Advice - Bringing puppy back from Ireland

[Marc Barton]

Hi, I am looking for advice. My parents are looking to get a puppy for our children. They live in Ireland and are planning to get the puppy in Ireland. We are going over at Christmas and wondered what we would need to do to bring the puppy back to the uk. Is there a minimum age or requirements that need to be in place. Also we return to the uk on 2nd January, so believe further documentation may be required because of brexit. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[JoanneF]

Are you travelling from Eire or Northern Ireland, or through Northern Ireland?

 

[Marc Barton]

We are travelling from Southern Ireland on Ferry. Dublin to Holyhead.

 

[JoanneF]

You should check with the puppy's vet but this could be quite complicated. I think it works like this. First, the puppy would need to be vaccinated against rabies (done when puppy is at least 12 weeks old).

As things stand now, I think the puppy should then be able to travel (with a passport) three weeks later.

But - and this is the problem - if Britain doesn't get ”listed country” status by 31 December, the puppy would need a titre test to prove the levels of rabies antibodies; the test is done one month after the treatment and you then need to wait three months before travel. So you couldn't bring the puppy over until he was at least 12 weeks plus four months old.

But we don't know yet whether we will get listed status or not so it is very frustrating. If we do, puppy is good to go at 3 weeks after the rabies shot.

Regardless of the rabies, your puppy will need to be wormed before coming to the uk and the vet needs to record the time and date on the passport. You cannot enter the UK within the first 24 hours of treatment but must be on UK soil within 120 hours of the treatment. So you have a four day window for that.