With the pet industry growing by more than 18 percent each year, Northeast Ohio's new phone book-style directory may soon be your answer to barking up the right tree.

Owner and publisher Brenda Bals launched The Ohio Pet Directory -- a free, semi-annual publication -- in January, and plans to expand to Columbus in May.

The product, full-color and glossy, includes contact information and Web sites for all sorts of pet-related services in our region, as well educational editorial information.

Distribution sites for the first 25,000 copies include veterinary offices, pet stores, dog daycare and training facilities, pet shelters and rescue groups, coffee shops and pet-friendly apartment complexes and senior living communities in Lake, Geauga, Cuyahoga, Summit, Stark, Medina and Lorain, according to the Web site.

Bals also publishes and edits The Cleveland Canine, a three-year-old bi-monthly magazine for "People with a Passion for Pups." For more information on The Ohio Pet Directory, call 440-937-4444.

-- Sandra M. Klepach, SKlepach@News-Herald.com