Travelling abroad with dog (not the owner)
We have a Golden Retriever, and my brother in law has asked to take him for a walking holiday. He often takes him to visit the Lakes, etc, so we're not concerned about his ability to care for him. Our dog loves walking with him.
He's visiting France. We know about all of the requirements in terms of the certificate, rabies vaccine, etc, but I think the idea of an animal travelling is usually that it will be travelling with the registered owner. This will not be the case.
BIL has suggested a change of ownership on the Microchip, on a temporary basis, just to avoid any confusion/issues during the boarder checks. His plan is that he will take our dog to the vets for the certificate and add his details, then we will provide a letter.
There are no issues around trust, etc. He isn't going to steal our dog, he'll transfer ownership back immediately, but I'm just not totally comfortable with the idea of transferring ownership.
Does anybody know if it's possible for somebody to travel abroad with a pet, and not be the legal owner? I'm happy to write and sign a document to say we give full permission for our dog to be taken out of the country with this person.
Our vet seemed to think it would be fine, providing my BIL is there when the certificate is applied for, but he also said they haven't dealt with issuing a cert without the owner travelling.
It's a bit of a complicated one - any ideas? Anything else to consider?