Do any of the ferry companies crossing the Channel take dogs with foot passengers ?

[Morris]

Do any of the ferry companies crossing the Channel take dogs with foot passengers ?

I don't have a car.

Need to transport a small dog from France to UK.

Thanks.

[Will]

You would need to ask the ferry companies because it depends on whether or not they have secure places for dogs onboard and the terms of the DEFRA licence. The only operator I know for sure will allow dogs with foot passengers is DFDS, but that's no use travelling from/to France. 

Brittany Ferries has kennels on board at least two of its ships (one being the ship used on the St Malo-Portsmouth route, and the other - which also has a few 'pet friendly cabins' - is used on some Cherbourg crossings). As far as I know this is the only cross-channel operator thus equipped. The fact that nobody else has replied would seem to indicate that this is indeed the case. However, I don't think it's company policy to allow other than motorised passengers to carry pets.

I did read somewhere (no idea whether or not it's true) that LD Lines will allow dogs accompanied by foot passengers if you provide a suitable cage to contain the dog during the voyage.

[Christine Animal]

That's what I was going to suggest.  If you let them know it's a small dog and ask if it can be allowed in a pet carrier (some have wheels on like the cases).

 

[Loiseau]

A few years back, a French friend of mine wanted to return to France with her dog. She didn't have a car, so intended to do the journey to Paris by train and boat. (Dogs aren't allowed on Eurostar, so London-Paris by that means was not possible.)

She made enquiries of the ferry companies for the Dover crossings, and was told that it was OK as long as the dog was carried on and off in a cage (not sure if she could have taken it out of the cage on board). As far as I remember, it would have had to be some sort of official, strong (heavy) cage, which she would have had to buy, as it was not possible to rent one.

With her baggage, and the dog being medium-sized, there was no way she could have lugged that from London with her, so in the end I offered to take her in the car to Calais on a day-return through the Tunnel, and dropped her at the station there so she could get to Paris.

Not sure if regulations have changed, but Christine's suggestion above sounds good, if so.

Angela

[YCCMB]

A propos de...in a round about way.....Yesterday afternoon, in a brief effort to break the silence and having found nothing much on R4 or any of the main TV channels to tempt me, I ended up in desperation watching half an hour of "Airport" on one of the Sky channels....which was undoubtedly a repeat, but I hadn't seen it.

Anyway, one of the passengers being "followed" was a young French woman who had arrived at Liverpool (obviously the journey must have been her cheapest option, but that's another story) from Paris, en route for Malaga. Upon her arrival in Liverpool, it was discovered that she was carrying in her hand luggage..............a cat in a fairly ordinary shoulder bag.

When it was pointed out to her that this was illegal, and when it transpired that the cat had no documents, the airport staff told to her that not only could she not continue her journey, but that the cat would need to be taken off and quarantined, or returned to Paris forthwith.

I have never seen anyone kick off with quite such gusto. She did a runner into the car park and had to be detained by security, and upon being returned to the terminal, she was shouting so much that she had almost turned purple.

Interestingly, because it appears that French airlines are perfectly happy to let animals travel in this way on domestic flights, no-one at the Paris end had queried what she was doing, or checked her route on her ticket....so Easyjet took her cat from her and quarantined it overnight, flew her directly back to Paris, and sent the cat back the following day by the more conventional (in the hold) method. At their expense!

[Clarkkent]

YCCMBetty's response is interesting.

I flew from Tokyo to Paris with Air France once. Two rows behind me, in the passenger cabin, was a woman with a poodle. The dog was very well-behaved and slept for most of the flight. I suspect most of the other passengers had no idea there was a dog onboard.

Doesn't help with the original query though!

[Cendrillon]

No help at all to O.P. but my student niece flew back from the States with a pet fish in water in her hand luggage.[blink] I think this was pre 9/11.

[Loiseau]

Must have been! I can't imagine it would have lasted long in 100ml of water...

Angela