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Bringing a Dog into Ireland

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chibelle
  2/15/2017 07:35 EST

My daughter and I are planning to move to Dingle in June, 2017. We've checked on the regulations for bringing a dog in, but has anyone recently out there actually brought a dog in from the United States? If so, could you let me know your experience? Thanks!

dballing
  2/15/2017 08:11 EST

We recently moved to Dublin with two dogs.

Your dogs have to come over as cargo. They cannot come in the cabin with you. They also need to have their arrival arranged and coordinated by an authorized broker.

We used Pet Express to handle that aspect of things. All told it was a couple thousand dollars to bring both dogs into Dublin, plus another several hundred in vet bills and payments to USDA.

Let them sell you the carrier. It avoids a lot of hassle. They'll make sure they give you the one that's the "right size" for your dog, so nobody along the way complains that it's improper in some fashion, it'll meet all the cargo requirements, etc.


Pay very close attention to the dates associated with the paperwork, specifically when you get your dog his last rabies shot, when he had his chip implanted (prior to the full rabies vax), that the chip in question is an ISO-standard chip (and that the chip number is printed on the rabies vax certificate).

As you get down to the wire, you'll be in a rush: Getting the certificate of health paperwork filled out by your vet, taking it to your local USDA vet office to get them to stamp/certify it, etc. It's basically a window of 72 hours start to finish there from the time your vet signs the certificate, to the USDA folks signing off on it, to you handing it to the cargo expeditors, to arriving in Ireland. Do it as LATE in the process as possible (to cover flight delays) but not so late that if there's an error, you don't have time to fix it (like when my vet did the entire many-page health form on the version of the forms which had stopped being used eight days prior and had to be completely re-done on the almost-identical newer form).

That said, we flew over on the same flight as our dogs did. They went directly to a vet in Swords, and by the time we'd arrived at our corporate apartment, my phone was ringing asking if I was ready for them to be delivered to me.

If you have questions, feel free to ask. Happy to help, and good luck!

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chibelle
  2/15/2017 09:25 EST

Thank you so much for the information. You said your dogs flew over on the same flight you did. What airline did you fly?

dballing
  2/15/2017 10:33 EST

We came over on Delta. You *generally* don't have a lot of say into which particular flight the pet facilitators use, but in our case the Delta flight we were looking at for ourselves ALSO had pet-cargo capacity, and ALSO happened to be within like 1% of the cost of the flight they'd planned to use, so they just put them on our flight because it makes a lot of paperwork easier.

kmrg2000
  2/15/2017 12:14 EST

Hi,

I'm chibelle's daughter. I read somewhere you could fly into, say, Paris, and bring the dog over on the ferry. If you take LeTunnel Shuttle from Calais to Folkestone, you drive your car right on the train and you and the dog stay together. (This idea isn't as crazy as it sounds because we had intended to visit France & England during our year anyway; this way we'd just be doing it on the front end :).

So we would do our visiting, then turn in the rental car. As I understand it, dogs are ok on English trains. There is a train from Holyhead (near Liverpool) to Dublin. Do you know how that journey works, by chance? Do they offload you at the dock and you walk on the ferry? I'm going to try to contact National Rail and ask this but thought we might run it by you.

Any thoughts welcome!!

dballing
  2/15/2017 12:47 EST

My wife and I explored that option, but it seemed like such a nightmare of uncertainty that we opted not to (lots of places along the path means lots of places where someone might decide your paperwork isn't in order, etc.)

In theory, once the dog is in the EU, you can visit a vet and get a "Pet Passport" and have free run of the EU. But we weren't willing to run that risk and then be stuck in the wrong country trying to get it resolved.

William RussellWilliam Russell
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William Russell's private medical insurance will cover you and your family wherever you may be. Whether you need primary care or complex surgery, you'll have access to the best hospitals & doctors available. Unlike some insurers, we also include medical evacuation and mental health cover in our plans (except SilverLite). Get a quote from our partner, William Russell.

