Two years ago the tourism team at Pembrokeshire County Council teamed up with their dog warden colleagues to produce a visitors guide for dogs, or rather for their owners.
Dog fouling and the potential for conflict between dogs and children on popular bathing beaches is a real problem for Pembrokeshire, but the county is also a great place to bring dogs on holiday.
Dog owners throughout the UK do not like to leave their pets in kennels and they do not travel abroad with them. As there are an estimated 6.5 million dogs owned in the UK, attracting canine customers represents a significant potential market for tourism businesses.
This was an opportunity that was too good to miss, especially as very few rival destinations pay any attention to this lucrative market niche at all.
The solution was to produce a guide that not only encouraged people to bring their dogs to Pembrokeshire on holiday, but to be responsible dog owners as well: to encourage them to tidy up after their dogs and to avoid the busy bathing beaches in favour of wilder and less populated areas.
As the first booklet produced by the council seemed to be popular with both dog owners and tourism operators, a second, more ambitious booklet was produced along with a web site; http://www.petsonholiday.com">www.petsonholiday.com
Since producing this second edition, the council has been receiving numerous letters of thanks from grateful dog owners like Sue Pritchard, who commented: "How fantastic are you! You are the only council who make planning to take your dog on holiday easy. Well done and keep leading the way."
She runs a website of her own, devoted to border terriers.
Another visitor, Phill Wagg, said: "Pembrokeshire has got it right. There are some beaches that are family only - and rightly so, but it was great to find beaches which did allow dogs."
One visitor, Mrs. Cross from Yorkshire, wrote: "We found the booklets published by Pembrokeshire County Council excellent, especially the one entitled 'Holidays with your Best Friend'."
She added that she spent a wonderful week in Pembrokeshire and that "it was the first time we had visited the area, and it certainly won't be the last."
Alan Turner, tourism marketing and development manager at Pembrokeshire County Council, said: "The guide for dog owners seems to have been very well received by potential visitors whose life revolves around their dogs - their best friends.
"The booklet and the website are very inexpensive ways of tapping a ready market and also for passing on advice on responsible dog ownership."