Taking a dog to Europe?

[ATX]

I'm currently planning on hitting up europe sometime in the fall of next year or spring 2016, but am running into obstacles with my dog. We have hitch hiked all across America together and are about to go through Canada after the winter, and simply getting rid of him to go to Europe isn't an option. I don't know anyone who would watch him for me, mainly because I plan on going there for a long while. Currently my plan is to fly into Amsterdam because after reading all of the threads here it seems like a more relaxed place to fly into. I can use either a Canadian or US passport, I have dual citizenship. My guess is I'll be fine as long as I can get him accepted by customs, bringing all of the required paperwork and such. I'm not planning on buying a return ticket, and hope they won't check if I have to go through everything with my dog. My other worry is that if I get fucked sometime and get deported, what happens to my dog? Do they kill him? I wouldn't want to bring him there and endanger his life. I try to be careful because of him but anything can happen. I found recently I can get a 5 year visa with the UK, through an ancestry program with the commonwealth which might make things easier, but I have to dig up a dead grandmothers birth certificate from somewhere in England... so it would be a pain. I have relatives I want to visit there, but would rather stay in the schengen zone if I have my dog to limit problems. Thanks for any advice guys.

 

[Deleted member 2626]

Yeah I've always wondered this. Thought on flying to Alaska with my dude and doing the "service" thing. Done it a lot but never by plane wonder what goes on. Cool to hear some replies

 

[ATX]

Yeah I've always wondered this. Thought on flying to Alaska with my dude and doing the "service" thing. Done it a lot but never by plane wonder what goes on. Cool to hear some replies

Yeah, I forgot to mention that he is a service dog. The registrstion has really helped with traveling in the US.

 

[Matt Derrick]

i can't really say anything about the dog other than some guesses, but i've been through the airport in Amsterdam twice, and both times i was pretty shocked at the lack of customs upon entering the country.

this was maybe 2005 or so, but both times there wasn't a line or anything. it was just a doorway you went through, and, boom, you're in the amsterdam airport shopping mall. the first time it wasn't manned at all, and the second time there was one TSA type customs guy there, but i just waited for about 15 mins (fiddling with my bike that i had brought in a box) and went through when he walked away. not for any particular reason, but just in case (i had a flight voucher to prove my return home).

my guess would be the issue of actually picking up your dog in the airport, since that's gotta be somewhere beside the main luggage pickup area. if i remember correctly, it's probably somewhere once you get past the security gate, so i would think any issues of getting checked by customs would be over at that point, but who knows?

my advice would be to call the airline you plan on traveling with and ask them what the procedures are for traveling with a pet. make sure they explain it to you from point A to Z, and if they can't, call the airport itself and have them explain it, A to Z, (do i need to go through customs, then get my dog? or vice versa? etc) and just tell them your concerns about traveling with your dog and make sure they can re-assure you.

now obviously my info is pretty old, hell, they could have knocked down the whole airport and built a new one by now for all i know. i also flew via standby flight with a open ended voucher that i got from http://www.airtech.com . the benefit of that was that it was open ended and good for a year, so i could come back whenever i wanted (or never) and it was my 'proof' i was leaving Amsterdam to my home country if customs decided to check.

back then it was like 290 bucks one way, which was fucking cheap. looking at their website now, they don't advertise a price anymore but there's a number to call so that might be worth checking (if you do, let us know how much it is).

anyways, hope some of that helps.

 

[Matt Derrick]

my advice would be to call the airline you plan on traveling with and ask them what the procedures are for traveling with a pet. make sure they explain it to you from point A to Z, and if they can't, call the airport itself and have them explain it, A to Z, (do i need to go through customs, then get my dog? or vice versa? etc) and just tell them your concerns about traveling with your dog and make sure they can re-assure you.

actually, now that i think about it, i'm almost positive i saw a service animal on the last flight i was on (which was a while ago). try the above and make sure to let them know it's a service animal, and i bet it'll make the whole ordeal a lot easier.

 

[Matt Derrick]

oh, and one last thing, if you could get back to us at some point and let us know how it all went, i'm sure there's some other people here with dogs that would really appreciate the info.

 

[Deleted member 2626]

Yes I'd really appreciate a follow up. I'm not a crust punk with a nasty pit hoping this works at some point. My dog obviously isn't an certified service but had been on many many grryhounds and Amtrak's and I've never had trouble

 

[ATX]

Thanks for all of the info Matt! Unfortunately I won't be able to get back with all of the info on how it all went until next year, but I'll let you know when I get ahold of the airport. I called the website you posted and got quoted $300 for a flight leaving in October next year. I don't know if you have seen wowair but they are a new budget airline company from Iceland offering flights from the US starting next year. Though they only fly to London and Copenhagen, so I couldn't use it, but couple help a lot of peole trying to get over. They have flights as low as 89-99 dollars on certain days, and average around 140-200. Damn cheap.

