A leading Warwickshire vets is keeping close tabs on a beautiful dog who is being trained as an assistance animal by Dogs for Good thanks to its fundraising.

Beautiful Bronte is now nearly a year old

Last year, Avonvale Veterinary Centre employees raised more than £2,000 for the life-transforming charity, which creates partnerships between people living with disability and specially trained assistance dogs.

Money was raised through several different ways, including a cake sale, dog walks and staff taking part in Wolf Runs.

That money has now gone towards training Bronte, who was born last December, to be an assistance dog for the charity.

Avonvale’s group practice manager Kate Webb said: “We were thrilled to have been able to help Dogs for Good and are delighted that Bronte is our ‘Puppy Partner’.

“After everyone’s hard work fundraising it is great that the charity keeps us informed of how well Bronte is doing. She is now nearly a year old and progressing well with her training.

“Dogs for Good tell us she is a very loving girl who enjoys human company, is always very sociable and friendly when she’s out and about and loves her puppy classes.”

Tina Williams, regional fundraiser for Dogs for Good, said: “Since 1988, Dogs for Good has been making life-changing differences to people with disabilities.

“We support people with a wide range of needs including physical disabilities, autism, dementia and learning disabilities enabling them to lead more independent lives through the help of trained dogs.

“The gift of independence is priceless but the cost of training and supporting an assistance dog is not. It costs more than £22,000 to train and support an assistance dog and last year we received more than 5,000 enquiries from people who are desperate to feel the life-changing benefit of a partnership with a dog.

“This is far more than we can currently help, which is why we were delighted to have been supported by Avonvale as their charity of the year in 2018.

“With Avonvale’s support in partnering with Bronte, we can continue to make a difference to people who could benefit from the support, love and companionship of a trained dog.”

CAPTIONS: Bronte 1-4. Beautiful Bronte is now nearly a year old.

The B word….by Penny Clarke

While we’re waiting for our politicians to wrap up their frustratingly long version of the ‘Hokey Cokey’, we thought an update on pet travel within the EU would be useful. It’s pretty certain Britain will be ‘out’ and therefore the current pet travel scheme will be ‘shaken about’. (Brexit is taking only slightly longer to complete than the time spent thinking of that pun!)

The current system

If you’ve already travelled to an EU country with your pet you’ll be familiar with the current passport system. A passport is issued by a vet once your pet has been micro-chipped and vaccinated against rabies. At each border crossing this passport and your pet’s microchip details are checked by an official. Your pet needs to be given an approved tapeworm treatment by a vet between 1 and 5 days before re-entry to the UK.

After Brexit

Once Britain has left the EU it will be classed as a third country. There are three categories of third countries within the EU pet travel scheme:

• Unlisted
• Part one listed
• Part two listed

Unlisted (the very complicated option)

If Britain leaves the EU and no deal is in place then it will be classed as unlisted according to the EU pet travel scheme. Current pet passports would be invalid.

In order for your dogs, cats or ferrets to travel to an EU country they would need:

• a micro-chip
• a vaccination against rabies
• a blood test proving immunity to rabies taken 30 days after vaccination
• a certificate showing this positive blood test result issued by an EU approved laboratory
• to wait 3 months from the date of the blood test
• an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) to be issued by your vet 10 days prior to travel
• a new AHC each time you travelled with your pet

If your pet was up-to-date with their rabies vaccinations then a repeat blood test would not be necessary each time an AHC was issued.

Part one listed (the least complicated option)

Part one listed status allows the UK to be included in the EU pet travel scheme under similar rules to EU member states. This is how the current pet passport system operates. Your pet would still need a microchip and vaccination against rabies. Current EU pet passports would be invalid and a new, replacement UK document would need to be issued by your vet.

Part two listed (‘somewhere in the middle’ level of complication)

If the UK becomes a part two listed country, your pet would need to be micro-chipped and vaccinated against rabies. Proof of this vaccination along with your pet’s details would be needed by your vet who could then issue an AHC. As for unlisted countries, an AHC would be needed each time your pet travelled abroad. A blood test proving your pet’s immunity to rabies would not be required.

What should you do now?

While Britain is still part of the EU your pet’s current passport is valid. Your pet can travel to EU countries with an up-to-date passport. A vet must give an approved preventative tapeworm treatment between 1-5 days before returning to the UK.

If your pet doesn’t have a pet passport your vet will need to check their microchip (or insert one) and give a vaccination against rabies. We advise a blood test is carried out 30 days after this vaccination. The reason for this is to ensure your pet will be allowed to travel whichever category of country Britain is included in after Brexit. It’s a good idea to delay travel for 3 months from the date the blood sample was taken. If Britain becomes unlisted then your pet would already satisfy the criteria for travel.

And finally….

As soon as it’s been decided which category of country Britain will be included in post-Brexit, we’ll issue exact instructions about how to travel with your pet.

Please speak to us if you would like individual advice for your pet. If you don’t fancy taking your pet abroad until after Brexit then we wouldn’t blame you one bit….Britain has some great beaches!