Where do your clients get their online pet information & is it a reputable source?
Have you heard of the Australian Dog Lover website and digital magazine? It’s grown exponentially since its inception in October 2015 with over 845 articles on a wide range of dog-related topics.
Why am I asking you this, I hear you say? After all, you’re already experts in the area of dogs and so this website is probably not aimed at you – and you’d be right.
It is however firmly aimed at your clients.
Australian Dog Lover is aiming to play a more significant role in shaping attitudes and influencing policies about pet ownership AND as already mentioned, it’s growing at an exponential rate, receiving up to 500,000 page views each month.
And this is where you come into the picture.
Contributing to the Australian Dog Lover website or their free monthly magazine offers an excellent opportunity to share your knowledge and views with the wider community and we all know that the more useful, factual, educational information about pet ownership published on the internet, the better.
To find out more about Australian Dog Lover I’ve asked founder and publisher Agnes Beugnon a few questions…
1. What’s the Australian Dog Lover website all about and why did you start it?
Australian Dog Lover was launched in October 2015 after we adopted Aramis from Monika’s Doggie Rescue on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. She was our second rescue Belgian Malinois joining her brother Porthos (adopted in March 2014) and our older Belgian Tervueren Conner (2007).
Both Malinois being only 2 years old, they were high-energy dogs so working full-time in a corporate environment and away from home for 10-11 hours leaving them home alone was no longer an option and I had to reinvent a new career to fit around our dogs’ needs!
After being a fur mum for 10 years, I felt I could not find the information I was after when it came to our own Dog’s Health (our senior dog suffers from occasional epileptic fits and thunderstorm phobia), Nutrition, Behavioural Issues etc. I was shocked by how much basic information I did not know (such as onions or sultanas being toxic not to mention half the plants in our own garden) and surprised by how much I wanted to find out.
Looking after our 3 dogs is proving a constant source of inspiration to explore various topics, so why not share this information in an easy-to-read, visually appealing format that anyone could access for free?
Aramis, Porthos & Conner
Increasing Australian content for pet owners
Most articles I came across were US-based with the majority of product suggestions or providers simply not relevant to an Australian audience or written by companies with an agenda and products to sell! The alternative was to purchase magazines, but the information was often out of date and products were mostly mentioned only when the companies advertised which did not offer a lot of choices as a reader!
One thing many publishers had in common was to not offer any editorial opportunities for companies unless they advertised so I set out to shake up the pet industry a little which I’m sure has rattled a few cages …
Promoting responsible pet ownership
The website was initially set up as an experiment to promote responsible dog ownership (this means encouraging people to adopt whenever possible) as I was shocked to learn that 200,000 dogs and cats were euthanised in Australia every year.
We also encourage living an active lifestyle with your dogs, whether it’s taking them to new places every week, on holidays or taking up a dog sport!
We’ve grown very quickly and I hope we can start playing a more significant role in shaping attitudes and influencing policies – whether it’s broadcasting urgent product safety recalls, seeing dogs allowed in more public places including our transport system as is commonly the case overseas or older Australian allowed to keep their beloved pets in aged care facilities etc.)
2. Tell us a bit about yourself – how did you come up with the idea?
Australian Dog Lover attempts to cover as many dog-related issues as possible including:
- Health & Nutrition,
- Behaviour & Training,
- The latest Dog Events, Courses & Seminars across Australia,
- The latest Products and Services for dog owners (we review some occasionally if we feel they’d be a great fit for our audience),
- Lifestyle Advice (Dog-Friendly Places, Dog Sports, Accessories),
- Dog Hero & Rescue stories,
- Seasonal Gift Guides to spoil both pooches and their owners etc.
We often publish 20 to 25 posts on the website in any given month with only the most popular stories selected for publication in our monthly digital magazine along with regular sections (Product Review, Dog Lovers Book Club, Upcoming Events). This publication currently reaches 5,800+ subscribers across the wider pet industry as well as dog owners.
Australian Dog Lover Digital Magazine July 2018 Issue No 35
For our Dog Health stories, we collaborate regularly with veterinarians and vet behaviourists who provide their expert advice based on the latest science illustrated with some of their case studies to educate our highly engaged audience.
There’s a big difference between being a passive dog owner and a passionate dog lover whose dogs are integral members of the family.
Educating dog owners about prevention, and being aware of signs and symptoms of common ailments could potentially save many dogs’ lives and prompt owners to visit their vet much sooner rather than relying on online forums or their friends’ advice.
3. Your audience is obviously pet owners and our Community work in the veterinary industry – why & how do you think we can work together?
I have come across some fantastic educational health stories on a number of vets’ websites unfortunately not many dog owners (even your most loyal customers) will ever look them up and even less visit them regularly. It seems a shame seeing such valuable resources that could be useful to all dog owners across Australia (and beyond) being read by only a handful of people.
For those vets, vet behaviourists and dog trainers that contribute to our website/magazine, this is an opportunity to share their knowledge and views to educate a wider audience which I feel would make their job(s) a lot easier at times and they also get to promote their practice via a detailed bio and link in the story.
Interested contributors are more than welcome to reach out directly to publisher@australiandoglover.com with their feedback on current articles or suggestions for future stories.
Any questions for Agnes about Australian Dog Lover? Ask them in the Comments section below…
Thank you for sharing such a fantastic site. I read all the blogs on their website which helped with various things. I recently read one and then bought the product suggested and my dogs loved it.