 

[Matt Derrick]

Thanks for all of the info Matt! Unfortunately I won't be able to get back with all of the info on how it all went until next year, but I'll let you know when I get ahold of the airport. I called the website you posted and got quoted $300 for a flight leaving in October next year. I don't know if you have seen wowair but they are a new budget airline company from Iceland offering flights from the US starting next year. Though they only fly to London and Copenhagen, so I couldn't use it, but couple help a lot of peole trying to get over. They have flights as low as 89-99 dollars on certain days, and average around 140-200. Damn cheap.

Fucking a, thanks for the link, I'll check it out :-D

 

[Cardboard]

You need a passport for your dog to cross borders in EU, even inside of schengen. Chances are you wont be controlled at borders, but besides the vaccination records and all, there is an EU passport for animals (actually, this includes vaccination records and service animal registration, so in the end it should really minimize the papers you would need.
The biggest concern I can imagine is if you have a bigger dog that might be on a higher restriction (depending on country), or as you said, being deported, and losing your animal.

 

[Cardboard]

I dont have a dog, but I have been living/traveling in the EU for the last 5+ years, and know many european travelers with dogs.

Yes I'd really appreciate a follow up. I'm not a crust punk with a nasty pit hoping this works at some point. My dog obviously isn't an certified service but had been on many many grryhounds and Amtrak's and I've never had trouble

Pit is a big risk, staffordshire, dogo argentinos... anything looking like a pit will likely get controlled

Wowair is just iceland express rebranded, its a little bit more expensive than they used to be, but still the cheapest budget flights I know of.

Why isnt copenhagen working for you? you can hitch to A'daam in half a day, easy...

 

[ATX]

You need a passport for your dog to cross borders in EU, even inside of schengen. Chances are you wont be controlled at borders, but besides the vaccination records and all, there is an EU passport for animals (actually, this includes vaccination records and service animal registration, so in the end it should really minimize the papers you would need.
The biggest concern I can imagine is if you have a bigger dog that might be on a higher restriction (depending on country), or as you said, being deported, and losing your animal.

I've read about the EU passport for dogs, but I'm not sure if you have to be an EU resident for it. Either way that would be really cool to get. They have something similar in America that I had to use to get into Canada, but not sure if that is even recognized overseas. My dog is a pitbull and german shepherd mix, which as you mentioned, is another thing that worries me. He has a total shepherd personality and body, but you can definetly tell he has pit in the face. He doesn't have the typical pit face but his jaw and face are a little wider then a typical shepherd would have. I only said that about Copenhagen because a couple people have told me Denmark is a little more restrictive, but that is only word of mouth and by no means a fact.

 

[Deleted member 2626]

Is it a real service dog or a "service" dog?

 

[Cardboard]

the northern countries tend to be a bit more restrictive in general. When I flew into copenhagen I didnt see a single customs control. flying with iceland air (or wow or whatever they are called now), is a good option because Iceland is super chilled with customs (especially if you are leaving on a connecting flight), and when entering DK you will have already cleared schengen customs, so no more hassle

 

[ATX]

He's not like a seeing eye dog or anything, but I'm midly autistic and he's trained to notify me of annoying or repetitive behavior. Cardboard by the way thanks for letting me know that, I had no idea Iceland is a part of schengen and that makes things a lot simpler.

Is it a real service dog or a "service" dog?

 

[Lefty]

when I tried to fly my dog in to Argentina they had to put him into quarantine. They had a section of the airport where a vet will check your dog out before releasing them from customs, but I'm sure it varies depending on where you flying into. Make sure you have a flight approved dog kennel or else the airline will sometimes charge you to build a kennel for the dog if you don't have one and they will charge you an arm and leg. Also you can register your dog online as a service dog for about 60 bucks... Sorry if any of this information was repeated I didn't have time to read the whole thread, good luck and safe travels

 

[Deleted member 2626]

Yeah but I really wonder if anyone's done the service thang on a flight. I could always kennel my dog under a plane but never felt like putting him through that. He didn't mind trains but I'm not sure of a plane. I could just see the service thing being a bit more difficult or tricky for flights

 

[ATX]

Yeah but I really wonder if anyone's done the service thang on a flight. I could always kennel my dog under a plane but never felt like putting him through that. He didn't mind trains but I'm not sure of a plane. I could just see the service thing being a bit more difficult or tricky for flights

Apparently you can give them benedryl and they will just pass out for the whole flight. I would check with a vet in how much though.

 

[Mankini]

My shih Tzu and I flew into Helsinki from NYC in 2011. She got shots, a RFID chip, and filled out a form the EU and Finland requires, and that was all there was to it. You can get the international travel form at any vet's office, along with the shots and everything.I refused to put her in the storage belowdecks. She rode next to me on the seat, or under the seat in front of me, in her softshell carrier, the whole way. The airline will require you to have a softshell carrier, but that doesn't mean the critter has to stay in it the whole way. The critter may have to pee or poop during flight. They WILL have to pee or poop on arrival. We had no problems living in Finland for 9 months.

 

[Deleted member 2626]

That's cool to hear but I believe this guy has a bigger dog. Such as mine that would only be able to fly above deck, I wouldn't put my dog through that either voodoochile, and pass as a "service dog"