Taking the train with your dog – testimonials from travelers
Hello Wouafer's! If the majority of dog owners prefer the car to go on vacation with their dog, some of you opt for the train with your dog.
I interviewed 3 people who are used to traveling by train with their dog(s) so that they can tell you about their experiences and give you some advice for traveling with your dog by train.
In France, the trains are not very well equipped for dogs, so you will see how these Wouafer's adapt to make the train journey as comfortable and pleasant as possible for their dog. Having recently taken the train for the first time with Musher, I also share my experience with you, W'ouf race!
I now leave the floor to the Wouafer's who were interviewed 🙂
Taking the train with your dog in France – Kathy's testimony
My two shiba are calm little dogs, they travel in a transport bag. Here we use the Monsieur Hardi brand bag, which serves as a bag but also as a basket when we travel. When dogs are in a bag, they do not have to have the muzzle, but if they are on the ground, out of the bag, they must wear one.
La transport container is not compulsory on the train, there is very little space in the cars. All of our train journeys went very well. When I travel alone I only take one of the two dogs with me, but if I am accompanied I travel with both. When you take the train, you can travel with a maximum of 2 dogs per person.
If your dog is in a transport bag, this means that it is light and does not need a ticket for OUIGO journeys. For dogs who cannot travel in a bag, you must provide a ticket for him, it is possible to buy the ticket directly online at the same time as yours. For the OUIGO I do not pay for the dogs because they are bagged, on the other hand for OUI SNCF, since June 23, 2022 a single price has been set up for small dogs as for larger ones. Your dog's ticket will therefore cost 7€.
We must take a ticket for our dogs, but that does not mean that it will be installed correctly! There are no facilities for dogs. They are considered as luggage… I have never had a problem when traveling by train with my dogs. They are very calm and sleep the whole way! You can take your dog's ticket on the SNCF website.
Even if they are not very well settled in the train, I prefer that we travel by train rather than by plane because at least they are close to us during the whole trip. 🙂
I must not be the only one but every time I take the train with my dogs I pray that the person next to me is not allergic to dogs or afraid of dogs because if so, they would be entitled to ask me to travel elsewhere…
Musher and Sophie : “I had the same fear as Kathy for our first trip, but Musher was so discreet that after 5 hours of travel, the people behind us were VERY surprised to see her tumbling down the hallway to get out of the car. They hadn't seen her… Must say that she was well hidden under our feet, curled up on her carpet. I traveled as best I could for 5 hours to avoid crushing it with my feet and to give it some space…”
For information, I find that dogs are the best installed in the TGVs and the least in the OUIGOs.
Finally, here are some tips for traveling by train with your dog:
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Get him used to being calm and not disturbing others. The dog must be educated before traveling with you. He must be as discreet as possible so as not to disturb anyone during the trip.
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If it is a small dog, it must be accustomed to being carried in a bag or a transport cage before taking the train with it for the first time. Personally, I carry a small towel with the smell of the house so that he doesn't feel too confused in a place he doesn't know at all.
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Before the trip, I recommend that you take him for a long walk to exercise, stretch his legs and relieve himself.
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Finally I am always equipped with a travel bottle and treats for my dogs on the train.
Traveling by train with your dog – Florence's testimony
Florence travels by train with her dog Maya, a Swiss white shepherd 4 years old. Maya is a good-natured dog who follows her on most of her vacations and trips: photo shoots in Paris, Road Trip en Britain, holidays in italy, riding a Switzerland, riding a Germany, etc.
I have traveled a dozen times by train with Maya. Mainly in the RER and the Paris metro but also for Paris-Lyon by train and also for trips between France and Switzerland. These are occasional trips.
Before taking the train, my dog has the right to a good walk where she can relax, sniff as many smells as possible and exercise.
For the train ride with my dog, I always plan a muzzle which is mandatory on trains in France for large dogs. I also take toys and occupations from him toy kong or Lickymat depending on the travel time. I never needed to take a transport cage.
For SNCF trains, and the train at La Cure (in the Jura) that I took with Maya, it was mandatory to take a train ticket for her dog. It is possible tobuy the ticket online or at the counter; for the Cure I had to buy it directly from the Les Rousses Tourist Office. For a large dog, the SNCF ticket costs half the price of a ticket for an adult.
