Before I found DogFriendly.com, it had never occurred to me that there are motels that take dogs. I'd seen my share of tiny dogs in laptop bags while flying coach, but except for the occasional cabin in the woods, we had never really traveled with our English Mastiff. But a couple of years ago, we were planning a cross-country drive and we couldn't expect Sofa, our dog, to sleep in the car. DogFriendly.com was the perfect resource for traveling with a dog, particularly one as large as ours. The site lists dog-friendly hotels and motels for every state, and that's only the beginning.
A large portion of our trip was spent on I-80, a main corridor through the U.S. DogFriendly.com has a comprehensive list of dog-friendly destinations along I-80 all the way from New Jersey to California. The site has many such lists – five major interstates across the States, plus a guide to the Alaskan Highway that includes Montana, Alaska, and parts of Canada, plus guides to dog-friendly beaches and city destinations.
The most helpful for us, though, was simply the state-by-state list of motels. We weren't traveling for style but for speed, so we were more than happy to crash at La Quintas and Red Roof Inns along the way. Once we mapped out our route, I was able to click from DogFriendly.com directly to the motel sites to book our rooms.
Since our trip, I've noticed more and more pet-friendly travel guides online, like PetTravel.com, which includes information on international travel, and PetsWelcome.com, with a forum where registered users can swap travel information and advice. But while the new sites are no doubt filled with valuable information, I confess that DogFriendly.com will always have my heart.
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