10. Dogs on board: what we've learned travelling with Huffle
An anxious, beloved, occasionally maddening dog. Two and a half weeks in France. Here is everything we learned – including the things we really wish someone had told us before we left.
We're Kate and Charlie – mid-fifties, one anxious dog called Huffle, one fifteen-year-old Peugeot Boxer campervan called Brigitte, and absolutely learning as we go. Whether you have a campervan or a motorhome, if you're new to this or thinking about it, come with us.
IN A HURRY? THE SHORT VERSION | Key things to know before travelling with a dog in a campervan or motorhome:
(1) You cannot bring meat-based pet food from the UK into France or the EU – take enough from home in sealed original packaging for UK trips, or plan to buy in France.
(2) Your dog must be secured in the vehicle – a harness clipped to the seatbelt anchor point is the legally correct method in both the UK and France.
(3) An AHC (Animal Health Certificate) is required for every trip to the EU – book the vet appointment well in advance.
(4) A Thundershirt genuinely helps an anxious dog.
(5) A GPS tracker on the collar is not a luxury. It is the item that will one day save you forty minutes of genuine fear.
His full name is Hufflepuff. He came to us already named, via a rehoming charity, and we did not have the heart to change it despite the fact that I am not – and I want to be very clear about this – a Harry Potter fan. To us he is Huff, or Huffle, or occasionally Huffs. When he has done something genuinely unacceptable, he receives the full Hufflepuff in the tone that makes it clear we are Not Amused.
He is also, in his own particular way, an anxious dog. Not aggressive, not troubled – just a dog who notices things, worries about change, and occasionally decides that the noises a van makes while travelling are a matter of significant personal concern. Two and a half weeks in France taught us a great deal about travelling with an anxious dog. Here is all of it, honestly reported.
Before you go – the legal bits
Important: You cannot bring meat-based pet food from the UK into France or the EU. It is subject to import restrictions and can be confiscated at the border. This includes most commercial wet and dry dog food. The solution: order enough food before you leave to cover the whole trip for UK trips, packed in its original sealed tubs, and bring it in the van. For EU trips, buy food in France and introduce an easily available brand gradually a week or two beforehand so it is not completely unfamiliar when you arrive.
Important: Your dog must be properly secured in the vehicle while travelling. In the UK, the Highway Code requires dogs to be suitably restrained so they cannot distract the driver or injure themselves or others in an emergency stop. In France the requirement is the same. The correct method is a well-fitting harness clipped via a seatbelt attachment to the car's seatbelt anchor point. This is not the same as a collar lead attached to anything – it must be a harness, distributed across the chest and shoulders, with a clip that connects to the seatbelt mechanism. It protects Huffle in the event of sudden braking and keeps him legally compliant in both countries.
And before any EU trip: your dog needs an Animal Health Certificate, issued by a vet within ten days of travel. These take time to arrange – contact a vet well in advance, not the week before you leave. Get some quotes from your own and other vets – prices vary massively. Our vet was charging £250, but we found a brilliant vet in Folkstone who charged less than half of this amount.
The Thundershirt - worth every penny for an anxious dog
The Thundershirt - or Thundervest – is a close-fitting wrap that applies gentle, constant pressure to a dog's torso. The theory is the same as a weighted blanket for humans: the pressure is calming, grounding, reassuring. For many anxious dogs it makes a measurable difference.
For Huffle it does. Not a transformation - he does not become a different dog - but a noticeable settling. We put it on before we drive anywhere, and the difference between Thundershirt Huffle and non-Thundershirt Huffle in a moving van is real enough that we would never travel without it now.
It is particularly useful when we need to leave him briefly in the van - popping into a French supermarché, or a quick stop at a boulangerie. A dog left alone in an unfamiliar vehicle in an unfamiliar country can work itself into considerable anxiety. The Thundershirt, combined with the familiar smell of the van and his own bedding, keeps him settled in a way that straightforward reassurance alone does not quite manage.
Kettle & Keys tip: Put the Thundershirt on at home before your first trip, so it is not associated only with departure. Give it a few weeks to work. It is not magic, but it is genuinely useful. Start well before the trip date. [LINK]
The harness and seatbelt attachment - for travel and for walks
Huffle travels in a harness as well as his collar. The collar stays on at all times - it carries his identity tag and the tracker. But for travel, it is the harness that matters legally and practically.
