...I didn’t want to jump on the other thread!

All being well with the planned breeding in December I am hoping to bring back a puppy from Sweden (near Malmo) next spring/summer.

I’ve been looking at various transport options and would appreciate advice from anyone who has brought dogs over from the Nordic regions. I’d rather not fly the puppy over as cargo. I’ve been considering driving to Paris and flying to Copenhagen, breeder could meet me there, then fly back to Paris with puppy in cabin before driving back to the U.K via the tunnel. Though I believe there are some other ferry options across the North Sea? I’d be happy to drive on the continent, but with the Corona situation I’m not sure how viable it would be to drive across so many borders!

Thank you

What county are you travelling from in UK

There are several ways of using ferries to continent, depends on how much driving you want to do in Europe & UK plus Covid19 of cpurse

Oxfordshire. I’d rather drive further here than in Europe, but ultimately the pup’s welfare comes before mine so whichever would be the least stressful journey for him.

Friends recently used an animal transport company to bring a pup from Sweden to Hook, NL then brought him back over on the ferry themselves. By doing the last bit of the journey themselves they saved a fortune as it avoided an overnight stay for the courier.

You could travel from Harwich to Hook of Holland or Newcastle to Amsterdam, Hull to Rotterdam.

All 3 routes are pet friendly. The dogs are restricted to the kennels on the vehicle deck, but you can go down to the kennels during voyage & all the dogs I know of have been fine. Even young puppies

> You could travel from Harwich to Hook of Holland or Newcastle to Amsterdam, Hull to Rotterdam.<br />

I would only recommend the Harwich/Hook crossing. the kennels are lovely, you have free access to them, entry via pinpad so they are secure. You also have free access to an exercise deck (right next to the kennels) where they can even be off lead to go to the loo. Then you can lie in bed and watch your dogs on the cctv on the tv.

Hull to Rotterdam is too long a journey, the kennels are disgusting, not surprising given the length of the journey. You can book a time to visit and you're escorted to them and then have to walk for ages up and down narrow stairs to an exercise deck.

Coming from Scotland it's an extra 4 to 6 hours to drive to Harwich for me (depending on traffic and breaks) but well worth it as the ferries are so nice and so comfy for the dogs.

The first time I travelled Harwich to Hook, about 9/10 years ago I was concerned that you had to go down a flight of highly polished wooden stairs to the kennel deck. It's a lift from the car deck then down one flight of stairs. I complained later to the company and the next time I travelled with them the stairs had a non slip coating. It used to be a room for big dogs and room for little dogs but they changed a couple of years ago to two combined rooms so nobody had to lift a big dog into the upper cages.

When was the last time you travelled from Hull? My friend's who show GSDs in Germany use the dog friendly cabins

Thank you everyone for your replies, I shall look in to the ferry routes.

When I was researching companies to help me bring my girl from Croatia there are quite a few people based in Poland that will do Europe but then meet at Calais or another port (so you can do the one mentioned above). One is a Great Dane breeder called Monika Richtrova, I was only in contact via Facebook as my breeder used her to send a puppy to Germany. You’ll have seen from my other post that I used Daisybrook and Matthew has done quite a few trips to Scandinavia too. I also know of a well recommended ground transporter called Tomasz from ATS Transport Poland. Can send you details if you want. He is licensed and does Crufts transfers. Can meet in Europe or bring to you directly. Good luck with whatever you decide.

I'd fly to Brussels, a lot closer.

I flew back to Brussels Dec 2010 with my bitch as checked baggage, a lot cheaper than Cargo and the exorbitant charges at Heathrow.

A few months later my friend shipped in her pup at 10 months, Cargo was over £500, and Heathrow Animal reception and handling was also over £500.

My own return flight to New York had only been £750, plus £150 each way checked baggage for my girl, and Ferry and Fuel to get home.