Musher and Sophie : If you want to know all the practical information for traveling by train with your dog, I also invite you to read the article “Traveling by train with your dog".
Parisian transport, on the other hand, has become free for dogs. This includes the RER and the metro. See the detail here
I have never seen any special accommodation for dogs on trains. In general, I try to put myself where there is not too much traffic so that my dog has as much space as possible to lie down at her full length during the train journey.
The advantage of traveling with your dog by train is to be able to move around without necessarily having a permit. In addition, we travel in a much more ecological way than by plane or car and we can make trips more quickly, especially for long distances.
My advice for traveling best with your dog by train:
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Get your dog used to staying in one place for a longer or shorter time and surrounded by people he doesn't know. For example, you can take it to a park, or near a market.
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Provide occupations for your dog on the train, without these occupations implying that he makes noise or that he runs all over the train of course!
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You can also take a tapis or an object of the house that is familiar to her in order to reassure her in this place that is unknown to her.
You can contact me on Instagram if you have any questions: @maya_bbs
Traveling by train with your dog – Laureline's testimony
I have traveled a dozen times by train with my dog Nemesis, only once with my dog Orion. I always travel with one dog at a time because otherwise it's too complicated and they don't have enough space on the train.
I took SNCF trains only, both TGV Lyon-Paris or TER Lyon-Clermont. I have always stayed in France for this kind of trip.
To travel, I always carry manure bags because an accident happened quickly, a gourd or an travel bowl, a cuddly toy that soothes them and muzzle, mandatory on SNCF trains. They haven't been used to transport cages so we don't have any.
I always take the train ticket of my dog at the same time as mine on the SNCF website. Now, tickets for pets are at a single price of 7€ for large and small dogs.
However, no additional place is allocated to us: the dog must remain between our feet. Hence the fact that I never took both with me. Fortunately, I've always been lucky, on the TGV, nice people have always offered to change places for me to have more for my dog, I've been able to have "squares" or duos all to myself each time. times, which allows me to discreetly remove the muzzle and put it back on only when necessary. On the other hand in TER it is more complicated. There is really a lack of facilities for people traveling with their dog by train…
I never had any accident or problem during my train journeys, lots of understanding people and kind controllers: often they tell me to put on the muzzle only if there are people close to the dog.
The advantage of the train is to be able to travel faster than by car, but as humans are often very hostile to the presence of animals in their infrastructure, I am therefore always very wary of the reactions around me (people complaining, a child who approaches too abruptly, etc…). You must always be attentive so that the dog does not find himself in difficulty.
To travel by train, the dog must be accustomed to the transport bag or transport container for small dogs and muzzle for large dogs. Otherwise the journey will be a real hell for them. Cleanliness is in my opinion also essential to be able to travel, even if the stations and trains are very dirty because of humans, and not because of dogs…
Personally, with a border, it is always essential to take a walk before the trip, to avoid excitement and so that he is well in his paws and his head before leaving. Orion was very afraid of crowds, we also had to get used to it before we could take the train. This was not the case for Némésis, a go-getter at heart and ready for any original adventure. I think you have to know the qualities and faults of your dog to propel him into a station or a train, to avoid unpleasant surprises and above all to avoid giving him an experience that can be traumatic.
You can contact me on Instagram if you have any questions: @nemesis_the_border
Musher and Sophie : “Ah yes, I agree with Laureline. It is essential to have an animal well in his paws to travel with his dog by train. Musher who nevertheless follows me everywhere had some difficulties for this first train journey…. Between the footbridges above the platform which were a real challenge for her who suffers from vertigo, the elevators, the escalators, the crowd which pays no attention to her and steps on her, people who roll their suitcases on her paws, the children who leap on her to pet her or the others who whistle her to hope that she will look at them, my poor cuddly toy was a little lost... And when it was time to get back to the wagon, we had to jump from the platform to the train and there too, his vertigo played tricks on him. You need a very zen dog capable of controlling his emotions well, otherwise he can quickly, very quickly, lose patience in this excitement. And if he is not used to the muzzle, this strong constraint can quickly increase his stress. I was so stressed that it was going well for my dog that I managed to strain my thigh while helping him onto the train….“
Thank you to these 3 Wouafer's for these valuable tips and testimonials! I hope that thanks to their experiences, you can better prepare for your train journeys with your dog.