The harness clips to the seatbelt anchor point via a short seatbelt attachment. This distributes any force across his chest and shoulders rather than his neck - important both in the event of sudden braking and for a dog who pulls with enthusiasm, which Huffle does whenever something sufficiently interesting appears. It keeps him safe and it keeps you legal.
For walks in France specifically, a well-fitting harness with a handle at the back is invaluable - the ability to lift or guide a dog quickly in a traffic situation, on a narrow French village pavement, or past something that has caught his interest in an unhelpful way is something you will use more than you expect.
The ATUVOS AirTag tracker - because dogs make independent decisions
We have written about this elsewhere but it bears repeating in the context of travelling with a dog specifically, because the stakes are higher when you are in an unfamiliar country.
Huffle wears an ATUVOS AirTag tracker on his collar at all times when we travel. It is small, lightweight, waterproof, and connects to the Find My app on iPhone so we can see his location at any time.
France is a wonderful country for dogs and the freedom is real – but freedom in an unfamiliar environment means a dog who catches a scent or spots something interesting can be fifty metres away before you have noticed. The tracker is the difference between a mild moment of concern and a genuinely frightening one.
We have used it once in a serious sense – he got distracted by something in the undergrowth on an evening walk and was gone for eight minutes that felt considerably longer. The tracker showed us exactly where he was. We found him sitting happily in a hedge investigating what turned out to be an extremely unbothered hedgehog.
Eight minutes. Felt like forty. Worth every penny.
Tails.com – food that comes from home (on UK trips)
We feed Huffle Tails.com food – a subscription service that formulates a specific recipe for your individual dog based on breed, age, weight, activity level and any sensitivities. The food arrives at home as part of a regular subscription, which means we always have a supply and always know exactly what he is eating and how much.
When we are travelling in the UK we always order enough Tails.com food before departure to cover the whole trip, packed in its original sealed tubs, and bring it in the van. It keeps well, takes up manageable storage space, and means Huffle eats exactly what he always eats.
You cannot take any types of dog food or dog treats containing meat or meat derivatives from the UK into any EU country. That is the rule and it is clear. We arrived in France without dog food, which Huffle treated as an opportunity to express his preferences about French supermarket alternatives clearly and at considerable length. He rejected four different options and held out, with impressive determination, for rotisserie chicken. We bought a lot of rotisserie chicken.
Kettle & Keys tip: Hopefully your dog will be more willing to eat French dog food than Huffle was. French supermarkets, especially those near the Channel ferry ports, are particularly well-equipped to cater to Brits. The practical solution is to find a French equivalent of your dog's food before you travel – check what's available at French supermarkets, and one option is to take a vegan dry dog food with you so your dog has something to eat until you arrive and can buy food at your destination. [LINK]
Non-slip bowls - the detail that sounds minor
A standard dog bowl on a van surface is a problem waiting to happen. The van moves, the surface is often smooth, and a bowl of water on an uneven pitch will slide, tip, and deposit itself on the floor. A non-slip bowl - rubberised base, weighted, designed to stay where you put it - solves this entirely.
We have one for water and one for food. Both stay put on the van floor regardless of what the pitch is doing. This sounds like a small detail until you have cleaned half a litre of water off the van floor at 7am, at which point it becomes a detail of some importance.
The Henry Wag drying bag - post-walk genius
France in January involves wet dogs. Not every day – the south was often glorious – but northern France, the motorway stops, the aires in the rain, the morning walks in damp grass: a wet dog in a small van is a particular kind of problem. Wet smell, wet bedding, wet everything.
The Henry Wag drying bag is the solution and it is a very good one. Huffle sits in the bag, we zip it up around him and velcro it at his neck, and the advanced microfibre does the work – absorbing water and lifting dirt from his coat far more effectively than a towel, and containing the moisture so it does not spread to every surface in the van. By the time we have driven five minutes to the next stop, he is dry. The bag itself dries quickly, washes at 30 degrees, and has survived everything we have asked of it.
The drying bag lives by the van door. Every wet walk ends with Huffle going straight in. The van interior stays dry. This is a genius product.
