We have booked to go to France on a caravanning holiday for 3 weeks in August with 4 of our BCs. Our friends are coming with us and they will also be taking 5 BCs. Does anyone have any experience of caravan sites in France? How dog friendly are they? Do you have to show vaccination certificates on arrival as it suggests in the Caravan Club book? I have the Caravan Club European book that lists sites in France but many of them seem to charge quite a lot for the dogs, up to 5 euros per dog, per night which with our lot could end up quite expensive.

I would also appreciate any information on the various parasites that dogs can pick up in the different regions in France. I am also frightened to death now because I read in the Caravan Club book that some farmers put rat poison down in camping fields and that several dogs have died as a result of eating it.

We hope to travel from Calais through to Burgundy and then across to the west coast round La Rochelle. If we get time we might then drive down to the Dordogne.

Thanks, Karen

You've not mentioned that they are pet passported.  You need to get them Pet Passported if you are planning to come back with them without them going into quarantine.  Have to warn you that this will cost up to nearly £200 in some areas per dog!!!  Actually just looked and you are going in August, so you won't have them done in time takes 7 months I believe.

You will need to do this and have all the relevant paperwork.  You will also need to find a vet over there so that you can get them checked etc. before you come back.

All the dogs have passports. Our 2 older dogs have been abroad with us before when we went to Belgium and Holland so I'm not worried about the paperwork that we need or about getting the tick/worm treatment done before returning. I'm more worried about finding appropriate campsites.

For our most recently passported dog my vet charged £42 for the rabies jab and £58 for the blood test (she was already microchipped). This also included all of the paperwork - PETS1 and PETS5. For the dogs that just had their rabies boosters I was charged £37 which also included new PETS1 and PETS5 certificates.

Karen

we live in France - our Jack was one of the 1st dogs to be issued a pet passport...France on the whole is a very dog friendly country - however - the further south you go the more dangers there are for your pet...Southern French/continental dogs are immune to the ticks and fleas - British dogs not - if a tick bites it can poison the blood stream and there is nothing you can do - your dog will die...to arrive in France no one really wants to know so frontline etc is not required....it's when you leave is when all the attention is paid.

Our vet we use in St Lo here in Normandy is a specialist in dogs & cats - he insists that even our cats are rabbied injected because there are cases of illegal breeders from Albania and Eastern Europe where Rabies is still around, bringing badly bred puppies from puppy farms up for sale in Paris and the numerous fairs throughout France...vets are on duty at all these sales to check all the paperwork etc. however like everything these criminals inflitrate. The French are presently enjoying no cases of Rabies however there is concern with this trait.

It is imperative if you do bring you dog to France and are heading further south than Nancy you virtually drown your dog in frontline - the strongest you can get - and you do it on a regular basis whilst on holiday especially if your dog likes water for swimming...our vet uses the spray as well not just the pipettes - I was quite horrified how much he put on the dog but I'd rather use too much.

Please don't think I am trying to frighten anyone, with sensible precautions it's a great country to bring your dogs. Just be aware that it's going back to UK that you need your paperwork spot on - if it's not correct your dog will be impounded at the port.

One word of warning...the French don't let their dogs socialise like we do, if a French person out with their dog, spots yours off the lead 9 times out of 10 they will scoop it up - so don't be affronted -the majority of French live in apartment blocks or small houses therefore bigger dogs have not been fashionable - little dogs have always been carried and have become protective so will fight, thus this habit of not letting them mix. There is a marked increase in bigger dogs as pets so the socialising is improving slightly!

We have 2 holiday houses here in La Manche both on the beach with stunning views where we positively welcome dogs plus have a terrific vet that speaks English...but we are North France where it isn't hot enough for ticks that carry diseases that can kill or for that matter termites that can kill a house!

Now that we have tried to actually book the caravan sites in France we have hit a problem. We used the Camping and Caravan Club booking service and picked out 4 very nice sites all of whom accept dogs. However every camp site has rejected us because of the number of dogs we will have with us. :-(

We will have 4 Border Collies and our friends will have 5. Anyone know of any touring caravan sites in the Normandy, Atlantic Coast (doesn't have to be on the coast), Dordogne areas that are likely to accept 2 caravans, 4 adults and 9 border collies in August?

Karen