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Dunedin Win Create Networking Site For Dog Lovers
Mark Schantz/SUNCOAST NEWS
Bree Cheatham, middle, and videographer Courtney King film Stephanie Thoreson at a recent Dunedin Dog Rescue event held at the Dunedin Brewery. Cheatham and King have created a social networking Web site for canine owners, the Dog Travel Network.
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Published: June 14, 2008
DUNEDIN - Rabbit owners have their own social networking Web site, BunSpace, to tout hare raising experiences and humans have MySpace or Facebook over which to interact.
Two local computer savvy women have created a social networking Web site for people who just can't leave their pooch home alone. It is called the Dog Travel Network.
The site's creators, Bree Cheatham and Courtney King, want to give dog fanciers an online community designed for them.
Visitors to the Web site can discuss pooch related topics and learn about dog friendly places, events and business. In addition, its Dog Travel Channel section lets dog owners post videos or photos of pets taken while traveling.
Their Internet site initially will focus on events, lodgings and restaurants in the United States and Canada with the help of a network of loyal dog owners furnishing grassroots information.
They envision the service will someday stretch worldwide, tapping on the huge community of dog owners.
Cheatham and King said they have always traveled with their dog, Makena, named after the Hawaiian beach. Sometimes they find it hard to find motels or places to eat that welcomes dogs.
Their Web site also caters to people who like to go places with their dog on a daily basis.
Along with dog friendly hotels and motels, the site lists dog friendly beaches, campgrounds, spas and resorts, dog-based gift shops, it can go on and on, she said.
Traveling to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with your dog? The Dog Travel channel can tell you what beach to visit, Cheatham said.
The community features a calendar of events around the country that welcome people and their pooches.
The site includes a dog friendly business and service directory.
The Dog Travel Channel gives dog owners a community in which to discuss canine related topics with other dog owners, King said.
They can post photos, make friends with other breed owners, relate the best places to which to travel with a pampered pooch, or discuss the good and bad of how dog owners are treated.
The site features canine health-care topics and lifestyle stories such as the best dog sitters or dog friendly shopping places.
Cheatham, a former Web site specialist for the city of Dunedin who left to design the new venture, said the idea is for the Web site to eventually support itself through advertising and business directory memberships.
It's not making any money now, Cheatham said, but someday it could be a lucrative canine equivalent of the MySpace social networking Web site. News Corp. bought the corporate parent of MySpace for $580 million in 2005.
It already has received visits from people throughout the U.S. and Canada.
The site can be accessed at www.dogtravelchannel or www.dogtravelnetwork.com>.
Mark Schantz can be reached at 727-815-1075 or mschantz@suncoastnews.com.
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