ANIMAL SHELTER

With a little digging, you can find pet-friendly vacation lodgings

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Former Pittsburgh resident David Elliot Cohen did a lot of planning before he set out to drive with his 13-year-old yellow Labrador retriever from the family’s home in California to their new home in New York City.

In mapping out the nearly 3,300-mile cross-country route, Mr. Cohen scheduled stops at interesting and quirky places, including the world’s tallest thermometer (134 feet in Baker, Calif.); Elvis Presley’s Graceland home (in Memphis, Tenn.); and the Pittsburgh homes of his parents, Norman and Hannah Cohen, and his brother, Dan Cohen, a former Pittsburgh city councilman.

But at his first overnight stop, Mr. Cohen realized he had made a huge tactical error by failing to line up pet-friendly lodgings. At five upscale Las Vegas hotels, he was told that Simba, the lab, was not welcome.

In 2014, 37 percent of travelers took their dogs along on road trips, according to a report from the American Pet Products Association. That’s nearly double the 19 percent who traveled with dogs back in 2006.

Many hotels, motels, apartments and other lodgings, including Airbnb, are stepping up to meet the growing demand. But still travelers must do their homework. Even those lodgings that do welcome pets have restrictions, such as one with a 50-pound weight limit for pets that kept out the 85-pound Simba.

Mr. Cohen found help at the website BringFido.com, which steered him to the Vdara Hotel and Spa in Las Vegas. He also discovered throughout his trip that Hampton Inn by Hilton, a relatively inexpensive chain of hotels, “seemed to welcome canine companions, regardless of weight’’ at most of its locations.

Mr. Cohen shared pet travel tips and charming anecdotes in his memoir-style book, “The Wrong Dog,” published this year by Yellow Pear Press. He is the