Bolo Returns to Bolognia
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by John Twaite
This year we went on a family road trip across Europe. We travelled through France; The Black Forest; The High Alps; Austrian Lakes, Italy and Switzerland. We had never taken our 4 year old Bolognese, Bella abroad before, so we were nervous and unsure what to expect.
The trip took quite a bit of organizing, as you can imagine. Bella is very chilled and we knew she would love the new sights and smells of Europe. Bella has been an integral part of our family since she was a puppy, so the thought of leaving her behind just did not enter our minds.
I have listed below our best tips if you are thinking of taking your dog to Europe:-
- 2 months before your trip make sure the dogs vaccinations are up to date and get a rabies jab.
- 10 days before the journey get the dog’s Animal Health Certificate. We found the cheapest place was PassPet near Tolworth in South London (Circa £100)
- Buy a cooling dog vest/harness. Bella hates the heat, so our priority was to keep her cool.
- Clip her coat – We took clippers with us and kept her coat at 3mm
- Dog food – You are not allowed to take meat or meat products into France, so we stopped at the first Hypermarket in France to stock up on food, biscuits and treats. Bella is quite a fussy eater so some food worked and others, well she just turned her nose up. Top tip, get a variety of flavours.
- Before you go, arrange a worming tablet appointment with a vet in Europe. The dog will not be allowed back into England without the correct worming treatment administered and recorded by a Vet. The tablet has to be given a minimum of 24 hrs before your crossing and a maximum of 5 days. Make sure the Vet completes the section on your Animal Health Certificate. We paid about £40 to a French Vet.
- We stayed at B&Bs and Hotels for the trip. Top tip make sure the rooms are air conditioned for your dogs well being.
- Water – Can your dog drink the tap water in Europe? Well its probably ok but we took a water filtration system (BeFree by Katadyn) for all of us and no one got a dodgy tummy on the whole trip.
We set off in early August, waving goodbye to dear old Blighty. Customs clearance was surprisingly easy and the Animal health certificate was stamped on every page. We planned to travel about 300 miles a day with frequent comfort breaks. France is very flat and boring. You just have to get across it to the most interesting parts of the continent. Wow! Europe was HOT. I was very glad we booked rooms with A/C and took the cooling dog vest. Even so, we had to make sure we did not take Bella out in the Midday sun and were very careful that her paws did not get burnt to hot sticky tarmac.
The Black Forest was at least 35C, but very pretty and we bought a cuckoo clock! We then drove to the Austrian High Alps, which thankfully was a bit cooler. Bella absolutely loved the meadows in the mountains and made some new friends.
Austria was lovely, very dog friendly (as was the whole of Europe), although you need to muzzle your dog when using public transport, but in truth no one though Bella was a slavering beast so after the first time I left the muzzle in my pocket.
Interaction with other dogs – We were nervous at first. What if the Foreign dogs have Rabies? But we did not need to worry, all the dogs are vaccinated and the owners love them as much are we do. There was that instant dog/dog and owner to owner friendship. Even the language was not a problem. I can speak a little French, my wife speaks a smattering of German, so we got by. In truth, most people spoke English.
After Austria, which was spotlessly clean. Absolutely no litter or graffiti, we moved down the Alps into Italy and on to beautiful Venice.
Although there was no grass or trees for Bella to do her business, she loved Venice and was always pulling on the lead to see what was around the next corner. We did the obligatory Gondola boat ride around the canals. It was very peaceful after the busy streets. Bella just sat down. She was very chilled and just took it all in. Maybe it was some sort of Gene memory because Bolo’s were owned by the upper classes in Renaissance Venice.
Finally we took the high speed train from Venice to Rome and wanted to visit Bologna for a few hours. Unfortunately our train ticket did not allow us to use any later trains so we had to make a mad dash off the train, take a quick photo next to the Bologna sign and run back to the train before it sped off to Rome. Not quite the home coming we had planned, but at least a Bolognese had come home, if only for a few brief minutes!
Rome was very HOT, dusty, polluted, noisy with litter and graffiti everywhere. Bella hated it. The Hotel was fantastic. They gave Bella a bed, a water bowl and a couple of bags of treats. They even welcomed her into the restaurant for breakfast and evening meal. 5 star treatment bravo. We left Bella in the room most of the time when we went out sightseeing because it was just too hot for her. We did find a shopping bag just for her near the Vatican.
Then we turned for home, coming back though Switzerland. We visited the Vet just over the border in France, who gave Bella the worming tablet and filled out the Animal Health Certificate.
The whole trip went very well and we are definitely taking Bella to Europe again.
