Preparing to Travel with a Service Animal

Traveling with a service animal requires careful planning and consideration. Hopefully this guide will help you prepare by offering key checklists for each phase of your journey, ensuring both you and your service animal, or any dog, are well-prepared for travel.

This is based on my research and my experience. Airline and country requirements may change so please verify. Your dog is unique to your family so some things may or may not work.

Preparing for Your Trip

  • Prepare Your Service Animal and Refresh Training My experience is that Service Dog training should constantly be reinforced and is never truly "finished". The list below is just suggestions to help better prepare your animal for experiences they may not encounter in their normal service lives.
  • Getting Your Travel Documents Ready This is a BIG part of making your trip go as smoothly as possible. Resolve yourself to the fact that you need to bring a LOT of physical paperwork; don't rely on consistent Internet access.
  • Schedule Veterinarian Appointments Both in the USA and the EU
  • Gathering Essential Items We have compiled a list below of some items to help make you more prepared for your trip. You can decide what is right for you and your animal. I assume that you have all of your normal service dog equipment.
  • Research and Understand Service Animal Laws These laws vary greatly depending on where you plan to travel. Local understanding and compliance with the laws vary greatly as well. Our experience is mostly in EU countries, and have recently made attempts to standardize the rules and regulations for Assistance Dogs (Service Dog in the USA) One example is that you should NOT expect to be able to bring an Assistance Dog into any grocery stores in Germany; even though it is protected by law. It is VERY common for people to tie up their dog at the front door, or put them in a sit-stay until they come back out. (It is also somewhat common to see babies in strollers left outside stores in some Scandinavian countries!)
  • In Case of Emergency I dread a situation where some emergency causes me to get separated from my dog, and emergency personnel have no way to reunite us. This is even more of a concern in a foreign country. She is microchipped, and the EU Pet Passport is a way to link her chip number to me, but we were traveling between 10 countries and I could not fathom what would happen if we were separated.
    • We purchased a SIM card with a local German phone number, and added that to her collar ID tag and her Pet Passport. Aldi has easy to buy cards and decent phone plans.
    • I created an NFC chip for her vest that allows anyone with a cell phone to scan her vest and get detailed information about her and her handler. When the chip is scanned I get a text message with the location of the person scanning her vest. There are a few services out there that you can sign up for that do this; I created my own.
    • We added an Apple Air Tag to her collar, and to her car harness that allows me to track her location.
  • Feeding Your Dog Import customs in many countries like the EU restrict bringing in food for your dog. While it is OK to pack enough for your dog while traveling; this is what we did for a more expended trip. The brand Royal Canine is a decent brand that is easy to find in the EU. We started mixing this with our dogs usual food a few weeks before traveling to get her used to this new brand, and we carried a small amount with us while traveling. We were able to purchase this food when getting to our destination for large quantities.

Ideas to Prepare Your Service Animal

It should be obvious that you are starting with a well-trained service dog and they should also be able to handle this list with ease. This is NOT a training guide; just a list of experiences we found you are likely to encounter on a major trip like this; and our view is that the more your dog can be exposed to various situations; the more comfortable they will be when they encounter them.

