It has taken me awhile to post again...we have been home over a week now. We were initially supposed to come home on Oct 7, but could not get on a flight until Sunday Oct 9. What a mess....but that%26#39;s another post.
Thank you to everyone who assisted me in planning to take my dog (Bijoux) to France. For anyone else who might be considering this, I would like to share a little bit of our experience.
I planned everything out in advance making sure she had all of her shots, paperwork, microchip etc. Guess what? When we went through customs in France - they just waved us through. Didn%26#39;t look at anything or inspect anything. Now I%26#39;m not saying you can skip all the requirements, I%26#39;m just saying that in our case they did not check anything. And I spent the entire flight over being stressed out about whether or not I had everything in order.
The ticket agent at the Cincinnati airport was absolutely clueless about how much to charge for the dog. He asked if anybody told me how much it would be. I said $50. He said %26quot;That sounds good%26quot; and that%26#39;s what he charged me. (jeez I should have said $10) Leaving CDG they must have known the correct amount (I guess) and charged me 100 Euro. But nobody ever asked to see the receipt or ticket.
Coming home was a bit stressful because my husband and I got seperated. He was on the 9:30 am flight to Atlanta and I was on the 11:45am flight. He had the dog and I had her paperwork! But he said when he arrived in Atlanta he showed them her microchip tag from Kentucky and they just said %26quot;OK%26quot; and waved him through. Again...no inspections.
Of the 10 (13) days we were there, Bijoux only spent a couple afternoons in the hotel room. And I%26#39;m sure she appreciated the rest time. She is not used to walking so much. But she loved it!
At first I was nervous about just walking into stores and restaurants with her, but after a few days it was 2nd nature. In fact sometimes when walking down the street, she would just walk into stores on her own that she thought looked interesting.
She was well behaved in restaurants and most of the time was offered her own bowl of water by the staff. (I was worried about the well behaved thing....she is a bit spoiled and has a tendancy to act out.)
The only place we were shoo%26#39;d away from was the grass area in front of the Eiffel Tower. We were trying to get that perfect picture of her in front of the Eiffel Tower but the police didn%26#39;t seem to appreciate that. Oh well...I got the shot anyway!
I don%26#39;t really think anything was too stressful on her. She even got to fly in Business Class on the way over. Now coming home was a bit of an ordeal, being stuck in the airport for 3 days. But we made a bed of coats for her on the luggage cart and she just rolled around with us.
My initial question on this board was - Are there any grassy areas at the airport. Someone told me NO. They were right! None at all. What few trees there are outside have grates around the trunks. But hey..when ya gotta go, ya gotta go! Even in the middle of the baggage claim area!
So if anyone is considering taking their dog to Paris and has any questions, please feel free to contact me. Also...if you would like to see pictures of Bijoux%26#39;s adventure in Paris go here.
community.webshots.com/user/zinniaseven
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my dog is also named Bijoux!!! much as I wish I could take her to Paris with me in December she is much too large and not very well behaved in public (my fault, not hers.) But it sounds like you two had a lovely time. loved the pictures too :)
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This post is a valuable addition to the forum, thank you.
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Hi Zinnia, Matthew %26amp; Bijoux -
Just loved your trip report and slide show. She%26#39;s a cutie...no wonder you wanted to take her along. So happy all turned out well, and, yes...she did look like she was having a blast!
This was all such good info for anyone contemplating what you did. I%26#39;m sure all %26quot;dog trips%26quot; don%26#39;t turn out as well as yours, however. Bijoux seems to be just a perfect little traveler.
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Hi! i could not open the web site. I think the picture of your dog is so cute! Thanks for all the information about bring my dog.
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Great pictures. Your dog is adorable. However, we will not be loading up our 90 pound golden retriever for our trip next month. I love seeing all of the cute dogs in Paris. It was a little unsettling to see them in restauants at first.
I really enjoyed reading a book called %26quot;Almost French%26quot; by Sarah Turnbull. She spends considerable time on the subject of dogs in paris.
Thanks for sharing.
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One thing I forgot to mention that I thought was cool. So many American tourists thought we were locals. In restaurants they would always make such a big deal about Bijoux being in there. They would say %26quot;Wow..the stories are true! The French people do bring their dogs to restaurants!%26quot; We got such a kick out of that.
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Glad you had a good trip, but I am amazed at the ease you transported an animal half way across the world! Particularly the lack of interest you had in the USA, too busy making British tourists take there shoes off and standing in line for hours I suppose!
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It%26#39;s not just the British who have to take their shoes off! We have to do it too. Funny that happens only in America. We did not have to remove our shoes in France or Mexico.
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I know it is to do with the %26#39;shoe bomber%26#39;, but why do they check people going into the USA?
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Zinnia- You%26#39;re right about the airport check. I%26#39;ve been in and out of CDG and Orly dozens of times with my pooch and I can not remember having been asked for the health certificate. Usually they count on the airlines to make sure the dogs paperwork is in order. Most airlines will take a close look at the vacines and certificates. And, the one time I forgot it they let me have it faxed over from my vets office.
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