to this topic. If I know that other vets have them, I will feel a bit more confident about visiting my vet more often. Many thanks Ian

Does anybody know of any SIP call service providers in France (or covering France). I would appreciate any info/links people may have as I have only been able to find UK/German and UK/Canada companies (with number prefixes for those countries. In practice I am actually not too concerned about the incomming number allocated but rather want a lower cost route for outgoing (international) calls.

“Your conceptual approach to complementary insurance is faulty." You are probably quote correct in this comment as I often look to "how people make money" and how much money they are making and this is probably what is driving my questions.  I suppose I'm thinking along the lines of overheads and profits rather than the specific market places they are operating in and as you say the regulations they are operating under.  I was not aware of the regulatory aspects and am probably thinking too simplistically. A bit like the "Building Society" vs. "Bank".  I suppose a Building society was a Mutual Society and profits were effectively passed to the members.  However, when the Building societies became Banks and had to pay out dividends and make profits, they had to keep their rates competitive (probably a bad analogy). It will probably be a few weeks until I register with CPAM and I do have time to look around. Many thanks to all for their helpful comments.  I really was not even aware that there were different types of organisation, that some treatments were changed at above the CPAM listed rate, etc.  Many thanks for your time.

I read on one web site home page a statement about problems with AOL mail. They were saying they could receive mail from AOL users but that a lot experienced problems receiving their replies. It went on to say about an option in your AOL account settings that enables/disables receipt of e-mails from non-AOL users/addresses). Their comment was: A MESSAGE TO AOL USERS If your mail program is not set properly, we may not be able to reply to an email you have sent to us. Sometimes, when we try to contact an AOL customer, a bounced message is returned telling us that you are "NOT ACCEPTING MAIL FROM THIS SENDER." If you set your mail options to accept mail only from AOL-users, anyone who is not an AOL-user will be unable to contact you. If they try to send you a message, they will also receive a bounce notice telling them you are "NOT ACCEPTING MAIL FROM THIS SENDER".How to correct your AOL mail preferences if they are not set properly to accept mail from all users:1. Go to Keyword: mail controls. 2. Set them to accept mail from non-AOL users. 3. Be sure the controls are not set to only accept mail from the people you specify on your list. The site was http://www.loirevalley-property.com/presentationuk.html By the way this site is nothing to do with me and I am not sneaking in a advert - so do "pull the URL" if you want (and I will not be offended).