What Ferry To France with Dog?

baz123

This Sept I'm looking to travel to France by Ferry with my Dog (Gsd) and it's the first time so it's all new and the details and options are a little sketchy etc. What Ferry offers the best service for Dog etc? What are the options and requirements? Much appreciated in advance guys

Bicycle

Take a look at the Brittany Ferries set up.

The dogs have their own deck at the top of the ship with dedicated staff. Owners are encouraged to spend time with their pets and are called if the animal becomes ill or upset.

We haven't used it but if we were taking herself to France, that would be the ferry we'd use.

ABajaninCork

Sorry to hijack the thread, but found the last answer interesting. Would there be a similar set up with ferries to and from the UK? We'd love to take our Shih Tzu home, but am nervous about the crossing. We'd like if possible to either bring the dog on deck with us, or be able to see and spend time with him if there's kennels available. He'd go bananas if he were left alone for the crossing...

TIA for any help!

Bicycle

On the short ferries, there only appear to be wire cages on the car deck. OR you can keep your dog in the car.

The wire cages are probably better than the car in terms of space or "bathroom" issues but the car would be more familiar.

I've never seen anything like the Brittany Ferries set up on any of the other ferries. However I'll be on Irish Ferries (France and UK routes) over the next month or so and can enquire then, if thats of any help.

What was lovely about the Brittany Ferries set up was that the dogs were part of the passengers. And for those of us missing our furry friends, it was lovely to see them.

ABajaninCork

Bicycle wrote: »

On the short ferries, there only appear to be wire cages on the car deck. OR you can keep your dog in the car.

The wire cages are probably better than the car in terms of space or "bathroom" issues but the car would be more familiar.

I've never seen anything like the Brittany Ferries set up on any of the other ferries. However I'll be on Irish Ferries (France and UK routes) over the next month or so and can enquire then, if thats of any help.

What was lovely about the Brittany Ferries set up was that the dogs were part of the passengers. And for those of us missing our furry friends, it was lovely to see them.

Oh would you? That's very kind of you. I'd appreciate the feedback. Thank you very much in advance!!

baz123

I've noticed that selected uk crossings have 'dog friendly cabins' but no Irish crossings as far as I know. Brittany also has the quickest crossing to Roscoff in 14 hours while most others are at 19 hours. Seems dogs need to be muzzled at all times and kennels are compulsory. Irish Ferrys charge '€60' per crossing per large dog

Pretzill

I've seen the kennels on the IF ferry to France - a set of cages on the car deck. It's a long journey and if the sea is rough the car deck can be rough too. But I believe the staff may allow you down to check on the dogs at some stage during the journey. The car deck is out of bounds during the voyage.

DBB

Abajaniincork, would your wee fella stay in the car happily? Perhaps not, but you can certainly leave your pooch in the car for the duration. I personally would much rather leave my dogs in a familiar place than put them in a kennel, either on land or on a boat!
I've done it a couple of times with my dogs, and they got ample opportunity to pee and stretch their legs whilst we were waiting to drive on board, and again at the other end.
I was also allowed go down to my car on all voyages (which I think were both Stena) to check on the pooches, but quickly learned to sneak up very quietly on the car so that I wouldn't disturb them... they were comfortably snoozing each time I checked, and better left that way, particularly as you're only looking at a couple of hours on the UK trip.

baz123

Anyone go with Stena Line on the Rosslare to Cherbourg? Apparently Pets go free and you have the option of leaving them in your car :-)

muddypaws

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Sorry to hijack the thread, but found the last answer interesting. Would there be a similar set up with ferries to and from the UK? We'd love to take our Shih Tzu home, but am nervous about the crossing. We'd like if possible to either bring the dog on deck with us, or be able to see and spend time with him if there's kennels available. He'd go bananas if he were left alone for the crossing...

TIA for any help!

No, the crossings are too short, the dogs either go into the kennels, or stay in your vehicle, even foot passengers aren't allowed to take dogs onto the deck, they have to go into the kennels. We travel across and back very often, and the only kennels that I would use are on the Irish Ferries Ulysses between Dublin and Holyhead, they are in a seperate room, the other ferries just have them on the car decks. If you want to go over, I'd suggest getting your dog used to a crate in the car now, if he's not already used to it, then I honestly doubt that he would notice he was on a ferry. My dogs get a good walk before they get on the ferry (Rosslare is the best, lovely beach right at the port) and then they go to sleep in their crates. I've often driven off the ferry and worried about them, parked up, opened the van to get them out for walks and they all look at me very sleepily and don't want to move.

Having said all of that, I have met one woman who had a dachshund in a carrier on the passenger deck, and she got him out onto her lap, and last week on the ferry I noticed a labrador cross, not sure how they did it, he/she didn't have an assistance dog harness on, but maybe they were, or they said they were

Plopli

baz123 wrote: »

Anyone go with Stena Line on the Rosslare to Cherbourg? Apparently Pets go free and you have the option of leaving them in your car :-)

We did it over Easter with our boy (Weimaraner, Citroen C3). He stayed in the car and you get to visit him 2 times - 10 PM and 10 AM.
He managed well and didn't look too upset when we arrived.

The car was on the top deck, on the outside, and I would be worried that if it's very sunny, the car may get too warm.
Now we left the window slightly open and with the wind (speed induced and natural), it seemed to be fine.

The leg to France was very still but on the way back it was moving quite a lot. He didn't seem to be upset by that.
He did not want to eat when on the boat but drank a bit.

I was very impressed by him as it was his first boat travel.
We had requested a kennel for the way back from France(none available for the way to France as we booked late) but we decided to leave him in the familiar car, given he did well on the fist leg.

YMMV and so on ...

baz123

Plopli wrote: »

We did it over Easter with our boy (Weimaraner, Citroen C3). He stayed in the car and you get to visit him 2 times - 10 PM and 10 AM.
He managed well and didn't look too upset when we arrived.

The car was on the top deck, on the outside, and I would be worried that if it's very sunny, the car may get too warm.
Now we left the window slightly open and with the wind (speed induced and natural), it seemed to be fine.

The leg to France was very still but on the way back it was moving quite a lot. He didn't seem to be upset by that.
He did not want to eat when on the boat but drank a bit.

I was very impressed by him as it was his first boat travel.
We had requested a kennel for the way back from France(none available for the way to France as we booked late) but we decided to leave him in the familiar car, given he did well on the fist leg.

YMMV and so on ...

Sounds good to me. I'm considering leaving my lad in the car as he is very familiar to it (we go to thd beach every day etc) and it's somewhere he knows. He only knows a cage/kennel these days from been in the vets and I want it to be as much of a hassle free experience for him as possible. So far it seems to be Stena Line indeed. Thanks everyone for their input and feedback - truly invaluable :-)