The extra-long lead and tie-out – freedom without anxiety
An extra-long dog tie-out cable – we attach ours to a D-ring near the side door – gives Huffle a meaningful radius of freedom when we are parked up at a campsite or aire without a fenced area. He can potter, investigate, occupy himself with whatever the immediate vicinity has to offer, while remaining safely within reach of the van.
For an anxious dog this is actually calming rather than restricting – he knows where the van is, he knows the boundary, and he can relax within it rather than being either confined inside or on a short lead that requires constant human attention.
The blanket burrito - unofficial but essential
This one is not a product. It is a technique, and we include it because it worked and because Huffle would want it documented.
For the first few days of our first trip, the combination of van noise, unfamiliar roads and general newness was enough to make Huffle anxious during driving. He could not settle. He panted. He sat on the map. He tried to sit on me. He expressed his feelings about the situation continuously and at some volume.
The solution, arrived at by necessity rather than research, was to wrap him in a fleece snugly – like a burrito, with only his head visible. The containment, the warmth, the physical contact and the familiar smell of the blanket combined to produce exactly the settling effect the Thundershirt produces but more so. He settled down on his beanbag, accepting his current situation.
We have not mentioned this technique to any professional canine behaviourist. We are confident it is completely fine. Huffle was settled and that is sufficient peer review for our purposes.
Grooming on the road - the TangleTease and dog shampoo
A TangleTease brush is the one grooming item we always pack. It’s a human hairbrush that works brilliantly on huffles slightly curly coat. It’s compact, effective, works on any coat type, and the difference between a brushed and an unbrushed dog in a small space is not inconsiderable. Three minutes every couple of days keeps Huffle's coat in good condition, removes debris from outdoor adventures, and has the secondary benefit of being something he actively enjoys - which makes it a pleasant shared activity on a quiet afternoon.
Dog shampoo lives in the van bathroom bag for the same reason that human shampoo does. Occasionally a dog needs washing, and a van trip provides frequent opportunities to need washing. A small bottle of gentle, natural dog shampoo takes up almost no space and has earned its keep on every trip.
Eco poo bags – because the places are beautiful and should stay that way
We use biodegradable, compostable poo bags. Standard plastic poo bags take decades to break down. Compostable alternatives take weeks. The cost difference is negligible. We buy them in bulk before every trip and they live in every jacket pocket, bag and accessible corner of the van.
France, pleasingly, is generally excellent about dog waste bins – almost every aire and campsite has them, and in towns they are reliably present. The French take their dogs everywhere and the infrastructure reflects this.
Tick remover, seat covers and the pressure sprayer
A tick remover lives in the dog kit at all times. In France particularly – in long grass, in woodland, after any walk that takes you through vegetation – ticks are a genuine risk to dogs. A proper tick remover takes seconds to use, removes the whole tick cleanly without squeezing the body, and costs almost nothing. It is one of those items you buy hoping never to use and are very glad to have when you do need it.
Towelling front seat covers. We resisted these for a while and then Huffle climbed into the front after a particularly enthusiastic encounter with a muddy field and that was the end of the resistance. They fit over the seats, they are warm in a way that synthetic covers are not, and they come off and wash easily. The upholstery underneath remains in tip top condition!
The AllWays multi-use pressure sprayer lives by the van door and is one of those things that sounds slightly unnecessary until you have used it. It is a small pump spray – fill it with water, pump to pressurise, and you have a gentle but effective stream for washing down Huffle's paws before he gets back in the van. Four muddy paws, thirty seconds, no fuss. Considerably more effective than attempting to wipe them down with a cloth while he is already halfway inside.
The admin folder - and the dedicated dog cupboard
A see-through plastic folder lives in the van passenger door with Huffle's paperwork in it. Animal Health Certificate, vaccination card from the vet, pet insurance details. All in one place, always findable, clearly visible if anyone needs to see them. At border crossings or campsite check-ins where the dog is asked about, everything is immediately to hand rather than buried in a bag or – worse – still at home on the kitchen table.
And a dedicated dog cupboard – or basket, depending on your van layout – where everything Huffle-related lives. Thundershirt, drying bag, tick remover, poo bags, treats, his brush, the pressure sprayer, the lead, the harness attachment, the tie-out cable. All in one place. When you are packing to leave or unpacking on arrival, you know where everything is and nothing gets left behind. It sounds obvious, but It took us longer than it should have to implement it.
