Chances are, if you’re asking this question, you fall into one of a few camps.
Maybe you struggle to find suitable care for your dog when you go away. Maybe you have a more… well, shall we say… difficult dog than the average. Perhaps you simply don’t trust anyone enough with your precious family member and know you’d spend the entire holiday worrying anyway.
Or maybe you genuinely can’t imagine going away without them.
I’ll be honest, I’m a mix of all three!
Not to mention the additional cost of dog care can soon add up.
That being said, taking your dog with you may not be quite the cheap solution you’re hoping for either…
We didn’t always take our dog on holiday
With Riley, I’ll admit, the majority of the time we left him behind.
Partly because we needed time to recharge together with zero responsibilities and slob about without worrying about toilet breaks, hot weather and whether wherever we wanted to go allowed dogs.
And, to be honest, the world wasn’t as dog friendly then as it is now.
Going out for meals, days out and activities took far more planning. “NO DOGS ALLOWED” was pretty common, and there certainly wasn’t the flurry of water bowls outside cafés and shops that we all see so much today.
But the main reason?
Every time we mentioned to friends or family that we were thinking of booking a holiday, they would virtually fight over the chance to have Riley stay.
He was a Dude.
I still struggle to hold back the tears writing about him.
As a teenager he was the typical terrier: selective hearing, would chase anything that moved and would make a beeline for the nearest middle-class Joe enjoying a lovely woodland stroll in signature cream trousers, eager to greet them with two muddy paws and a goofy excited sneeze.
Only a dog owner understands the clench when you see your dog spot that one individual with no dog, clearly no interest whatsoever in dogs, and watch them bound towards them with pure intent to muddy.
But Riley was a great dog, and we were never short of offers to have him.
Although we did have a Pet Passport for him — this was pre-Brexit — travelling abroad with our dog simply wasn’t something we did very often.
Then came Luna.
The dog that wasn’t supposed to be
After losing Riley, I said “never again”.
Repeatedly.
I lasted about two months.
The phrase got said less and less as the house felt emptier and emptier, and then Luna came along: our Border Collie, the dog that wasn’t supposed to be.
That story deserves a blog of its own.
Our first trip abroad with Luna was largely because nobody in their right mind was ever going to volunteer to look after the absolute nutcase she was at the time.
Rich and I were desperate for a holiday. We wanted to go back to Germany and Amsterdam, but we also really wanted to explore Denmark.
Mainly because it’s the home of Lego.
Duh.
Yes, we are in our thirties.
No, there are no kids in sight.
But we did go to Legoland Windsor on our honeymoon, so this really shouldn’t surprise anyone.
And so began travelling Europe with Luna.
So… can you actually take your dog to Europe from the UK?
Yes.
And honestly, once you’ve done it once, it sounds far more complicated than it actually is.
Before our first trip, we headed off to our vet Ben at Market Town Vets in Shrewsbury — who are fantastic, by the way — and he talked us through what we needed.
Post-Brexit, if you’re travelling from Great Britain into the EU with your dog, there is paperwork involved.
For us, that meant an Animal Health Certificate, or AHC.
There are a few things you need to have sorted beforehand, including your dog being microchipped and vaccinated against rabies.
There is also a waiting period after the rabies vaccination, which caught us out the first time and meant we had to postpone our plans.
Annoying? Yes.
Lesson learnt? Also yes.
The AHC then needs to be completed and signed by an Official Veterinarian shortly before you travel.
It sounds like an awful lot when you first read the rules, but in reality, if your dog is already microchipped and has their rabies vaccination sorted, it essentially comes down to one very well-timed vet appointment and making sure the paperwork is correct.
We now allow ourselves plenty of breathing room around it because, if there is one thing I do not need before a European road trip, it is an avoidable paperwork-induced meltdown.
I’ll do a separate guide covering the AHC, vaccinations, timings and return requirements properly, because otherwise this blog is going to turn into War and Peace.
And believe me, we haven’t even got to the ferry yet.
Ferry or LeShuttle?
This was probably one of the biggest questions we had initially.
And after doing both several times, I don’t actually think there is one definitive winner.
They’re just very different.
LeShuttle
LeShuttle — formerly the Eurotunnel — is quick.
Really quick.
You arrive, sort the dog paperwork at Pet Reception, your dog’s microchip gets scanned, you go through border control, drive onto the train and around 35 minutes later you’re in France.
Your dog stays with you in the vehicle throughout, which is fantastic if you have a nervous dog.
For Luna, this is by far the less eventful option.
Once you’re loaded, it honestly isn’t hugely different for her to being sat in the van while we drive along a motorway.
There’s no dragging her through strange stairwells, no crowds of people and dogs, and no suddenly discovering that apparently the sound of a ferry staircase is deeply offensive to Border Collies.
It’s efficient.
