Hotmail
Messenger
My MSN
MSN Directory
Travel with your four-legged friend
Companies listening to dog lovers and offering more pet travel options
 Orient Express Images / AP A dog stays as a guest in the Charleston Place Hotel in Charleston, S.C. |
Your weather |
Click to see the weather outlook for your destination |  |
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Many travelers will tell you it can be doggone hard to make arrangements when you have a pet in tow - worrying about everything from finding dog-friendly hotels to activities for canines while on the go.
From plush hotels to, well, ruffing it at campgrounds, the travel industry has more options available for people traveling with their four-legged friends.
Now from the French Alps to the New York Catskills and the California wine country, companies are offering tours where dogs are welcome and arrangements for man and beast are all made ahead of time.
Linda Lombardi of Silver Spring, Md., a zookeeper at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., always travels with Lilly, her pug. Generally, that means vacationing with her husband and Lilly at the Delaware shore where the dog has been welcomed in the past.
"We go to Rehoboth Beach because there is a hotel there that takes dogs," she said, adding dog owners quickly learn not only where they are welcome, but where they are not.
"We know beaches where you can't even carry your dog in your arms on the boardwalk," she said. "I don't know if they have roving bands of people throwing their Chihuahuas at people or what."
"A lot of times, people travel with their dogs because they don't see the dog often enough during the time they are working," said Tara Kain. She and her husband, Len, operate DogFriendly.com and publish a guidebook of hotels and attractions in North America that welcome dogs.
In the eight years the couple has operated the Web site, more hotels have started accepting dogs, she said. Some even cater to pampered pooches.
According to the Travel Industry Association of America, more than 29 million Americans took trips of more than 50 miles with their pets during the past three years.
Almost 80 percent of those travelers took dogs. About 15 percent took cats, while the rest took birds, ferrets, rabbits or that quietest traveler of all, fish.
Summer destinations message board |
Breakaway Adventures in Mount Pleasant, S.C., offers 210 tours in various parts of the world, including four dog walking tours through France. The options include a high Alps tour, recommended for hardier hounds.
The company has been operating for almost a decade and decided to include dogs because of numerous requests.
"France is very dog-friendly," said Carol Keskitalo, who with her husband, Michael Carson, runs Breakaway. "All our trips are to undiscovered Europe - small hotels with lots of family rooms. When you go to France you'll see a couple of dogs in every lobby, just lounging around."
Owners, however, need to provide food for their pets, usually purchased when they arrive.
"That's better when you think about it because people know their own dogs," Carson said. "A French dog might like foie gras, I don't know."
At the upscale Charleston Place Hotel in Charleston, S.C., visiting pooches are pampered with special dog dishes, snacks and pet sitters. They sleep in designer pet beds that cost more than $350, and there are signs for the rooms reading VIP - Very Important Pet in residence.
Nearby, well-behaved pets are welcome to wander along with their owners on walking tours offered by Tour Charleston LLC.
The company's Web site has photos and a link to e-mail Jane Dog, the 12-year-old English springer spaniel whose human is company owner Julian Buxton.
| Rate this story | Low | High |
MORE FROM FAMILY |
 Family Section Front |
| Add Family headlines to your news reader: |
Sponsored links
Resource guide