TECHNICAL
September 2019Need technical advice?[email protected] 175
A
nimals are apart of our
motorhome holidays. However,
it is not ju st a caseof all aboard
and off we go – it takes planning.
FOREIGN TRAVEL
Pets require passports forfore ign
travel and these cantake some time to
get andrequire veterinary visits and
vaccinations. The most up-to-date
information onpet passports is on the
DEFRA website so check it, especially
with the Brexit situation.
When we travel abroad, we book
an a ppointment with a vet within
the timescale detailed by DEF RA
for the necessary medication to
be administeredand the passport
stampedprior to returning to the UK.
There a re many vets in Europe and it
isn’t difficult toget an appointment;
often campsite staff will help.
I also look up any health risks to the
My project
Sharon Brownshares her tips for travelling with dogs
to makeyour journey as hackle-lowering as possible
animals inthe countries we’re visiting
so I cantake precauti ons andavoid
situations that may ca use problems.
Also investigate the differentways
in which dogs maybe trained inother
countries. On visiting northe rn Spain,
we encountered a lotof aggressive and
vocal dogs andlearned, from the loca l
vet, that most dogsin the areawere
used as guard dogs and were expected
to showaggression andbark.
We also discovered , when in this
area,that dogswere to be muzzle d
on trains andwere not allowed on
buses.It would be prudent, therefo re,
to familiariseyour dog with wearing
a muzzle prior to the holiday. A tasty
delicacy to lick atthe end of the
muzzle works a treat.TRAVEL IN THE UK
Even travel within this country
requires some foresight. For in stance,we recently visited Shetland and
our dog (we ju st had one then) had
to travel in a kennel onthe sailing
fromAberdeen to Lerwick, a journey
of some 12 hours. We were allowed
to visit Geordie once, to al low him
out to do the essentials, before he
was kennel led once again. To enable
Geordie to cope with this (he has
never previously been kennel led
before), we acted calmly anddid not
overfuss him, put inhis own blanket,
toys, treats and water, then simply left
him, telling him, ‘Good boy, stay’.
My mantra with dogsand any
animals is to be calm andconsist ent.
And a good walk prior to boarding,
with plenty of opportunity to empty
both bladder andbowels i s essential.
We hav e taught ourdogs, as
puppies, to ‘go’ on command by simply
adding a command to the natural
event. We give that command before
travel and the dogsusually oblige .+Fernthe Labrador and Geordie the collie prepare for another trip
Their favourite toys are a must for any tripFernis secured toa
seatbelt via a long lead