William RussellWilliam Russell

William Russell's private medical insurance will cover you and your family wherever you may be. Whether you need primary care or complex surgery, you'll have access to the best hospitals & doctors available. Unlike some insurers, we also include medical evacuation and mental health cover in our plans (except SilverLite). Get a quote from our partner, William Russell.
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dballing
  2/15/2017 12:48 EST

My wife and I explored that option, but it seemed like such a nightmare of uncertainty that we opted not to (lots of places along the path means lots of places where someone might decide your paperwork isn't in order, etc.)

In theory, once the dog is in the EU, you can visit a vet and get a "Pet Passport" and have free run of the EU. But we weren't willing to run that risk and then be stuck in the wrong country trying to get it resolved.

dballing
  2/15/2017 12:48 EST

My wife and I explored that option, but it seemed like such a nightmare of uncertainty that we opted not to (lots of places along the path means lots of places where someone might decide your paperwork isn't in order, etc.)

In theory, once the dog is in the EU, you can visit a vet and get a Pet Passport and have free run of the EU. But we weren't willing to run that risk and then be stuck in the wrong country trying to get it resolved.

DebAckley
  2/16/2017 23:39 EST

What breed of dog do you have? There are restrictions for some breeds. Also if you have a Pug, Peke type pup...many airlines will not transport them due to their breathing issues...
I also need to add in these posts... if you are moving over.. do you have citizenship or an EU passport... otherwise you may be restricted how long u can stay....or have 50k per person..check the IE govt site..best of luck!

kmrg2000
  2/17/2017 06:54 EST

That's a good point, db. Definitely something to consider. This is more complicated than we thought :p. I'm about ready to pull a Lucy Ricardo and dress him up as a baby :)

kmrg2000
  2/17/2017 06:56 EST

He's a Yorkie, Deb. Yes, we've got all the info on the visas...apparently getting a retirement visa for us is going to be easier that getting the dog in :p. (In theory, anyhow. We meet all the criteria that we can find on the web, vague as the info seems to be.)

William RussellWilliam Russell
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William Russell's private medical insurance will cover you and your family wherever you may be. Whether you need primary care or complex surgery, you'll have access to the best hospitals & doctors available. Unlike some insurers, we also include medical evacuation and mental health cover in our plans (except SilverLite). Get a quote from our partner, William Russell.

William RussellWilliam Russell

William Russell's private medical insurance will cover you and your family wherever you may be. Whether you need primary care or complex surgery, you'll have access to the best hospitals & doctors available. Unlike some insurers, we also include medical evacuation and mental health cover in our plans (except SilverLite). Get a quote from our partner, William Russell.
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FlowerFairy
  2/17/2017 08:44 EST

You should try doing it from Australia! A long haul and very expensive. Our cat had to stay in Dubai (for a rest break of half a day I think it was) before on travelling. Getting him out of Australia into Ireland was easy; getting him back was not so easy as Australia is very strict re rabies etc but he (and we) survived the ordeal. The people along the way do look after them.

kmrg2000
  2/21/2017 17:03 EST

Yikes, Fairy! That is a horror tale. Glad all ended well :).

We've been advised that my dog can travel on the documents that allow him into the EU for four months (at which time we'd need a Pet Passport).

Has anyone traveled in the EU with those documents?

Specifically, we are looking at flying into Paris, then taking an Irish Ferry from Cherbourg to Rosslare.

Any input would be welcome!

FlowerFairy
  2/21/2017 17:25 EST

In the end did not use George's Pet EU Passport but it is easy to obtain from Vet.

MARGO625
  2/22/2017 02:28 EST

My friends brought 3 dogs and they traveled on the Queen Mary 2 from New York to Southampton, acquired a vehicle and drove to the ferry. They said it was really stress free, better for the dogs and no jet lag! Just another idea for you to consider.

rmac39
  3/15/2018 09:49 EST

We're looking into that option as recent events (pointing to you United) has freaked out my wife. Love to hear others experiences taking a transatlantic liner to the UK and getting their dogs to Dublin via ferry

William Russell
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