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No clue on Antwerp, but loving Henry, very cute! Not sure if this is your first puppy, but you can now get the jabs done much earlier for the Pet Passport scheme. Edison had his rabies jab at three months old and is now able to get back into the UK (takes six months). At 9 months he's now calm enough to consider taking on holiday, so we will get him over to Europe soon.

Eurotunnel is dog-friendly and so are P and O on the Dover-Calais route. Belgium is very dog friendly, so you will be able to take him into hotels, pubs, restaurants and on beaches. Spaniels adore to swim!

If you plan on putting him in kennels when he's older for you to go on holiday rather than leave him with friends or family, I'd suggest putting him overnight when he's about four months old. That way, he'll just take it all in his stride and not be stressed when he goes in for longer. This has worked well with both of ours, who run into the kennels excitedly every time we need to drop them off. Enjoy Henry, it'll be amazing!

Thanks Julia - all very useful. I was thinking of asking a separate question about travelling with dogs, but you seem to have answered most of them! We're actually going to Ireland for a weekend when the puppy will be just under 4 months, so an unsuspecting member of the family will have him for 3 nights! Might have to do a trial run of one night then...

   I agree with Julia. I had two dogs for a long time, and travelled around the country and abroad often. Found a very nice kennels where the dogs went off for their own holiday when I was out of the country.They loved it, and were always full of beans when I picked them up. Like Julia, I started the younger dog at the kennels as soon as she was old enough (once the dog has had its inoculations the kennels will accept it). That was in the pre-pet passport days; it's great that you can now take animals abroad!
   In the UK I always took the dogs with me, and stayed in hotels where pets were accepted. On occasion they stayed overnight in the car (with plenty of water and air, of course) where they were very happy -- it was a bit like a mobile kennel for them (I had a Range Rover, then an estate car, so there was plenty of room). When/if Jamie and I ever settle down on land, I have a feeling it'll be with our own pet zoo. :-)
   Big squeeze to Little H.

Sophie, don't worry about leaving him for a few nights with family, but just try to recreate his space at home - same bed, same toys, same food, same food bowl, that kind of thing. Leaving whatever youve been given with his Mummy's scent and also something with yours on too will help. Just like a human baby, have a routine and make sure the rellies stick to it. With any luck, Henry won't even know you've gone! I left Einy at four months and went to Romania for four days. I missed him terribly but he coped fine!

Oh, and one more thing - pubs with rooms in this country are great with dogs as usually the dogs can eat with you in the bar. The Piddle Inn in Dorset gives Einy his own sausage every time.

Try out the pub, the Kulminator, it's been voted as the best beer bar in the world, it has an amazingly extensive beer menu, it also has aged beers, try an old "stille nacht" beer.

I don't have a dog.  I don't want a dog.  Ideally I don't want other people to have dogs either.
But as for Antwerp - have a wonderful time!  It has two of my favourite museums - the house where Rubens lived and painted; and the Plantin-Moretus Museum, a museum devoted to the history of printing which we thought might while away half an hour in a heavy downpour, and whence we chucked out at closing time four hours later.  The people watching from the cafe terraces beside the Grote Plats is top class, and the cuisine generally is Flemish, so apart from mayonnaise with the chips, excellent - try carbonnade.  And whether you intend to buy or not the diamond shops are worth an investiagtion.
If, that is, the beer festival leaves you any spare time!