Meet the Pack
FIDO Friendly Magazine
Perhaps you can do without our magazine, but for kibbles’ sake, think of your dog!
At last, a voice for the traveling canines of the world. Until now, few have taken pooches on-the-go seriously. After all, who appreciates warm shelter and a comfy bed more than a dog?
Your call for help has been answered with FIDO Friendly, The Travel & Lifestyle Magazine For You & Your Dog, a complete guide to Fido-friendly accommodations across the United States and Canada.
We know it’s your life’s goal to put a smile on your pet’s face, and in these pages you’ll find everything you need to do just that. If Fido’s not happy, ain’t nobody happy. So dig in and find out for yourself, what an incredible and fun resource FIDO Friendly, The Travel & Lifestyle Magazine For You & Your Dog can be.
“FIDO Friendly is the only magazine dedicated to the travel lifestyle of man’s best friend, and the one magazine your dog will thank you for.”SM
THE PACK
Susan Sims, Publisher, and Greg Sims, COO
Junior is the Will Rogers of the Canine set. He has never met a dog he did not like. Since we travel extensively with Junior sniffing out hotels for purpose of review, we have many opportunities to meet and greet the dog-loving community. Junior never fails to break the ice wherever we go. Everything Junior does is adorable, but the cutest thing about him is that he sounds exactly like Chewbacca from Star Wars when he chews his Nylabone.
Nicholas Sveslosky, Editor-in-Chief/CEO
Our lives can revolve around our dogs. Mine revolves around my beautiful black dog, Tasha. True to the slogan of Leave No Dog Behind®, anywhere you see me you’ll see Tasha. Hiking seems to be our alone time, otherwise, we’re at the office with Tasha making sure everyone on the FF Team knows that she is in the room. If you have the right energy, she’ll end up in your lap and slip you the tongue as slyly as possible. Her enthusiasm is the motivation behind some of the great content pulsing through FIDO Friendly magazine.
Corey Olin, Creative Director
As a child, Corey Olin befriended a rescue Mutt—Spike—a known escape artist. Once the clever beast discovered that his back yard grew as he ran farther, Corey was in hot pursuit—chasing the white dog blindly from the highway to the lagoons and through prickly plants. Once the two returned home together, they both got the hose!
Carol Bryant, Editorial and Social Media/PR Director, Blogger
“It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog that comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be a dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they.”Dog Mom to: Dexter: Born 09/06/08; Lovebug Extraordinaire AND Brandy Noel: 10/17/93-10/11/08; Forever Mighty Dog.
Arden Moore, Editor-at-Large
With Chipper at 60 pounds and Cleo at 12, I feel I’ve got the best of all dog worlds – big and small. These second-chance rescues are now canine celebrities, making appearances on CNN, Fox and many other news programs with me. They live for long walks, road trips, gourmet treats and making sure I’m up by 6:15 every morning. Who needs an alarm clock? I’ve got the C&C team to jumpstart my day!
Michael Gray Frick, Copy Editor
Michael Gray Frick has been in the publishing business since
1985, working as editor, writer, art director, and production manager for several notable publications and publishers, including Men’s Health
magazine, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Ziff Davis Publishing, New Times inc., and Texas Life magazine. He has also worked as a Grand Canyon backcountry guide, a boatman on the Colorado River, a painter of portraits, and an artillery expert in the U.S. Army. Michael has owned exactly ten dogs in his life, including Bunky, Todd, She-ra, and Sam. Michael currently lives in a rustic cabin on the Stilley Ranch, in
Flagstaff, Arizona along with his 13-year-old son, Austin.
Tiffany Keeth, Assistant to the Editor
You know how you always wonder if your dog will really step up to the plate in time of need. Like if your house was ever broken into, would he or she be loyal enough to defend you with their life? Mercury is my husband’s and my 90 pound baby who saved our home from invasion. It was about 4 AM one morning, and all of a sudden we heard this shattering crash! Mercury was a blinding blur – one second she was on our bed, the next she was gone. (Then, the third second she was back in our bedroom shaking in the corner. She certainly chased out that intrusive opossum, but I guess the opossum managed to chase her back to our room.) But she’s still our little hero!
Dave and Wendi Weidner, Director of Sales
Passionate about skiing, traveling, exploring, and life, the Weidners make their home with two much loved feline companions.
Gregg Boersma, Account Executive
Gregg is a dog lover and lives just outside of Annapolis, Maryland with his wife, Teresa. Gregg has many years of experience in ad sales with Outside, This Old House, Fast Company and Sail magazines. Their Husky-Golden Retriever mix, Mishka, recently crossed the forever bridge, so they are actively looking for the next love of their lives. When at home with free time you’re likely to find Gregg and Teresa working in the garden or outside doing one of many forms of recreation they enjoy (in-line skating, bike riding, hiking, golfing, sailing, or skiing).
Tammy Vohs, Account Executive
Tammy is an animal enthusiast who has spent most of her life caring for pets with her professional career in sales and marketing. She does a lot of volunteering and fostering with rescue groups and animal related organizations, owns a pet-sitting company, and writes articles on local pet-friendly places. When she is not working, she enjoys relaxing, traveling, site-seeing, dining out and shopping, especially when she can do these things with her pets. Tammy lives with her adorable 3 dogs and cat.
