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Who travels with their dog???

My name is Carol Bryant and I am the Social Media/PR Director as well as a writer/blogger for FIDO Friendly magazine.

I am wondering how many of you travel with dogs and enjoy it. Would love to interview you for the blog and hear your stories, positive and negative experiences, things you do along the way to make life easier.

Now in our 10th year, each bimonthly issue of FIDO Friendly includes hotel and destination reviews along with health and wellness topics, dog training advice and the latest fashion trends.

Thanks!

carol@fidofriendly.com

http://blog.fidofriendly.com

Views: 349

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jacy Meyer on June 16, 2010 at 11:02am

Hi Carol,

We travel all over the Czech Republic with our dog - it's an excellent country in which to own a pet!

Permalink Reply by Carol Bryant on June 16, 2010 at 11:21am

Jacy, I'd love to interview you about international travels like that with your dog for the blog.

Jacy Meyer said:

Hi Carol,

We travel all over the Czech Republic with our dog - it's an excellent country in which to own a pet!

Permalink Reply by Shelly Steig on June 16, 2010 at 11:31am

Hi Carol, I am a travel writer who does stories about traveling with pets quite frequently. We take our Giant Schnauzer, Kaiser, with us as we travel professionally. He weighs 125 pounds, so is bigger than most dogs you see in hotels! But he is an excellent traveling companion.

Permalink Reply by Joyce Copeland on June 16, 2010 at 11:58am

We love traveling with our three dogs if we are staying in a vacation rental. They are not good car travelers, so we have give them Valium for long trips. But, once they arrive they love exploring a new house and yard -- and if the beach is close, all the better!

Recently we moved from California to Tucson and made a nightmarish 2-day run down there with them. Nightmarish because we got a late start the first day when they were already freaked out by all the uproar. And the second was long -- 10 hours on the road.

But we stayed overnight at the Comfort Inn & Suites near Magic Mountain in LA and I highly, highly recommend it! They allow up to 3 dogs (no crate requirement) in the room, up to 50 pounds. We have one 50 pounds, one 40 pounds and one 20 pounds. They put us next to the exit to the pool, perfect for morning walks.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Codianne Fowler on June 16, 2010 at 12:52pm

Hi Carol, we love traveling with our two dogs, Sadie - the sweet English Springer Spaniel, and Mimi - the fiesty long-haired Chihuahua. Though some pet-friendly places have a weight limit less than our Sadie's 45 pounds, once she makes her acquaintance, innkeepers fall in love with her and welcome her warmly. Not all have the freedom to do so, for example, the Ritz-Carlton's corporate policy is to allow dogs under 30 pounds only; however for dogs that do qualify, the Ritz offers many amenities for dogs, including a spa!

Here are just a couple of stories I wrote about pet-friendly places:

This was published in Real Travel Adventures Magazine: Forgotten Florida

This is on the official Sarasota tourism website: Hot Dog Digs

and this one is not about traveling with dogs, but rather rescuing one, reprinted from Style Magazine in SW FL:
A Christmas Tail

The Christmas Tail story had a happy ending, but a sad (unpublished) postscript... Sara died a year later due to misdiagnosed heartworm disease. However, a week later, we found and rescued Sadie, another light of our lives! We consider Mimi a rescue as well, since her previous owners were feeding her McDonald's cheeseburgers at eight weeks old :0

My website lists pet-friendly hotels, and I just yesterday posted Pet Travel Tips from ASTA. Take a look if you get a moment: http://travelwithlisaonline.com

Thanks for the opportunity to share! Oh and re: fashion trends, little Mimi's got a cute wardrobe, but my husband refuses to allow me to dress Sadie in anything but bandanas. :)

Permalink Reply by Carol Bryant on June 16, 2010 at 1:19pm

Oooooh nice to see so many dog travelers! Would love to have you stop by the FIDO Friendly blog and I'd like to be in touch about interviewing many of you also. We've been around 10 years and have had great success because of folks who travel with their pooches. http://blog.fidofriendly.com

Oh and Lisa, tell Sadie she can come play dress up with us anytime ;hehe

Permalink Reply by Lisa Codianne Fowler on June 16, 2010 at 1:29pm

Thanks, Carol! Sadie may or may not enjoy modeling, but Mimi certainly does! I should mention that my site is not centered around pet-friendly travel. It's just one of my fave topics (and writing specialties) along with luxury and romance (why not?!). However, having your pooches travel with you IS a luxury, and can be romantic if you don't feel quite complete without them! Btw, I did peruse your blog and it is FANTASTIC.

Carol Bryant said:

Oooooh nice to see so many dog travelers! Would love to have you stop by the FIDO Friendly blog and I'd like to be in touch about interviewing many of you also. We've been around 10 years and have had great success because of folks who travel with their pooches. http://blog.fidofriendly.com

Oh and Lisa, tell Sadie she can come play dress up with us anytime ;hehe

Permalink Reply by Nan Devlin on July 21, 2010 at 6:30pm

I travel the Northwest U.S. with two golden retrievers. I'm continually pleased at how pet-friendly hotels roll out the doggy carpet, providing bed sheets, treats, poop bags, designated dooty areas, doggie parks and more.

Permalink Reply by Carol Bryant on July 21, 2010 at 6:40pm

Indeed! So many have changed and are realizing that people spend money on pets and people travel with pets. FIDO Friendly is the only magazine dedicated to the Travel & Lifestyle of man's best friend and according to APPA, spending on pets has increased from $34 billion in 2004 to $47.4 billion now, partly because people are spending more to travel with their pets. The Travel Industry Association of America says 78% of the pets taken on vacation are dogs, with cats coming in second at 15%.

Nan Devlin said:

I travel the Northwest U.S. with two golden retrievers. I'm continually pleased at how pet-friendly hotels roll out the doggy carpet, providing bed sheets, treats, poop bags, designated dooty areas, doggie parks and more.

Permalink Reply by Durant Imboden on July 24, 2010 at 11:20am

We took our dog to Venice, Italy for three months this year and expect to repeat the experience in 2011. The trip led to a "Maggie in Venice" blog (which is linked from our Veniceforvisitors.com travel-planning site), and as a result of the blog, we had quite a few British and American tourists approach us in Venice with questions or comments such as "Excuse me, is that Maggie?" and "It's the dog in the blog!" See:

http://maggieinvenice.com/

Permalink Reply by Durant Imboden on January 23, 2011 at 1:52pm

January, 2011 update:

Maggie is back in Venice after a quick, easy Delta-to-Air France connection at Paris CDG two weeks ago. "Maggie in Venice" dog blog posts about the trip (with pictures and a video) are at:

http://maggieinvenice.com/2011/01/maggie-arrives-at-the-campiello-a...

http://maggieinvenice.com/2011/01/flying-to-venice-with-a-ride-in-a...

We've already had one "Maggie sighting" by a British couple who were visiting Venice and recognized her from the blog:

http://maggieinvenice.com/2011/01/first-maggie-sighting-of-2011.html

Permalink Reply by Durant Imboden on July 26, 2010 at 3:07pm

Another thought on dog travel: We encountered a Beardie yesterday that was the spitting (or drooling) image of ours, but it was shy and a bit nervous, while ours is outgoing and unfazed by new experiences. If our dog were a nervous nellie instead of an adventurous gladhander, we might think twice about traveling with her.