Which is why we tend to prefer it when we’re coming home and have reached the:
“Right. Holiday over. I want my own bed.”
stage of the trip.
The ferry
The ferry is much more of an experience.
It normally takes longer, boarding can involve a lot more waiting around and, depending on the boat, you’ll generally either take your dog up into the designated dog-friendly areas or leave them safely in your vehicle.
You cannot normally just sit in the vehicle with them throughout the crossing.
This was a big thing for us the first time because Luna was extremely nervous.
We decided to take her up with us.
She had a meltdown on the stairs.
A proper one.
Apologies to anybody who happened to be on that ferry and was temporarily deafened by an overdramatic 17kg ball of working-breed muscle.
There is a much longer story behind Luna’s behaviour at the time, and adopting her taught me an awful lot — one of the biggest lessons being not to judge other owners when you don’t know the full story.
Once we actually got her settled, though, things were far easier than we expected.
The vibrations from the engines almost seemed like white noise. There were water bowls, dog-friendly seating areas and access to the outdoor decks.
Some ferry terminals even have little dog exercise areas.
The first time I discovered a small agility area while waiting to board at Dover, I genuinely got more excited about it than Luna did.
I hot-footed it back to the van to fetch her, praying nobody else would be using it by the time I got back.
Thankfully — EMPTY.
Whoop!
Luna looked completely puzzled as I eagerly marched her into this fenced area of strange plastic grass, unclipped her and stood there like I’d just taken her to Disneyland.
She immediately patrolled the perimeter and looked back at me as if to say:
Now what?
I’m honestly not sure who needed that little session more, her or me.
But having somewhere safe to regroup before boarding was brilliant.
Is travelling with a dog more stressful?
Yes.
There. I said it.
I could write one of those dreamy travel blogs telling you how magical everything is and how nothing compares to exploring Europe with your four-legged best friend.
And there are moments like that.
But there are also moments where you desperately need the toilet, your dog won’t wee, it is 31°C outside, you’re trying to find somewhere dog friendly for lunch and your husband has once again stopped the camper approximately seventeen miles away from the toll booth window.
Travelling with a dog adds another thing to think about.
You need to consider heat.
You need to know whether dogs are allowed where you’re going.
You need to plan stops.
You need water.
Food.
Poop bags.
Potentially medication.
And if you have a nervous or reactive dog, you may need to think much more carefully about busy areas, other dogs and where you stay.
But something strange happens.
You get used to it.
Things that felt like a huge ordeal on the first trip become completely normal.
And your dog gets used to it too.
Luna now understands the camper.
She understands travel days.
We understand her better.
And somewhere along the way, the thing that felt like an enormous inconvenience became part of the adventure.
Europe with a dog opens up SO much
In case you hadn’t already realised, Europe is MASSIVE.
You could go somewhere different constantly and still barely scratch the surface.
And one thing travelling this way has taught us is to stop obsessing quite so much over “seeing the sights”.
Some of our best memories have happened completely by accident.
An unplanned overnight stop.
A random beach.
A tiny town we’d never heard of.
A woodland walk we found because Luna needed stretching her legs.
A café we only chose because there was a water bowl outside.
Travelling with your dog forces you to experience places slightly differently.
And I actually think that can be a really good thing.
What about coming back into the UK?
There are requirements for the return journey too, particularly around tapeworm treatment for dogs.
We normally find a vet near wherever we’ll be before heading back towards France, book in advance where possible, and get everything sorted with plenty of time.
Again, I’ll cover the exact process properly in the paperwork blog because the timings matter and rules can change.
But my biggest advice?
Do not leave it until the last possible moment.
I do not possess the personality required for that level of risk.
So, would I recommend taking your dog on holiday?
Absolutely.
But I also don’t think it is automatically the right choice for every dog, every owner or every trip.
There were plenty of holidays where Riley was perfectly happy staying with people he adored while Rich and I went away alone.
And I don’t regret that.
Luna is different.
Our circumstances are different.
And travelling with her has become a massive part of our lives.
Yes, it requires more planning.
Yes, it costs money.
Yes, there are moments where I question every life decision that led me to standing beside a camper in another country begging a Border Collie to please just have a wee.
But there are also those moments where you’re standing somewhere beautiful, wind in their ears, watching them experience a completely new place with you.
And you suddenly think about everywhere else you could go.
That first crossing feels like the hard bit.
Once you’ve done it, the possibilities feel endless.
And honestly?
Some dog owners only ever dream about doing it.
So if you’re thinking about taking the plunge, do your homework, get the paperwork sorted, choose the crossing that suits your dog and give it a go.
You might find yourself wondering why you didn’t do it sooner.
Coming next: I’ll go into the practical bits properly — Animal Health Certificates, rabies vaccinations and timings, what actually happens at LeShuttle, taking a dog on the ferry, and our completely biased comparison of the two.