Holli Fedewa, Account Executive
Although she thinks she is a cat, Bailey dog has the soul and loyalty of a dog! She suffers from severe separation anxiety disorder, so we keep her close to our sides at all times. When she is not drowning the neighborhood kids with kisses and love, she is wrestling with the neighborhood hounds in the front yard. Much like Junior, she too has never met a dog she does not love, or for that matter, does not love her. After a long day of fun and play, she rests her head on my pillow, dreams of her bones and wakes us with kisses! In short, this is Bailey’s world, we just live in it!
Leslie Crane Rugg
Leslie Crane Rugg is a writer/editor/researcher. She has owned and edited two specialty dog magazines: The Collie Review and Rare Insight. She also has numerous publishing credits with AKC Gazette, AKC Family Dog, Dog & Kennel, Cat & Kitten and Bird Times. She has appeared in the Animal Planet special “Hollywood’s Top Dogs” as an expert on dogs and was a guest on the internet radio program Animal Talk Naturally, speaking about, “What is the Right Food for Our Pets?” In addition, she works with Robert Weatherwax and “Laddie”, the 9th generation Lassie.
Sheryl Matthys
Sheryl Matthys is The Dog Expert® and Founder of Leashes and Lovers—a dog lovers club to establish play dates, friendships or even love! As the Best Selling author of Leashes and Lovers, she has two young kids, a Greyhound and resides in NY. www.LeashesandLovers.com
Elizabeth Bublitz
Elizabeth Bublitz is the owner, author and creator of Colorado’s only pet-friendly landscape design/build company, Pawfriendly Landscapes, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2008. Pawfriendly Landscapes creates custom pet-friendly landscape designs nationally. You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter, and check out their website at www.pawfriendlylandscapes.com.
Penny Eims
is a freelance writer who shares her love of dogs with readers in her Dog-News-Examiner articles at Examiner.com. She is a German shepherd owner who has worked extensively with two prominent German Shepherd Rescue organizations in Washington State for several years—fostering, providing web content and counseling adopters about dog behavior.
Heather Larson
Heather Larson, a freelance writer and business journalist, frequently writes about dog-friendly lodging for FIDO Friendly. Her two assistants, a beagle and a collie, often dream about those same hotels. To read more about Heather’s writing endeavors, you can visit www.writemix.net and www.discoverwashingtonstate.com.
Eva Saks
Eva Saks, a graduate of Yale, Yale Law School and NYU Film School, has written for publications ranging from FIDO Friendly to Playboy to Raritan, as well as producing, writing and directing theater, film and TV (including Sesame Street, Disney, IFC and Discovery). Awards include a Student Academy Award, the WB Pictures Production Fund Award, the Caucus for TV Producers Award, and the Moviefone Award. She just finished Unbridled, a short documentary about horse rescue, and is developing a project about (as well as doing) dog rescue. She is collaborating with Leslie Rugg on articles and books, including The Dog Ate My Cookbook!, Tasty Meals You and Your Dog Can Share. Saks never travels without her beloved rescued Sheltie, Momo. For more info, e-mail nyevita@aol.com.
Lucy Postins
Lucy Postins is a companion animal nutritionist and founder of The Honest Kitchen, a natural pet food company in San Diego, CA. She is author of the pet food recipe book, Made out of Love: Meals to prepare for and sometimes share with your animal companion. More nutritional resources are available on www.thehonestkitchen.com.
Dr. Shawn Messonnier
Dr. Shawn Messonnier has developed a line of organic pet shampoos and ear wash for dogs and cats named Dr. Shawn’s Organics. www.petcarenaturally.com.
THE CONTRIBUTORS
Lorraine Chittock moved to Cairo, Egypt in 1991 to work for a magazine. During her seven years in Egypt she published books about her travels with 200 Camels, and another, Cats of Cairo, before moving to Kenya where a cat-like dog adopted her. Lorraine is currently traveling around the U.S. with her two African dogs while writing, On a Mission from Dog, a love story between herself and dogs set against a backdrop of walking through the wilds of Africa. She can be reached at: cats@camels.com.
Laurie Jacobsen is a writer in Northern California with a small business called Living Legends Ltd. She books nostalgic celebrities, many of whom are closely identified with dogs, at unique personal appearances. She has written and produced documentaries, television series and specials. A respected historian, she appears regularly in magazines, on radio and television, including: E!’s Mysteries and Scandals, CNN, Mike Wallace’s 20th Century, Art Bell, Entertainment Tonight, A&E, History Channel, Discovery Channel, AMC, Unsolved Mysteries, the Tom Snyder Show, KABC Radio, the BBC, National Geographic, L.A. Times, N.Y. Currently, she is working on two books. laurie.jakewithme@juno.com
Arden Moore has strong typing fingers. No wonder. In the past six years, she has written more than 15 books on cats and dogs and dozens of articles for countless national magazines on pets, human health, and golf. The editor of Catnip magazine and a former daily newspaper reporter, Arden is also a professional speaker, special correspondent for Animal Radio, and an associate member of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. She shares her Oceanside, CA home with dogs, Chipper and Cleo plus three dog-friendly cats, Dude, Callie, and Murphy. Contact her through her website: www.ardenmoore.com.
Micki Voisard writes for us from Tubac, AZ and gives cooking classes and seminars on home prepared meals for dogs. She has been speaking on health for dogs for 10 years and is an author, radio talk show host, journalist and dog artist. www.dogchefs.com
