If you've ever tried to travel with a large dog, you know the struggle. Most travel content is written for people with small dogs that fit under an airplane seat. But when your travel buddy is a 70-pound GSP/Lab mix named Ansel, the logistics are completely different. Which hotels actually allow large dogs without surprise fees? Which airlines let you bring a big dog, and what does that process look like? What destinations are genuinely dog-friendly and not just "dog-tolerant"? I couldn't find good answers to these questions, so I decided to write them myself.
That's how ThePointsPup was born — a travel blog focused on two things: traveling with large dogs and traveling for free using credit card points. It's a niche that barely exists online, and that's exactly why I wanted to fill it. I've been using credit card rewards to book hotels for years, and combining that knowledge with real-world experience traveling with a big dog felt like the perfect content combination.
The blog covers hotel pet policies for major chains like Hilton, IHG, Marriott, Hyatt, and Kimpton — with a focus on what actually matters for large dog owners: weight limits, breed restrictions, pet fees, and whether the staff actually makes you feel welcome. I also cover airline pet policies, dog-friendly destination guides, credit card strategy breakdowns, and trip reports from my own travels with Ansel.
On the technical side, the site is built with Hugo, a static site generator that's incredibly fast and well-suited for content-heavy blogs. I chose Hugo over a heavier CMS because I wanted full control over the site structure, blazing-fast page loads, and minimal hosting costs. The site is lightweight, loads quickly, and that matters a lot for SEO.
Speaking of SEO — that's the real experiment here. Beyond creating useful content, I'm using ThePointsPup as a hands-on learning lab for search engine optimization. I'm testing different strategies to understand what actually drives organic traffic: keyword research and targeting, on-page optimization, internal linking structures, schema markup, and content formatting that ranks. Every post is an opportunity to test a hypothesis and see what Google rewards.
The goal is to build enough organic traffic to eventually work with affiliate partners — credit card referral programs, pet travel gear brands, hotel booking platforms, and other companies that align with the blog's audience. It's a long game, but that's the point. I'm not trying to get rich quick; I'm trying to build something sustainable that generates passive income while genuinely helping people.
What I love about this project is that it sits at the intersection of my technical skills and personal interests. I'm not just writing blog posts — I'm building a brand, learning digital marketing, understanding analytics, and developing an entrepreneurial mindset that makes me a better engineer. The SEO skills I'm picking up translate directly to understanding how users find and interact with web products. The analytics work mirrors the data-driven approach I use in my day job. And the content creation process has sharpened my ability to communicate complex topics clearly.
It's also taught me patience. SEO traffic doesn't happen overnight. You publish, you optimize, you wait, you analyze, and you iterate. Sound familiar? It's basically the same feedback loop as software development, just with Google's algorithm instead of a compiler.
ThePointsPup is still under construction and growing, but it represents something important to me: the ability to identify a problem, build a solution, and put it out into the world. Whether it's a microservice at CSX or a blog post about pet-friendly hotels in Savannah, the core skill is the same — solving real problems for real people.
If you travel with a large dog or want to learn how to travel for free with credit card points, check it out at thepointspup.com. And if you're a brand looking to reach dog-loving travelers, let's talk.