Flying with a dog from Ireland

Hi as far as I'm aware if you want to put a dog on a plane it would have to be in the hold, have a pet passport and all immunisations up to date. It's not cheap either. It wouldn't be on the same flight as you from what I remember when I was looking into it

Thanks Mandy. Was only wondering as we wouldn't be living in Spain , so not going for long periods at a time. Probably too much hassle for shorter holidays. Thanks again.

Hi there, we have just moved here with our dog from Cork. No airliner flying from.cork to Malaga facilitate dogs on planes I'm afraid not even in Cargo hold. We took the new Cork - Santander ferry route with Brittany Ferries to bring our dog down here it was actually pretty easy. We drove from Santander to Malaga. Let me know if you need more info..

Paul 

We came over 3 years ago. Our cat had to go from a different airport from us and we then had to go to the cargo depot to pick him up. It cost nearly 800 euros altogether! I wish we had known about the people over here who transport animals both ways in air conditioned vans and are apparently really good. I would recommend that if you can. 

Thanks Paul. Will do.

Hola Paul, hope you are enjoying your 1st Christmas living in Spain ? Or , maybe you're back home in Cork ? Anyhow, either way we wish you and yours a very Happy Christmas. I wrote my query re transporting a dog to Spain on this Forum last June and you sent me a reply saying you'd just moved to Spain and had brought your dog with you via the new Cork-Santander ferry. We are hoping to go to Torrox Costa ( Malaga) for 6-7wks around the fist week of April - haven't actually checked yet to see if the ferry runs in early April. But if you could give us any tips and also the best route to take driving South from Santander,  we'd be most grateful.  Did you do it all in one day or do an overnight stop in a dog-friendly hotel ? Anything at all you can tell us will be appreciated.  Many thanks, Paula & Michael 

Hi Guys 

We are home in Cork for Xmas but we are swearing we will stay in Spain next year given the weather!

Taking your dog with you is pretty simple:

1) He will need a pet passport as you probably know. So he will need his regular shots + rabies shot plus worming chip etc etc.. your vet will know what is required here.

2) There are only 8 pet friendly cabins on the Cork Santander boat so you should book asap to ensure you get a room otherwise your dog will have go to the kennels which isn't ideal. These rooms are the same as the regular cabins except with lino instead of carpet. At check in they will look at the pet passport and may or may not ask you to scan it's chip so make sure your vet shows you where that is. Depending on the temperament you might want to get a tablet from the vet to relax your dog. I have a 10 year old golden retriever who was grand but was a little bit nervous from the boat rocking , waves etc so you will need to decide that yourself. Brittany Ferries will insist you put a muzzle on your dog when he is outside the room but in reality I ( and everyone else ) only had his muzzle on bringing him from the car to the room and vice versa other than that it was  not enforced. There is only one small outside space to bring your dog during the sailing so I would give him a good run before he / she gets on the boat. Btw the way the food on this ship is not great and expensive for what you get so I would bring plenty of snacks. Pints around bad though at €3.50 !

4) Make sure your dog gets a tablet and or a collar for ticks and fleas as they are rampant here as we discovered about a month in ! But once we got him the tablet and collar it got sorted and he has been clear since.

3) It will take about 9hrs to drive from Santander to Malaga excluding rest stops. When we arrived we drove about 6 hours and stopped at a nice pet friendly hotel in Santa Cruz de Mudela called Hotel Casa Palacio. We had about another 3.5 hrs to.drive the next day. Honestly we just stuck the name into the Sat Nav and thought no more about it. It's almost all motorway all the way down to Malaga. On the way home last week we drove all the way to.Santander in one go ( easy enough with 2 driving ( have change for the odd toll ) The road are in good condition and it's almost all straight. Whether you stay over night really depends on how many are driving and what time the ship gets in the port. For example if the boat gets in at 8am you could be in Torrix for 6pm the same day ! 

Hope all that helps! Let me know if you have any more questions.

Paul 

Hi, we just moved to benalmadena with a dog. We flew from Aberdeen via Amsterdam to Malaga with the dog in the hold. We used KLM. I’m not sure if they fly outta Cork? They charge for a pet in the hold as baggage. His ticket was £79. If the connection time is longer than 2.5 hours they go to the pet hotel at Amsterdam to be feed and exercised. This costs €150. My connection time was only an hour. At the gate in Amsterdam I was told my dog was fine and was on the flight. They were very helpful and friendly and my dog came out at Malaga on the luggage belt a very happy boy. He is a very anxious dog normally.

If you can use an airport that flys KLM you will save a lot of money as the dog carrier companies I got quotes from were almost £1000. 

They are no airlines that will fly pets out of cork to Spain I'm afraid

Paul