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Leaving No Dog Behind with Fido Friendly
By
Jane Singleton
Some years ago Susan Sims decided to produce a monthly business newspaper in Irvine, California. At the time, she didn’t have experience in publishing or advertising, but being a true entrepreneur, Susan didn’t let that stop her. Equipped with her trademark of boundless enthusiasm, her newspaper became a rolling success.
Susan’s sons Nick and Scott were fairly young at the time and the perfect age to deliver the newspapers. “Something of that experience stayed with Nick,” Susan said. “He thought it was such a great thing that his Mom had started a newspaper. Years passed—and one summer day he approached me about starting a business together. At that time, I said no—it’s too much money, too much time, and it’s really hard. Nick said, ‘Well, we should be able to do something together.’”
Nick convinced Susan that a web site would be fun and that they should give it a shot, so the West Coast Visitors Guide was created. Subtly featured on the site was a tiny icon leading viewers to “fido friendly” accommodations. Susan and Nick both animal lovers felt it would be a good idea. Then after about six months Susan and Nick discovered that their “fido friendly” icon was getting a large amount of attention. “So that’s how the magazine idea came about,” Susan told us. “I now had the experience in marketing, publishing, and advertising and Nick had a business background from the University of California at Davis. We just sort of threw everything into the pot and took off with the idea.”
At that time, there weren’t any publications addressing traveling with pets even though the travel industry’s statistics reported that 14 percent of all U.S. adults (that’s 29.1 million adults!) shared the road and skies with their pets. Susan and Nick knew there was a viable market. The interest for information about pet friendly accommodations was universal from travelers who preferred roadside hotels and motels to the more seasoned jet setters and their owners staying at boutique hotels and resorts. It was then that Fido Friendly, the magazine, was born and began its mission of bringing the dog world and the travel world together.
One of the most valued perks of producing Fido Friendly is the mutually adoring relationship between the Sims and their girls, Zoey and Mattie. Both Zoey, a full-bred fox-red Lab, and Mattie, a chocolate Lab-mix, are star players in the Fido Friendly mission and are an integral part of the Fido Friendly founding team—they’ve been on-the-job since day one of the magazine. For years they had their own feature “On the Road Again with Zoey & Mattie.” And now, after six years of “very, very hard work” Fido Friendly’s founders are beginning to reap the rewards. With 44,000 in circulation, Fido Friendly can be found nationwide at Borders, Barnes & Noble, PetsMart and pet boutiques.
For Susan and husband, Greg, Zoey, and Mattie, the world has become their oyster shaped doggie bowl. To ensure 100% people and pet satisfaction for their readers, the foursome travel to hotels that bill themselves as pet-friendly and report on their adventures in Fido Friendly. Here’s an excerpt from a recent expedition to the Marcus Whitman Hotel in Walla Walla, Washington. Zoey serves as ‘spokesdog’ for this report.
My sister Mattie and I had been ensconced in our new home in Idaho along the Snake River for about three weeks and hadn’t seen much action…One day I heard Mom say, “We need a break. Let’s get out of here.” So off we drove on the four-hour trip to Walla Walla, Washington.
For those not familiar with us, Mattie and I are the Directors of Barketing for Fido Friendly magazine. It is our job to sniff out hotels for purpose of review. The job assignment for the next couple of days was the historic Marcus Whitman Hotel…
Our lavish Junior Suite was located on the first floor…Ease of access came from dual entrances—one outside entrance and one entrance from within the hotel. The outside entrance opened up to a large grassy area that included a doggy-bag station. This was such a great set-up…After several shopping experiences we traveled by car for a few minutes and enjoyed a splashing good time at Bennington Lake. A local advised that we were permitted off-leash as long as our folks had the leashes in-hand…We were allowed on the patio at Creek Town Café…
“It’s so much fun to take them to all these places. “We’re discovering new pet-friendly destinations all the time. In the Fall 2006 issue, we list the top-ten pet-friendly hotels to travel to when money is no object,” Susan said.
Susan also shared that the Fido Friendly team is “…getting ready to do a review trip to the Ritz Carlton in Bachelor Gulch, a ski resort in Colorado right outside of Vail.” Bachelor, the Ritz resident Lab, is the star of the Ritz Loan-A-Lab program. If you are traveling without your dog and you miss him, they will loan you a Lab to take out-and-about during your visit!
In keeping with the Sims family and the Fido Friendly motto: “No Dog Left Behind,” Nick Sveslosky, Susan’s son and Editor/CEO of Fido Friendly, never has to travel solo for he brings along Tasha, his young black Lab. They recently reviewed The Peaks Resort in Telluride, Colorado. Their room at The Peaks opened to a private patio that extended into a large grass/brick patio that was shared with seven other pet-friendly rooms. While Nick was away snowboarding, a pet concierge took Tasha out for a two-hour hike and playtime. The resort even had a pet masseur on staff and offers a pet-friendly gondola so you can take your dog to the top of the mountain with you.
Another big, pet-friendly, and Fido Friendly approved destination is The Cypress Inn in Carmel, California. The inn is owned by Doris Day and has accepted pets for years and years. They make sure to have anywhere from 300 to 400 copies of each issue of Fido Friendly to present to their customers who stay there with their pets. Nick, his wife Summer, and Tasha are looking forward to staying at the Cypress Inn for their review in the winter issue.
For the wide variety of topics Fido Friendly explores and the fantastic photography found in each issue, Susan said they are fortunate to have daily contacts from freelance writers and photographers who want to work with the magazine. “We practically reinvent ourselves with each issue because we are so open to ideas that our freelance photographers and writers bring to us.” In the winter issue – the feature story is about Midwest Airlines and their pet program. The cover shot is of two dogs checking in at a Midwest Airlines counter. “It’s just phenomenal,” Susan said. We welcome submissions and have an inquiry link on our web site, www.fidofriendly.com, for that purpose. We consider every submission and respond to each one.”
As far as the future for Susan, Nick, and their Labs, it sounds as if there are plenty of new and exciting journeys ahead. Currently, Susan has a six-month radio segment about pet travel on AnimalRadio.com, and she’s working with another radio station to hopefully have her own show about dog travel in the near future. With mom taking care of the airwaves, son Nick is busy cornering the T.V. market. A new reality show, Off the Leash, reveals the fur-flying inner-workings of a real-life pet talent agency. The agency approached Nick with the idea of a segment on what it takes to make the cover of an issue of Fido Friendly. The cover shot was to be a dog checking into a hotel, standing at the desk ringing the bell. Nick’s final furry choice graces the cover of the Fall 2006 issue of Fido Friendly. The episode will air on Lifetime television on October 9th. And finally in 2007, Fido Friendly will grow from a quarterly to a bi-monthly publication.
“We really love what we’re doing and we’re happy that people are finding out about us and discovering the many, many businesses that welcome the traveling family dog,” Susan said. “Our motto is, ‘Leave No Dog Behind.’ So we encourage people to travel and if you are new to traveling with your dog, make the first trip to some place close, and plan to never have to leave your dog in the room unattended; take him with you and he’ll love you for it.” Good tips for all of us Lab lovers, and there are plenty more to be found in each issue of Fido Friendly, so make sure to pick up a copy of your own soon or go online to subscribe at: www.fidofriendly.com.
Happy Traveling! 
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