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Senior Collie


Janb

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I am wanting to spend between three to four months in France next winter but have a twelve year old border colliewho's never been anywhere except on the moors of Derbyshire. One Vet 'has reservations' about any dog going through the process; another says that 'Sassy' is relatively fit and 'should' be OK.   Any thoughts?

Jan

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If your dog is fit enough to go to (say) Southampton in the car, then he is OK to come to France.  When we moved here one of our beloved dalmatians was 10 years old and the vets treated me as if I was cruel and heartless and shortening his life.  What a load of rubbish!  He died last summer aged 15 and spent over 4 very happy years here.  In my avatar he is the dog lying on the terrace and the photo was taken not long before he died.  The process is painless - although you do have to wait 6 months from the successful  blood test before you can return to the UK.  The only difficult thing may be if he is not used to the car, but if he is an OK traveller there is absolutely no reason why you should not have a happy time together in France.

Good luck

Maggi

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What part of France are you going to? It may be there are a few extra precautions you'll need to take depending on where you're going. Ticks for eg are more likely to carry diseases the further south you go.

We bought two 11 year old labs out with us in 2004. One died last summer - from a growth in the liver / pancreas area - so that would probably have happened regardless of where she was. Her brother is now 14, on some excellent medication from the vet here which has sorted the stiffness he was beginning to show in his hind legs and all being well, he'll be around for another year or two.

I don't think you need to worry too much about stress of trip, say. If an animal is with happy and contented owners, it tends to follow that the dog is happy and content too. If he hasn't travelled much then I do think you might want to give Sassy a few longer trips and ensure s/he thinks the car is a really good place to be. Again dependent on where you're going, the Tunnel is a very stress-free method of travel because you're with Sassy in the car all the way. Um... naturally, I was meaning stress-free for you, the owners... [:D]

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I can't see a problem providing she's healthy.  My 13 year old lurcher travels out to France 3-4 times a year and just sleeps the whole journey.  I agree that taking the train to cross the Channel would be much less stressful for both of you than taking a ferry.  I'm afraid I couldn't leave the dogs in the car in the hold of a ferry unattended, on the train everyone stays in the car together.  My lurcher girl is not that good a traveller and tends to pant and stress for a lot of the journey but even she settles quite happily in the car while we're on the train.

 

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Hi, we brought our 13 yr old dog to France a couple of times before we finally moved here.  No probs with her health, if anything, she has found a new lease of life chasing lizards etc. and our vet encouraged us to take her with us, (she has never been in kennels as we always had house sitters to look after her for hols), so with us she came!!  We chose to use the  tunnel for the crossing as has already been pointed out, it is stress free and you can stay with your pet ( I couldn't bring myself to leave her alone in the car on a boat!!)  We made plenty of stops for her to exercise and take in some fresh air.  So don't let others put you off, you know your dog and you know if he/she will be ok with the journey. Happy travelling[:D]

Kimberly 17

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I would say go for it.  My two dogs are relatively young (8 and 9) and I was concerned how they would cope.  We bought a big cage to go in the back of the van both to keep them contained and also for their own safety.  I read a lot of information beforehand about getting your dogs used to going into a cage (it was their first time ever) and found an excellent website that explained how to go through the motions of putting food near, then next to and finally in the cage.  I don't know why I bothered.  As soon as the cage was up the dogs hopped in and said 'where are we going?'.  No bother at all.  We also did the tunnel which was great and I will be using it again in the next couple of weeks for a return trip home.  So no matter what the experts say sometimes you just have to do these things.  My dogs adore France.

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Don't forget that your dog needs a Pet Passport. Start organising it now as it will take a minimum of seven months to qualify if all goes well with the microchip, anti-rabies jab and susequent blood test.

We have no trouble with our lurcher on the long ferry trip but it depends on the individual. If we detected any sign of stress we would choose to use the tunnel where he would be with us all the time.

  Good luck, Alistair

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