Travelling to Italy with my dog. Good idea?

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
Has anyone out there travelled with their dog to Italy? I am thinking about going to Milan for the weekend but don't want to get turned back at the border. Or worse, not allowed back in with her. Any info/advice gladly received.

2
Has she got a Passport?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_passport

3
Hello,

We have been in Italy for many times. No problems at the border. If your dog is vaccinated against rabies and has a microchip, I think you should not worry.

Other thing is - Milan... It is a pretty crowded town. But you know your dog... Well, mine doesn't like "sightseeing" And I think there is over 22C now, so be prepare and have some watter for doggy with you.

Have a nice trip!

4
Thanks for the info. She has a passport and she is good in crowds, although we probably wont take her shopping with us. Need to concentrate afterall!! Just a little worrying taking her over borders as it was such a palavar getting her here from the US.

5
As I said, I think you should not worry about the border. We have been in Italy for many, many times and never had problems.

Don't worry and have a nice shopping there.

6
We've taken our dog to Italy a couple of times and never had a problem with going through the border, we've just driven straight through. They've never stopped us and asked for any paperwork, but I have always taken her passport and other paperwork with us just in case.

7
Hi,

So we have a mini break planned to Italy and we want to take our little dog with us. It is a three hour trai trip with a short stop in Bern, has anyone done this before and is there anything I need to be aware of really? The hotel is pet friendly so we are ok with that. Her vaccinations are all upto date I just wondered whether there will be checks done on the train or if we have to book seats in a certain area to sit with her? We are hoping this will be our first holiday with our little dog.

Thanks in advance.

Darcy

8
We drove to Italy a couple of years ago with our 2 small dogs, with no problems. We also took them on local trains there without problem.They have also travelled with me on the trains to and from the NL also without problem, even quite a long trip they hardly moved from my feet!

But my one experience travelling by train from here to Italy - fortunately without the dogs - was just crazy once we were in Italy itself - very crowded, with lots of pushing and barging and no obvious means of seeing which seats were reserved etc. So I would definitely recommend reserving seats if you can, and make sure that one of you has free hands to pick up the little dog when you are getting on and off the train, so that s/he does not get trampled by the hoardes! i am sure it will be OK for you though if you get on in Bern!

9
We took our dog to Italy via the Austrian border in a rental car. We had zero problems. Do check though - trains may require you to have a muzzle for your dog in other countries. They did in Austria and France. In both of those cases we just had to have it available in case the driver wanted it. We didn't do trains in Italy, so I don't know those rules.

10

Shoot - sorry about that - now that I think about it, it was Italy (and Austria) where we needed the muzzle. On a different trip, we used trains in Italy and had to buy a muzzle in France in anticipation of the need for a muzzle... We traveled through Milan on that trip - again - no problems whatsoever (and no-one asked for the muzzle in Italy. In Austria, the bus driver asked if we had one and from a distance we pulled out a Yaktrax, which kind of looks like a muzzle, to show him that we did have one.)

11
We went to Italy last weekend with our dogs. We took them on the train for the most part everything was fine. The ticket checkers stopped to pet them each time they passed, which our two dogs loved! We didn't have them muzzled (we have a boston terrier and a pug so I am not sure we actually could put a muzzle on them) but we have collapsible carriers that we had along in case we needed them.

The hardest part was actually the train station in Milan. It was so crowded that it scared our dogs a bit. Once in Milan we found lots of places to take them, but we had to go early in the morning or late at night due to the heat.

12
Hi,

We are travelling to Italy for a few days by hire car this weekend with our dog. We have an EU pet passport with up to date vaccinations and rabies shot. But I have a couple of other questions, hoping someone might be able to help with.

1. Do we need any additional documentation other than the dog's pet passport?

2. If we travel by Train, we have a muzzle for him, but does he have to go in a pet carrier (ours will not)?

3. Do you know if you need to buy a ticket for him on the train as in Switzerland?

Thanks

Tony

13

Check with the Italian embassy if Italy requires anything else. Yes he will need a ticket, check with SBB regarding carriage.

https://www.blv.admin.ch/blv/en/home…frettchen.html

http://www.sbb.ch/en/travelcards-and…land/dogs.html

14
We travelled last year by train to/from Italy with 2 dogs. We only had the pet passports and muzzles were carried with us. They did not go in pet carriers (they're 17-18kg each). And we did have to pay for their train travel too.

15
We have travelled many times with our dog. They are very welcoming of dogs and we've never had to use a muzzle on ours. Make sure you have his passport but even that may not be checked.

The only thing to be careful of are worms. Our vet recommended deworming after the trip as Italy has some types of worms that can be very harmful to dogs - especially if you have one like ours who loves to scavenge!