French Dog passport

A snowHead

My friendly French vet gave me one for for my dog, despite me not having a French residence, not used it yet.The dog had to have another French rabies vaccine to get it.
Do you just hand it over at Dover, and then a quick check of the microchip?

A snowHead

@nevis1003, yes, and there no need for any other documentation. Only get the rabies booster done in Europe though not the UK. Also check when it expires as the first vaccine in France is only valid for 1 year, and our vet didn't extend Odin's to 3 years when she did it in January. Lola's was when same vet gave a booster last March though so not sure what was going on there.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Thanks for that Hells Bells, I just checked the vaccine after your advice, it is valid for 3 years now, and I will get it done in France when due for booster. maybe 3 years because it was not his first.

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@nevis1003, it wasn't Odin's either, that was done in the UK before Christmas, but who knows. All that matters is that he has a passport and we'll be in Serre next Christmas anyway in time to get it done.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@nevis1003, we’ll done. That’ll make life easier for the next 3 years.
Just to reiterate what @Hells Bells, said, your UK vet can’t add anything to your passport so make sure you get a rabies booster in the EU before the expiry date. Go even a day over and you’re effectively starting again.
And don’t forget you still need your french vet to record the tapeworm treatment 1-5d before entering the UK.

You'll need to Register first of course.

@nevis1003, that's a good move. Out of interest, is your dog registered in iCAD, the French dog registration system? This is normally a requirement before a vet will issue a passport.

Also, who and where is your French vet? It might be useful for other Snowheads who want to try and get an EU passport for their pets.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@sno trax, iCAD is important, I wouldn't say critical but our vet filled the registration form out incorrectly for one dog and a month or so later we had a letter from the Hautes Alpes prefecture to that effect.

The vet would know you're not full-time residents, so they don't bother.

Basically, you're fudging the system as you're not residents, but the chance of anything serious happening is highly unlikely.

Driving around on UK plates as a resident is another story rolling eyes

After all it is free

@sno trax, not sure how they would complete an iCAD application if there is no French address.

@Hells Bells, good point. In which case, it does sound like there are still vets who are willing to issue passports without an iCAD registration. Our regular vet wouldn't issue a passport until we had actually received the documents from iCAD.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Here's a French dog with a passport

would a British Bulldog get one?

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

We got our pet passport from Clinique Vétérinaire du Chiriac in Albertville. https://clinique-veterinaire-du-chiriac.business.site. Very lovely vet. She did everything on one visit, including sorting the transfer of the microchip (i think we had to fill in a form, send it and confirmation then came through by post). We do have a french address, so in the sense it didn’t seem like a fudge. This was in the early days-summer 2021- and she did get the rabies bit wrong. She just entered the date of the U.K. jab on the passport, which worked for about 6 crossings, until it was spotted at Calais last summer. Thankfully a quick visit (cash only!) to a vet in Calais sorted the problem.
Since then we’ve mostly used a practice in Moutiers for the return worming pill https://clinique3v.wixsite.com/clinique3v, but the Albertville practice just seems nicer.

snow reports

The vet registered Casper on Icad, she used the address at which we were staying. She didn't know if this would be accepted and I had to wait 10 minutes until it went through on her computer. She did explain that if she wasn't able to do this then she couldn't give him the passport.
As I said above he was then given a French rabies jab valid until 2026 which I will ensure is replaced with another French one in due course.
I haven't used the passport yet as he came back on the AHC so I will post if there are any problems in due course.
In summer, on climbing trips, I buy my dog's tick treatment, worm tablets, in France because I think the vets there have good local knowledge of what's best, and that is why I think she offered the passport, I didn't actually ask for it. Also, a very nice person.

Dogs passport worked fine, so there is no need for french address if you can find a friendly vet. Gendarmes didn't even look at it, only checked by the ferry company. Rock climbing conditions are great just now in the Ecrins.

You know it makes sense.

@nevis1003, I am sure ICad is only really required if you are staying in France for more than 3 months. There was some grumpiness from the French authorities who said pet passports shouldn't be issued for UK pets without Icad in place. However, I am not sure if there is any basis for that in EU law. Individual countries seem to have their own interpretation of it. Our French vet was OK to issue Lola's and transfer over the information from UK to EU passport back in 2021, but by 2023, Odin needed a new rabies Jab despite it being done just weeks previously to travel out .We travelled back into France with both of them for the first time without issue but I know others who had problems at the tunnel with the same details as Lola. On both occasions we returned to the UK with a valid AHC so passport was not needed, although Odin's was checked by staff at Eurotunnel to make sure it was valid for our next trip out.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I've recently sorted an Italian passport for our puppy and the requirement is simple - the owner must be legally resident in Italy.
She travelled out (Dover Calais) in May on an AHC (£190 ouches) and used the passport (about €45) for a quick round trip back in June. Nobody asked about the AHC.

A snowHead

I think the price of an AHC is a scandal, it's essentially the same thing the French vet gives you to come back for 40-50 euros. Rip off Britain.

A snowHead

@Nemisis, @nevis1003, Abbeywell vets in Folkestone do an AHC for a fee of £99 plus £12(?) for each additional dog (as up to 5 can go on one AHC). There's someone in Havant that does similar. Our Pets at Home did Odin's for £135, as we didn't have time to go to Abbeywell on that occasion. @nevis1003, although it is essentially the same, it is far more time-consuming to complete. So many pages to cross out, fill in, stamp, initial and sign.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Hells Bells, Unfortunately, She Who Expects To Be Obeyed wants to have everything cut and dried in advance and staging through Folkestone during a journey from the West Country doesn't comply!

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@Nemisis, I can empathise with that, and that is why I do that sort of thing myself Laughing

Everything was done by email apart from picking up the certificate which took less than 10 minutes. We did it on our way from Durham. Chip and passport checked, AHC signed, and away we went. We were quoted over £250 by our own vet, and they now don't do them at all.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Nemisis, same here, we're sorting ours tomorrow ahead of our journey on Saturday at a greatly inflated price vs the Folkestone option.

You'll need to Register first of course.

@swskier, now you have Austrian residency you should be able to get an Austrian dog passport. Might need a new rabies jab but other than that should be straight forward.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@munich_irish, that's the plan, once we're out and registered with a vets!

Help!!

French Dog passport

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