If a vet classes her as a pit bull then she can’t be brought into France. Sorry. The best thing to do would be to make contact with a French vet, perhaps in the place you are thinking of moving to and ask if it would be possible to make a judgement of her ‘type’ at a distance from photos/videos. And get that in writing.
Here’s the official lines:
Having rescued a Rottweiler during the ‘devil dog’ hysteria in the UK I can assure you that dogs aren’t born vicious or dangerous, its the way their owners treat them and train them.
I have been bitten by a dog once in my life, that was a jack russell
Nick, she is absolutely gorgeous and if I could shake your hand (or give you a hug - that’s more me) for giving her a loving family, I would. It’s difficult to tell but she looks quite a small build. A lot of the classification is based on height and skull measurements. What breed has been put on her passport? If she’s small / not muscle bound, that may be accepted at face value. If it mentions Staff mix, there could be an outright refusal to let her in. It’s complicated.
Thank you Valerie. We haven’t done her passport yet - right now on the US documents it says Whippet mix. We’re obviously nervous of packing up our lives to the point of no return only to find out she can’t get in! I do like the earlier suggestion of speaking to a French vet. She weighs 50 lbs and as you say we are just worried that some skull or features may tip the balance against her.
So she’s a good size. Nick, do you have time before any move to get a DNA test done to determine what she’s ‘made’ of? If it comes back eg whippet boxer cross, get the vet to put that on the passport plus you’ll have the paperwork to back it up. If it comes back with a Staff component, you’ll be relying purely on the good graces of a vet / French authorities who may agree - if they check - that at her age she’s definitely a family pet, unable to and therefore not for any type of breeding purposes.
A vet with Skype, Zoom or Facetime, even better
On a more personal note, about “dangerous breeds”, what I’ve found, working in peoples houses, is that any dog is capable of striking out, so to speak.
We have two Weimaraner/Poodles crosses, sisters, had them for just over 2years, recently spayed. Best of friends. Until yesterday, when one attacked the other, for no obvious reason, and it was not nice.
Once, when I was servicing someone’s gas fire. A greyhound(who had seen me before) jumped off the settee and bit my arm. I hadn’t even moved when that happened, a complete shock and it bloody hurt. So who knows what’s going on in a dogs mind, they can all get funny, big ones and little ones.