Holidays abroad

As the puppy named wiggins may suggest, we are cycling fans, my boyfriend mainly. We want to go see a stage of the tour de France next year but want to take the dogs, has anyone ever taken their dogs abroad at all, or to France even? I have no idea how to go about it, but want to get my head around the doggy logistics before we work out the watching cycling part!

I've never done it myself Jess, but it's a lot easier these days thanks to the pet passport - Pet Travel Scheme:

Have a look here: http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/travel/pets/

We moved to Germany with a dog and that was easy enough. Would you be flying or driving? Passport is easy enough to get and not expensive but the cost to fly a dog...oh my god!

We always take our dogs to France when we go, which is a couple of times a year. You just need to make sure you've got doggy's passport sorted at least three weeks in advance of leaving the UK which will include getting the rabies jab done before issue but the vet will advise.

We always drive over with them and travelling with them isn't a probelm - they just take up the maximum space possible in the back of the car, and we make lots of stops for wees and exercise. French motorways have some great rest areas where you can let dogs have a wander around, some are better than others so it can be a case of drive in, look around quickly and leave for something better, but generally France is geared up for dogs. In the main, you can take them into hotels, restaurants and cafes too which is nice, feels like we're doing family stuff together when they are with us . And then when you come back to the uk you have to get the dog certified at a local vet 24-48 before you can make the crossing which hasn't been a problem for us.

The only time we have had an issue was that on our first journey home through the channel tunnel we hadn't read the travel documentation properly and so we drove straight to passport control only to be told we had to go to their pet control area to get the dogs certified to travel before goint to passport control, which was a nuisance as we'd had to queue for ages to get to the front of the line and then had to turn back to the pet control, get sorted with them and re-join the queue. But that was our fault.

Generally, travelling abroad with our doggies has been a doddle though. Hope that helps.

My son and I drive from Hungary to Cornwall and back with two dogs and a cat and providing you're well organised its no problem at all .... in fact its much easier than travelling with small children!

There are plenty of hotels in France that are pet friendly .... try looking online at the "Bring Fido" website. Usually a hotel will charge from 5 to 15 Euro per pet per night. Just remember as you're going to see the Tour de France you'll have to book a hotel well in advance as most of the hotels will be full.

Another couple of things you should be aware of is that if Wiggins hasn't already been microchipped then it has to be done BEFORE the Rabies Vaccination.

Also if go cross the channel by Eurotunnel you stay in the car with your pets whereas if you take the ferry your pets have to stay alone in the car for the entire journey.

I've got friends that have a motor home and they've travelled all over Europe with their dog, they drove to Croatia a couple of years ago and were gone for over a month.

Thank you all, it sounds much easier than I thought, do you have to get them certified at a vet in France before coming back?