Taking dog food into Europe

[Durham's dad]

Hi all.
Am taking my GSD girl into Holland from Hull via ferry. Not been since Brexit. Reading the regs looks like I can only take a small quantity of her tinned food and kibble. Anyone had any experience of problems taking dog food? Shepherd's have sensitive tums so reluctant to go without what she's used to.

 

[Riverbankannie]

I am away at the moment and brought our dogs food for 4 weeks, and emptied ou own fridge of open perishables to bring.
I think it is very very unlikely you will be checked.

 

[Zigisla]

Same here, food for our two in a cool bag in the boot area. Did cut the label off a smaller bag of salmon flavoured as you are not restricted on fish. .

 

[Peter and Julie]

Had many crossings since B. They aren't interested. If we cross by car we have a cooler in the boot, fully visible full of goodies, (our dogs eat bacon, sausages and eggs, they also eat M&S Steak pie), as do many others in the queue. This is by ferry not by train.

 

[MichaelT]

We take enough for 10 weeks

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[Figaro]

Your dogs eat M&S steak pies

 

[Peter and Julie]

Your dogs eat M&S steak pies

They get a sample

 

[TerryL]

Similarly never had any checks for restricted foodstuffs, doggy or people. But many of the popular brands are available in the bigger supermarkets.

 

[Durham's dad]

Thanks for your responses. Reassured now. I don't think there'd be many staff wanting to enter the vehicle with my girl there anyway!

 

[Brains]

Just keep in mind the one thing they do check, several times, is that the gas is switched off.

So if you want to keep your fridge cold, fill up several large fizzy pop bottles with water and freeze it at home.
Place it in your (prechilled) motorhome fridge, and everything will stay cold until you arrive in the netherlands

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[Brains]

Thanks for your responses. Reassured now. I don't think there'd be many staff wanting to enter the vehicle with my girl there anyway!

Don't bet on that for the return!

We found every motorhome was checked at Hoek of Holland for stowaways.
They check all the larger lockers, inside and out, the loo, under the bike cover etc

 

[garry55]

We always take a 12kg & 6kg bag of dry food for our 2 dogs - never been checked leaving or returning to the UK. They only ever check the gas locker, so don't put dog food in there!

 

[champers]

We have taken bags of dry kibble for our dogs and frozen meat in the freezer on the train with no problems but did have on our recent return to UK have the Border/Customs want to check our mh …garage and inside , they heard our dogs barking then asked to remove to outside the mh but when they saw they were crated sad it was ok to leave them where they were they even checked wardrobes and toilet compartment ..thankfully they didn’t check under the sofa locker as that is where the wine was
Kath

 

[Fragle]

Hi all.
Am taking my GSD girl into Holland from Hull via ferry. Not been since Brexit. Reading the regs looks like I can only take a small quantity of her tinned food and kibble. Anyone had any experience of problems taking dog food? Shepherd's have sensitive tums so reluctant to go without what she's used to.

We bring enough for 3 months. Nobody ever bothered to look so far

 

[bellabee]

Don't bet on that for the return!

We found every motorhome was checked at Hoek of Holland for stowaways.
They check all the larger lockers, inside and out, the loo, under the bike cover etc

Exactly! When we returned via Caen in May every van was searched.
We have a dog. They did ask whether he was friendly, but as part of their job they're obviously used to dealing with all types of dogs. If you have a dog with a strong guarding instinct, they'll just ask you to take it out of the van while they perform their checks

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