So, the elephant in the room…why the @!%# did you bring your dog to Europe with you?! Other than the obvious fact that we love him, we didn’t have a choice. We’d recently sold our home, so we didn’t have a place to leave him with a pet sitter. And since we’d planned a two-month trip and he’s 14 years old with severe separation anxiety, boarding with friends, family, or a business wasn’t an option. So, rather than postpone our trip, we explored how to bring him with us. It was actually pretty easy traveling with him. The hardest part was ensuring we had all the paperwork required to get him on the plane. On the financial side, taking him with us did increase our trip costs, between vet visits, plane/train tickets, and extra hotel fees (more on this later), but overall, we felt it was well worth having him with us.

I promise helpful tips on traveling to Europe with your furbaby are coming, but first, a little background info. Freddy is a 14-year-old Cairn Terrier, weighs 18 pounds, and has flown roundtrip in the cabin from Honolulu to South Carolina and California about ten times on flights ranging from five to seven hours; he has traveled a lot. He was born in Hawaii, so the first time he traveled to the mainland U.S., we had to go through an extensive process to take him with us as the islands have no rabies, and they want to keep it that way. He had to complete a rabies titer test and specific paperwork with the state before returning to Honolulu. All of this was very expensive ($500ish, including vet visits), and it had to be done long before traveling. Also, at that time, only Alaska Airlines would allow pets in the cabin flying to Honolulu, so your travel options were limited. (Since then, Delta and Hawaiian now let eligible pets with the proper paperwork travel to Honolulu in-cabin.)

Okay, as you can see, Freddy was very used to airports and airplanes before we decided to take him to Europe with us. And we probably would not have taken him if this was his first trip. Taking a few shorter plane trips with your fur baby is probably a good idea before attempting a cross-Atlantic journey.     

Still interested in taking your fur baby with you to Europe? My recommendations and musings are specific to traveling in Portugal, Spain, and France but should prove helpful no matter your destination. Read on for tips on how to make it a wonderful trip for all of you!

Getting Ready For Your Trip

What to Pack (for your fur baby)

• K9 Dog Backpack — We love this backpack! It allowed us to tour around much longer with Freddy, as he tended to get tired after about an hour of walking. We weren’t allowed into museums, but we did tour some castles and rode a cable car in Lisbon with him in the backpack.

• Sherpa Pet Carrier — We’ve used our Sherpa carrier for the last five years on several airlines with no problems (Air Europa, Alaska, Delta, Hawaiian, and United).
• Original and a copy of all vaccination and health certificate documents — You will need to show your original health certificate when you return to the U.S. if you return in less than 30 days. If you’re out of the country longer than 30 days, you’ll need to get a new health certificate within a week of returning and also show a valid rabies certificate. I kept the originals in my backpack and copies in my checked suitcase. 
• Prescription medicine — Freddy is prone to getting ear infections, so we preventively brought his medication, which turned out to be a good idea as a month into our trip, his ear started to droop. I’m sure we would’ve been able to take him to a vet, but this was a lot easier and cheaper. We also stocked up on his Apoquel, which he takes daily for itchiness. If your dog is itchy, this stuff is amazing. Also, it’s a lot cheaper to get the prescription filled at Costco instead of at your vet.
• Food for four days — We packed enough food for a few days so we weren’t immediately scrambling to find a pet store in a jet lag fugue state. Pro Tip: Save the resealable Travel Kit bag your airline-provided earbuds come in; it’s the perfect size to hold one meal’s worth of kibble to keep in your backpack/purse for the days you’re out walking around and don’t want to head back to your hotel.

• Two collapsible dishes (one for food & one for water) and a collapsible measuring scoop — We actually took three dishes with us and kept one in his K9 backpack with a small water bottle.
• Brush (optional) — Depending on how long you’re gone and the kind of dog you have, you may want to bring a brush or “stripper” to keep your pet looking good. We were gone two months, so Freddy got lots of “stripping” and several baths.
• Muzzle — We only used it once (on the cable car), but if you don’t want to put your pet in a bag on the train, it’s a requirement that they’re muzzled.
• Baby blanket — we bought a fleecy baby blanket that we gave Freddy before traveling so he was used to it. During the trip, we stored it in the outside pocket of our suitcase. It was great for putting on the bed, couch, and car seat to keep them clean and him comfy. We stayed in a lot of AirBnBs and white seems to be the preferred color for duvets, so his black fur mostly remained on the blanket.

• Poop bags (at least two rolls) — same reason as the food, you’ll have it the first few days you land and can get more once you get your bearings.
• Travel wipes — Our well-trained dog has twice decided to poop in the middle of a busy airport requiring a quick clean-up act on our part.

Before the Trip

• VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure you call the airline and add your pet to your flight reservation right after you book your tickets, as all of the airlines limit the number of pets that can travel in the cabin. You won’t pay for their ticket until you get to the airport and check in, but if your pet is not included on your reservation, it could be denied boarding.

