Hi my UK friends, I am beset with jealousy lately as friends living in Europe can fly in and out of other European countries with their dogs so easily and cheaply, and go to shows all over the place. For me even going to ones in the UK would involve huge planning and driving and ferries. Does anyone show in France/Belgium/Germany/Scandinavia regularly and how hard is the travel? I was actually thinking if i ever do it what may be smart is to fly over with your dog since you can do that going OUT of the british isles, and then drive and ferry back home. At least it's only one bad, long journey then.

That is what I did with my last overseas trip, as flying a dog excess baggage is very reasonable compared to cargo, and of course the dog is separated from you the minimum amount of time rather than several hours before and after the flight.

I flew out from Heathrow to New York - JFK, and flew back JFK to Brussels and drive and ferry home. 

We did have an unscheduled stop at Dublin on the way back, but fortunately we did not disembark as she wasn't passport compliant at that point and would have had to go into Quarantine.

To be honest I don't know anyone who FLIES -we all drive. When I looked into costs it worked out much the same so although driving takes much longer, it's far nicer for the dog and you get a nice road trip added and can stop off in various countries.

Yes but you could do that on the way back, doing it on the way there and back means a much longer trip, and a much more tired 'you' on arrival!! :)

> but you could do that on the way back

How would you get the car out there ?

There are a lot of companies that you can rent a car from at one side of a country dropping it to their office at the other side. It would be reliant on that being available, etc, :)