Tikali, Thanks very, very much for this information and for sending it so quickly. It is very useful and will no doubt help me make up my mind on how we travel. This is a great site I cannot believe the lovely 'hello's' I have recieved today upon joining, thank you to all of you.

Sue

You're welcome

Thanks Tikali, very useful. My journey is still in the planning stage and I'll only have 7-10 days notice so hopefully I'll still be able to get a space!

My friend travels to the UK with her dogs regularly and on the 5th trip they couldn't find the chip on one dog. It was, she found out on contacting the company, part of a faulty batch. The company didnt bother to inform the owner in advance which I find quite ridiculous. The dog was eventually fitted with a replica chip along with her 4 other dogs who had chips from the same batch and they had also failed. Another of her dogs was also a frequent visitor and after several trips someone picked up on the fact that 2 of the numbers were reversed. She now travels with her own scanner.

They say one med/large dog or two very small, but there were couples on our crossing in cabins with more than one large dog, so I guess you need to argue your case when you book, or just lie about the breed/size (I'm going to have 2 Yorkies next time I book )

Also, I've never yet seen a dog on board wearing a muzzle, we had ours ready but nobody bothered about them.

We also did a comparison of the high cost of the Santander crossing compared to the longer drive through France with the extra fuel, overnight stops etc., and found there wasn't a huge difference. Depends if you prefer to drive or sail, and also how your dogs travel.

To Tang:

They even have cameras on those I was looking at so you can 'check on your dog'.

I've not seen that anywhere, which one was that?