Taking your dog to France

This is the only part with a deadline you cannot work around. The vaccination must be given at least 21 days before you travel, and if it has lapsed, the clock starts again from the new dose.

So the first thing to do — today, before booking anything — is find the vaccination record and check the date. Everything else can be arranged inside a fortnight. This cannot.

The Animal Health Certificate replaced the pet passport for Great Britain residents in April 2026. It has to be issued within 10 days of your travel date, so it is deliberately a late step — but you can book the appointment as soon as your dates are fixed.

The appointment itself is short. A vet scans the microchip, checks the rabies record against the requirements, and completes the certificate. Bring the vaccination card: it is what the certificate is built from.

One certificate covers up to five pets travelling together, so a household going as a group needs one appointment, not several.

Dogs travel to France by ferry or through the Channel Tunnel — most airlines will not carry them in the cabin from the UK, so the crossing is usually the practical route.

Whichever you choose, book your dog on specifically. Space for animals is limited and separate from your own booking, and operators have their own rules about whether dogs stay in the car, in a kennel, or with you. Those rules are theirs, not the certificate’s — check them when you book the crossing rather than assuming.

At the border, your certificate is checked alongside your own documents. Keep it with your passport rather than in the boot.

Dogs returning to the UK need tapeworm treatment administered by a vet between 1 and 5 days before you re-enter. Not before you leave — while you are away.

It has to be given by a vet, who records it. That means finding a French vet mid-holiday, in a window that is at most five days and at least one. Miss it and your dog can be refused entry or held.

It is the single most common thing to go wrong, purely because it happens at the point when the paperwork feels finished. Work out roughly when and where you will do it before you go — a vet near where you are staying, a few days before you drive back.

Cats and ferrets do not need it. Dogs do.

• As early as possible: check the rabies vaccination date. Get it done if it has lapsed, then wait 21 days.
• When your dates are fixed: book the crossing, book your dog onto it, and book the certificate appointment.
• Within 10 days of travel: the certificate is issued.
• 1–5 days before coming home: tapeworm treatment from a vet in France.