Day of the Trip

• You can’t check in online when you fly with a pet, so even if you’re pre-check, get to the airport earlier than usual as you’ll have to go to the check-in desk. On our most recent trip, we flew on Delta from New York City (JFK) to Lisbon, Portugal, and had to pay $200 for Freddy to go with us and another €215 for the return flight.
• Also, remember when packing that even though you pay for your pet to travel with you, the airlines still count their bag as one of your two allowed carry-on bags. I know, I know, what the hell?! Don’t get me started; your pet also doesn’t get frequent flyer miles!

Checking In 

• At the counter, the agent asked for our USDA-endorsed health certificate, took a quick look, and gave us a pet tag for his bag. We didn’t have to show the paperwork to anyone else until a few weeks later when we checked in for an Air Europa flight from Lisbon to Madrid. So, although it was very stressful to get the endorsed health certificate, and I worried something would go wrong up until we boarded the plane, in the end, it all went very smoothly!

Everything You Want to Know About A USDA-Endorsed Health Certificate, But Were Afraid To Ask

I read so many blogs, pet travel websites, and official U.S. government websites researching the ins and outs of taking my dog to Europe that I needlessly stressed myself out. In hindsight, it actually ended up being pretty straightforward. To help you with your stress level, here are the four steps you need to take to get your pet ready to travel with you to Europe.

1. Visit this USDA site — See what paperwork is required by the government of the specific country you’re landing in. For example, Portugal required me to have a hard copy of an endorsed health certificate that showed my dog had a microchip and was current with his rabies vaccinations. Other countries may be okay with electronic copies of certificates and may require different kinds of vaccinations as well. The site is easy to navigate, and you can print the information to take to your vet. 
   • When Should I Do This:  As soon as you know what country you are flying into, go to the website and review all the info.
2. Microchips and rabies vaccinations — Freddy was microchipped when he was a puppy and was current on all his rabies vaccinations. Still, once I started looking at taking him to Europe with us, I discovered there are different types of microchips. Most European countries require pets to have an 11-digit ISO-compliant chip and be vaccinated for rabies at least 30 days before arrival. Freddy did not have this kind of microchip, so about a month and a half before our trip, he had an ISO-compliant microchip implanted and also got a one-year rabies vaccination at the same visit. The USDA recommends this process to streamline the review and approval process rather than providing a lot of backup paperwork about vaccination validity with different microchips. Check with your vet if you don’t know what kind of microchip your pet has. 
   • When Should I Do This: If your pet needs a new microchip and rabies vaccination, make sure you get this done at least a month before you depart the U.S. I recommend you take care of this two months before you leave so it’s one less thing to worry about the closer you get to your trip.
3. USDA-Approved Veterinarian Health Certificate — Make an appointment for your pet to get a health certificate from a USDA-approved veterinarian. Not every vet has this qualification, so start looking for one as soon as you begin planning your trip. Also, check to see if the vet’s office can electronically send your certificate to the USDA, as this will save you time and money later. My vet could not do this, so I had to allow a few days to mail the paperwork to the USDA office. 
   • When Should I Do This: As soon as you start planning your trip, make an appointment between 20 and 30 days before you travel. You can always cancel the appointment if your plans change.
4. USDA-Endorsed Health Certificate — This is the holy grail that everything you’ve done has been leading up to. Once you have your microchips, rabies vaccinations, and any other vaccinations you may need, you must submit all of this information to your local USDA office (see this link), where they will review, approve, and provide you with an endorsed health certificate. This process can happen electronically at your vet’s office or by sending all the paperwork via FedEx to the USDA office. 
   • When Should I Do This: The most efficient way is to schedule your health exam and certificate appointments for two to three weeks before your trip, send all the paperwork to the USDA, ask them to endorse the documents, and return them to you between five and seven days before your departure. That way, you will be well within the 10-day requirement with a few days to spare if there are any travel delays. 

Regarding the timing of getting your health certificates, here is an email response I received from the USDA office as I was trying to schedule my appointments: “The exam and certificate issuance can occur up to 30 days prior to travel. Once we endorse the documents, they will expire 10 days later. Since you arrive on 1/31, it would be best not to have your endorsement be prior to 1/23 (we only endorse Monday through Friday). If you schedule your vet appointment for the week prior to that (or even sooner) and indicate for endorsement to be on 1/23, we will endorse and ship it that day, which should get it to you in plenty of time before your departure. The shipping carrier and speed will be determined by you, as you must supply a prepaid return shipping label.”

Hopefully, all these tips will make your trip planning a bit less stressful so you can focus on how to fit a few weeks of clothing into that small carry-on bag! 🙂 I actually started relaxing once we were all checked in and sitting on the plane when I realized the worst case scenario at that point was being stuck in Europe with our fur baby! Until next time!