Traveling to Italy with your dog

For travel within the EU, or from Northern Ireland under the same movement framework, the dog needs a microchip, or a clearly readable tattoo applied before 3 July 2011, a valid rabies vaccination and a recognised pet passport. The identification must predate the vaccination recorded for travel. The dog must be at least 12 weeks old for its primary vaccination; after that primary vaccination, wait at least 21 days before travel. With that passport, no rabies antibody titration or animal health certificate is required. When its owner lives outside the EU and the dog entered the EU with an EU animal health certificate, it may instead continue to another Member State under that certificate, without an EU pet passport, provided the authority at the travellers’ point of entry recorded its entry on the certificate; the certificate remains valid for six months from those checks, or until the rabies vaccination expires if that is sooner.

For entry into the EU, the dog must be identified by a microchip, or by a clearly readable tattoo applied before 3 July 2011, before the rabies vaccination recorded for travel. The dog must be at least 12 weeks old for its primary rabies vaccination. After a primary vaccination, wait at least 21 days before travel. No rabies antibody titration is required provided the dog travels directly from the listed country or territory where its owner habitually resides, or arrives after a stay exclusively in listed countries or territories (Annexes I and II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/636). If the journey passes through a country or territory that is not listed, the exemption applies only if the owner or an authorised person signs a declaration that the dog had no contact with animals susceptible to rabies and remained secured within the means of transport or within the perimeter of the international zone of the port or airport; otherwise the route for non-listed countries applies, titration included. An EU animal health certificate and the signed non-commercial declaration are required. The certificate must be completed and issued by an official veterinarian, or by an authorised veterinarian and then endorsed by the competent authority. For entry it is valid for 10 days from issue by the official veterinarian; a sea journey extends that period by the duration of the voyage. After the entry check it remains valid for onward travel within the EU for up to 6 months or until the rabies vaccination expires, whichever comes first.

For entry into the EU, the dog must be identified by a microchip, or by a clearly readable tattoo applied before 3 July 2011, before the rabies vaccination recorded for travel. The dog must be at least 12 weeks old for its primary rabies vaccination. After a primary vaccination, wait at least 21 days before travel. A rabies antibody titration is required. The sample must be taken at least 30 days after the primary vaccination, or during a current valid vaccination series, and at least 90 days before the animal health certificate is issued. The result must be at least 0.5 IU/ml in a designated laboratory. No repeat test is required while boosters remain continuous. An EU animal health certificate and the signed non-commercial declaration are required. The certificate must be completed and issued by an official veterinarian, or by an authorised veterinarian and then endorsed by the competent authority. For entry it is valid for 10 days from issue by the official veterinarian; a sea journey extends that period by the duration of the voyage. After the entry check it remains valid for onward travel within the EU for up to 6 months or until the rabies vaccination expires, whichever comes first.

After a short stay outside the EU, a dog habitually resident in the EU may re-enter with its EU pet passport alone only when the rabies vaccination completed before leaving the EU is still valid on the return date and the passport shows that the dog met the vaccination requirements before departure. If that stay was in a country or territory that is not listed (Annexes I and II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/636), the passport must also show a rabies antibody titration with a favourable result carried out before the dog left the EU; the 90-day wait then does not apply. Without that pre-departure titration the passport is not enough: the dog needs an EU animal health certificate and a titration whose sample was taken at least 90 days before the certificate is issued. If continued validity depends on a rabies booster administered outside the EU, the booster should be entered in Section V by an authorised veterinarian, endorsed in Section XI by the third country’s official veterinarian, and evidenced in the EU animal health certificate accompanying the dog. If the vaccination recorded before departure remains valid despite an additional booster abroad, confirm with the entry authority which record it will accept. Use an animal health certificate whenever the passport does not establish the pre-departure conditions. This route is for a short stay, not a change of habitual residence, and an EU passport issued to an owner resident in Great Britain is not valid for this entry.