Billing itself as a site for "all things cool and canine,"
DogWonderful.com makes it easier for people to travel without leaving their dogs behind. The site offers hotel deals, listings of dog-friendly accommodations, and handy tips for traveling with dogs.
The pet travel site is the creation of Teresa Matsui Sanders, founder of a hospitality management and consulting firm, InnWorks.
After the economic downturn in 2009, and battling breast cancer twice within a year, Sanders was looking for a fresh start and different consulting opportunities. She did some work for an online publisher and learned about monetizing websites, but wasn't sure what to do with the knowledge until her beloved dog, Kendall, died at the end of June.
"The day after she died, I had the inspiration to do a website about dogs and travel," she says. "From my experience in the hospitality industry, I knew there were databases and booking engines that could give dog owners access to thousands of hotels."
Sanders hopes to steadily boost visitor numbers and have DogWonderful.com become a major destination site for people who want to travel with their animal companions. Part of the site's revenue is donated to dog-focused charities like
NEADS, an organization that trains hearing dogs by using prisoners and combat veterans as trainers.
The site launched in late October, on a day that would have been Kendall's 17th birthday, Sanders notes. "Dogs just become such a huge part of your life, and what I've found from working on this site is how much people want to share their love of dogs. It's been amazing."
Source: Teresa Matsui Sanders, DogWonderful.com
Writer: Elizabeth Millard