Crossing borders
Travelling abroad with your dog.
Requirements depend entirely on where you're leaving from and where you're going. Tell us the route and we'll show what's usually needed — and where to confirm it properly.
Your journey
How are you travelling?
Timing
Start earlier than feels necessary.
The most common reason a trip falls through is a waiting period nobody knew about. Nothing here is difficult — it just takes longer than you'd think.
- 8 weeks beforeCheck the rules for your exact route, both directions.
- 6 weeks beforeCheck the microchip and rabies vaccination status with your vet.
- 4 weeks beforeGet any documents started — some take longer than you'd think.
- 2 weeks beforeConfirm the transport company's own rules and book the dog on.
- 1 week beforePack the travel pack and look up a vet at your destination.
- Day beforeFinal document check, and a good long walk.
- Travel dayDocuments, dog, water, lead, and something familiar.
Before you leave
The last check at the door.
- Dog secured safely
- Water
- Food
- Lead
- ID and microchip details
- Phone charged
- Health information to hand
- Emergency contact written down
- Breaks planned
- Destination checked for dogs
- Weather checked
- Dog comfortable before you set off
On paper
The Dog Travel Pack.
Everything you'd want on you at a border or in a foreign vet's waiting room: your dog's details, microchip number, vaccinations, medication, feeding, emergency contacts and the checklist for this journey — on paper, working when your phone doesn't.
Please treat this as a starting point
Pet travel rules change, and they differ by the exact country you're leaving as well as the one you're entering. Everything here points at the official authority for the final word — always confirm with them, and with your vet, before you book.