The head torch by the lead - for the 2am wee
Dogs do not care what time it is. They need what they need when they need it, and on a pitch in rural France at 2am in the dark that means someone has to get up and take them out. The head torch lives on the hook next to the lead where it is immediately to hand in the dark without turning a light on and waking anyone else up. It is a hands-free light source, which matters when the other hand is holding the lead of an interested dog investigating the darkness at close range.
The honest summary
Travelling with a dog – especially an anxious one – requires more preparation than travelling without one, and it requires the right kit to make it comfortable for everyone. The Thundershirt for calm, the tracker for peace of mind, the non-slip bowls for practicality, the drying bag for the wet days, the extra-long lead and the D-ring, the fleece burrito blanket and the kid's beanbag.
None of it is complicated and all of it is worth having.
What Huffle gave us in return for all of this preparation was considerable: an excuse to walk every morning regardless of weather, a reason to stop somewhere beautiful rather than driving through it, a companion for every evening, and – on one particular night on a hillside near Saint-Tropez – a presence in the back of the van that made a wild camp feel like home.
He is an anxious, ridiculous, occasionally maddening, completely beloved dog. He has a name that I remain slightly embarrassed about. He goes everywhere with us.
We would love to hear any tips you have for travelling with a dog…
Huffle's kit list
Everything mentioned in this post, linked below.
The legal essentials
Dog harness (well-fitting, with back handle) For travel safety and for French village pavements. Must distribute force across chest, not neck. [LINK]
Seatbelt dog harness attachment Clips from harness to seatbelt anchor point. Legally required in UK and France. [LINK]
Animal Health Certificate (AHC) Required for every EU trip. Book the vet appointment well in advance. Not a product – link to gov.uk pet travel page. [LINK]
The anxiety kit
Thundershirt / Thundervest Calming pressure wrap. Measurably effective for Huffle. Put on at home first before using for travel. [LINK]
ATUVOS AirTag dog tracker Collar-mounted, lightweight, waterproof, Find My app. The item that will one day save you. [LINK]
Food and water
Tails.com dog food subscription Personalised recipe, sealed tubs, can bring from home. Take enough for the whole trip. UK trips only. [LINK]
Non-slip dog bowls (x2) One water, one food. They stay put. The floor stays dry. [LINK]
Natural low-calorie dog treats The currency of cooperation. Bring more than you think you need. UK trips only. [LINK]
The wet dog solution
Henry Wag microfibre drying bag Post-walk genius. In the bag, out dry. The van stays clean. Lives by the door. [LINK]
AllWays multi-use pressure sprayer Lives by the van door. Fill with water, pump, rinse four muddy paws in thirty seconds. [LINK]
Towelling front seat covers Warm, washable, dog-proof. The upholstery underneath stays clean. [LINK]
Comfort and freedom
Extra-long cable/lead and spiral stake Freedom within a safe radius at every pitch. Calming for an anxious dog. [LINK]
D-ring tether point for van For attaching the extra-long lead. Fits to a door frame or suitable anchor point. [LINK]
Children's beanbag (for between front seats) Between the front seats with his blanket. The perfect solution for us. [LINK]
Grooming and health
TangleTease brush Compact, effective on any coat. Three minutes every couple of days. He loves it. [LINK]
Natural dog shampoo (small bottle) Earns its place on every trip. Gentle ingredients, minimal space. [LINK]
Tick remover Removes the whole tick cleanly. Essential in France. Hope you never need it. [LINK]
Biodegradable poo bags (bulk) Because the places are beautiful and should stay that way. [LINK]
The admin and organisation
See-through document folder AHC, vet vaccination card, pet insurance. All in one place. Always findable. [LINK]
Dedicated dog cupboard or basket Everything Huffle-related in one place. Nothing gets left behind. [LINK]
Head torch (kept by the lead hook) Hands-free, immediately to hand, for the 2am dog trip. Next to the lead. Always. [LINK]
Kate, Charlie, Huffle & Brigitte
Kettle & Keys
comfort, wherever you park up.
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