SWITZERLAND | Travelling with a dog | How To + Tips
hey guys it’s Sara here and welcome back
to how to Switzerland in today’s video
we are going to be talking all about
having a dog and traveling with a dog
within Switzerland
so first I’m going to talk about owning
a dog in Switzerland overall I guess the
dog friendliness of Switzerland then I’m
gonna discuss it flying with a dog into
Switzerland and lastly we are actually
headed to Lucerne today so we’re going
about one hour away from where we live
in Zurich and I’m going to show you how
we bring Winston along he’s actually
down here right now but he’s sniffing
around so yeah we’re going to show you
how it is to take him on a tram a train
and a bus so let’s talk about dog
friendliness I find Switzerland to be an
extremely dog friendly country and we’re
we moved here from the United States
from the New York City area and in
comparison to that I find that people
here businesses here infrastructure here
is a lot more dog friendly so you can
bring your dog in Switzerland in most
shopping places with the exclusion of
places that sell food obviously but I
have seen some dogs in grocery stores
before in the owners cards or the owner
carrying them I personally wouldn’t do
it if you want to bring your dog
somewhere where they sell food
definitely ask before you do it it
shouldn’t be much of a problem but of
course you want to follow the rules and
make sure if there is a sign outside
that says no dogs that you listen to
that so another awesome thing about
Switzerland is they have these dog poop
bag stations all over the place of
course in the city they’re on it seems
like every single corner and also in the
middle of nowhere you’ll find these if
you’re up in the Alps in the middle of
nowhere they still have these dog poop
stations so they look like this and you
can take these bags obviously to pick up
your dog poop and throw them away right
here super convenient I think they
actually use these bags to make energy
somehow not exactly sure how that works
but Switzerland’s great at recycling so
I’m sure they’re doing something with it
another thing that I love is that you
can take your dogs on the grass here in
parks so I know this might sound funny
but when we were living in New York you
could not put your dogs on the grass
they had to be in a dedicated dog park
but here unless it is a park where
children play where there is a
playground you can take your dogs on
public grass on public you know areas
it’s not a problem but they do not
actually have dogs parks here the ones
that I know
from the US where you have a fenced-in
area where people let their dogs run
around they don’t exist here for some
reason so it is a little bit tougher to
socialize your dog in Switzerland
definitely keep that in mind if you’re
getting a puppy and you live here or
you’re bringing a puppy here you’re
going to need to find ways to socialize
your dog other than just dog parks
because there aren’t any so if you live
in Switzerland and you’re thinking about
getting a dog or if you’re bringing a
dog to Switzerland and you’re going to
live here you have to keep in mind that
dogs pay doggy tax so this depends where
you live I think in Bern I read it’s 115
Swiss francs per year in Zurich we paid
a little bit more than that but your
dogs have to pay tax cats do not other
small pets do not but dogs need to be
registered and they need to pay tax so
let’s talk about bringing your dog to
Switzerland from abroad I have a video
right here about flying with a dog into
Switzerland or with I don’t remember if
we were flying to Switzerland or from
Switzerland but anyways I have a video
where we show ourselves flying on Swiss
with Winston and we talked a little bit
about that but I’ll just touch on a few
points so if you are bringing a dog into
Switzerland or you’re getting a puppy in
Switzerland all dogs in Switzerland are
required to be microchipped it’s not
optional it is mandatory so if you’re
bringing your dog in from abroad they
will be checking that also if you want
to bring a dog into Switzerland from
another country you need to look at the
restricted breath’ list there are some
dog breeds that are completely not
allowed to be brought in to the country
so make sure you examine that super
carefully before you come here with your
dog
another thing that you need to know is
that Switzerland does not allow you to
bring dogs into the country that have
docked ears or tails I’m not exactly
sure why they have this law
luckily Winston did not have any of that
so it was no problem but if you have a
dog with a docked tail which is still
quite common with some breeds they might
not allow them in okay so the last thing
I want to talk about is taking your dog
on public transportation in Switzerland
so instead of explaining it we’re going
to show you because we’re about to jump
on a tram right away knee it
that’s it okay okay so we’re about to
hop in the tram and as far as we
researched you can correct me if I’m
wrong but it seems like as long as your
dog fits in a bag in a carrier you can
take them in local transportation
meaning buses and trams if they’re in a
carrier they’re just considered your
hand luggage and it’s totally free but
if they do not fit in a carrier then you
need to buy your dog a half fare ticket
so whatever it costs to go on the tram
there will be an option for half fare
and your dog if they’re on a leash if
they’re on the floor they’re gonna have
to pay that it is a little bit different
for train but we’ll talk about that when
we get to the train station but for now
he’s in his carrier and we’re ready to
go in the tram
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so we carrier that we have we actually
brought from the US we got on Amazon
only to down below but yeah actually
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okay we’re at the train station now I am
cold it is freezing I think you might be
able to see my breath so anyways if you
are taking a switch train with in
Switzerland so you are on the SBB going
from one Swiss city to another it will
be different if you’re going from a
Swiss city to another country these are
the rules so your dog will be free on an
SBB train with in Switzerland if they
are under 30 centimetres shoulder height
and in a bag those are the two
requirements under 30 centimetres and in
a bag they are considered is hand
luggage and they are free now this is
what we always do obviously we have a
tiny dog you guys have seen them but I
have to be honest I’ve never seen like a
conductor whip out a measuring stick and
measure somebody’s dog so if you are on
the border you know if your dog is
thirty and a half centimeters
don’t sweat it you should be fine just
make sure you’ve got them in a bag if
your dog is over 30 centimeters or small
but you want to have them on the floor
and you don’t want to put them in a bag
you need to get your dog a ticket so you
can buy them your normal route but at
half fare and that will cover the dog
other option if you’re doing a lot of
travelling in one day is to get your dog
dog day pass so again this is for dogs
over thirty centimetres not in a bag so
train coming in it’s quiet though I
think I could keep going 35 dollars will
get your dog unlimited travel all around
Switzerland for 24 hours so that is what
you’re looking at if you’ve got a
dog and you want to take them on a train
in a bus in a tram
35 bucks if you live here and you want
to take your dog with you everywhere for
the entire year I think it’s eight
hundred to eight hundred and twenty
Swiss francs per year and you can take
your dog everywhere and I should mention
I don’t think I mentioned this yet you
can also take your dogs on the boats so
we had Winston with us on a boat ride
recently it was no problem at all
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all right that is it we are in the Train
I have his bag right here I’m just gonna
let him sit on my lap for a little while
I don’t think they’re too picky about
having them in the bag the whole time
but I have right here so that is a –
guys we are about to head to Lucerne to
hang out with some family and check out
some of the Christmas lights we have
another video I’ll link it right here of
the Lucerne tour but for this video I’m
going to end it here so thank you so
much for watching I really hope you
enjoyed hanging out with us and learning
about traveling with your free children
in Switzerland so if you’re new around
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and ASEC see you guys very soon bye
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