Taking the dogs to Spain, phase 2

5 weeks after the rabies injections, the pups needed blood tests, these in themselves are not pleasant (read more in http://2littlepuppies.blogspot.com ). It does worry me that if one or both tests come back negative, we have to put them through it all again and that it could delay our departure. However, I had been thinking about this more and questioned whether we needed the DEFRA certificate to take the dogs to Spain, or just to bring them back. Having seen a glimmer that it wasn’t needed to take them to Spain, I spoke further with our vet who confirmed that providing you can show they have had the rabies injection they can be taken into Spain, you need the DEFRA certification to bring them back to the UK without the need for quarantine. Whilst our plans do not include a long term return to the UK, I think it prudent to continue to try and get the full certificate, however, if it’s not in place before we leave the UK, we can continue to sort it whilst we are in Spain.

This means we can decide on a moving date and start to pack. We’d always talked about going out in April, but by now that was too close to have everything arranged, so pick a date in May. We decided to look to move the week of the 12th May, so the next issue was travel arrangements, a little blip this week had changed our plans considerably, but more of that next time…….