  • Walk the terminal (outside security). If possible, walk on different types of flooring, go on a people mover, etc. Also, highly recommend training your dog on escalator if they are not already trained for this. You’ll have to help him/her so paws don’t get stuck. There were several train stations in Europe we could not find stairs or elevators.
  • Walk through a mall, airport and other crowded areas so s/he gets used to a LOT of noises and situations they are unfamiliar with.
  • Walk on busy streets with people, cars, and other noises and distractions. Go at all times of day and night.
  • We do not live inside a busy, crowded, noisy city, and our dog does not have a lot of experience walking around and working in that environment at night. We tried to take a few local trips to get her exposed to that environment so she could stay focused on her task while on our trip. We found that it would be good for her to have a light attached to her harness so people could better see her on dark streets at night, and I carried a small flashlight as needed. See the links below for the items we decided to use.
  • Take multiple modes of transportation. We went to the airport, parked, and took the shuttle bus, rental car busses, we also took some ferries, a train, and other modes of transportation.
  • If going on a long plane ride, consider a few short more local rides first. My husband took our service dog on a 1 1/2 hr plane trip as a way to troubleshoot and prepare for a longer trip to EU.
  • Train or reinforce your dog to relieve themselves in different places: on a mat, on dirt, on concrete. (Our dog finds this very challenging and therefore we had to try to find grassy areas in big cities. This was sometimes VERY difficult especially in Budapest and Vienna).
  • Only allow your animal to drink out of his/her own travel bowl. Many places have water bowls for dogs, but we don’t let our dog drink out of it after seeing birds taking a bath in one. Hopefully this limits exposure to diseases that your dog may otherwise pick up from other animals. See ideas for light, foldable, bowls later in this list.
  • Practice with your service dog to sit and then slide under the seat while facing out. This was VERY helpful for the plane, subways, ferries, and restaurants. (Our dog is 50 pounds and fits under most chairs, seats). This is important for busses, subways, trains and other transportation.
  • Walk with the dog and roller bags by their sides, in front of them, behind them, and crossing their path. Change up the sides and get them comfortable with the various noises the bags make rolling over many different surfaces. Drop your bag to get them used to the sounds.
  • 24 hrs before flight, just feed light snacks to limit their need to use the bathroom. Go on a long walk before your flight to empty their bladder as much as possible before the flight. Limit their water intake to mainly small sips of water throughout flight. Balance less water with avoiding dehydration; obviously don't torture your animal with limiting too much water!.
  • Get your dog used to wearing a muzzle. There are places in the EU, like some public transportation, that may require your dog be muzzled. Even though Assistance Dogs in the EU are exempt from this requirement, you may be asked to muzzle your dog and that is no time for them to experience the muzzle for the first time.
  • If you are driving in a car during your trip, your dog needs to be protected while inside the car. This can be done by making them ride in a cage, or be properly harnessed. We found that traveling with a car-rated harness was easier than traveling with a cage. A dog harness is used, it has been certified for car travel for use in the EU. If your dog is used to traveling inside a cage and you want the simplicity of a harness, get them used to this new form of travel before you go.
  • Many cities we visited had places with cobblestone streets and a LOT of broken glass. We made sure to always have her protective booties with us in case we needed them. We did use them a few times on our trip. We also kept a small first aid kit in her backpack with us at all times.

Travel Documentation

By no means could I create a "complete" list of documentation you will EVER need to bring. This is an attempt to list the items we brought or were asked for by various people along the way. We were never asked for many of these items on our trip, but I felt like we would have been asked for something if we did not have it!

As an example, I have heard stories of people needing to show their ORIGINAl first rabies shot for their dog even though their dog has had multiple boosters.

Many of these items are obvious and self explanatory and the list may seem daunting. Better to have it and not need it than the other way around.

  • Service animal identification and training documents This may sound obvious, but we were asked in a few places to provide proof that the dog was professionally trained as a service dog, what her task was, and what my disability was. That is less common in the US where this is hardly ever needed; but when dealing with airlines and foreign countries, they are governed by different rules. I brought my NC Registration tag, registration paperwork, and training certifications. This was all I ever needed to show.
  • Veterinary health certificate or USDA form This form is also known as the "Model Health Certificate..." and must be filled out and signed by a USDA certified veterinarian, physically signed and sealed by a representative of the USDA, and dated no older than 10 days before your departure date. USDA Pet Travel
    • Expect to pay anywhere between $400 and $600 for your vet to complete the exam and process all of the paperwork.
    • This form must be dated within 10 days of your departure date and has to be physically signed and stamped by the USDA. Plan and schedule accordingly; and I highly recommend a departure date of Tuesday through Friday and not on a weekend or Monday to give time to receive the form. More details of this in my blog artice.
    • ISO microchip required, and all vaccines up to date, and your dog healthy enough to travel.
  • Vaccination records (including rabies) Make sure you have your complete veterinarian chart including your signed rabies certificates with you. We were asked for this in a couple places.
  • US DOT Service Animal Forms Some airlines may require these forms before you can fly. One form refers to the animals health, behavior, and training; and the other is needed for longer flights to attest to the animals ability to not have to relive itself or relieve itself in a sanity manner. Southwest required that I sign the form in front of the agent at the airport and had to be dated the date of departure, Lufthansa did not. Bring extra forms that have been filled out and not yet signed in case you need them.
  • Airline approval documents We traveled on Lufthansa and they had a specific form to fill out and email in and get a response before your flight. This was done in order to then be able to call Lufthansa to get confirmation and approval that your dog will be in the cabin with you on your departing and returning flights. Check with your airline for their requirements!
  • CDC Registration This is needed for your return trip. If you are bringing a dog to the U.S., starting on August 1, 2024, there are new steps you need to take. These steps depend on where your dog has been in the past 6 months. For low-risk countries: Fill out the online form and keep a copy / printout of the confirmation email you receive from the CDC.

Packing Essentials for Your Service Animal

Daypack Contents