14th annual Dog Days of Glendale has a new location | Features

Residents are welcome to bring their four-legged furry friends to the upcoming 14th annual Dog Days of Glendale. 

“Dog Days of Glendale is a community event where we invite two-legged people to bring their four-legged furry best friends to hang out, discover pet-related merchandise, pet-related service and meet dog rescues and other organizations that have a passion for animals,” said Linda Moran-Whittley, co-chairperson of the event. 

The event will take place from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, at a new location for the event in Downtown Glendale at Glendale Landmark School. 

According to Moran-Whittley, the event was started as a way to bring an event to historic Downtown Glendale in a month where there wasn’t anything going on. So, Moran-Whittley and her fellow co-chair came up with the idea to invite people to bring their dogs to an event with the mission of experiencing Downtown Glendale and discovering all the businesses it encompasses. 

The Dog Days of Glendale’s top dog sponsors include the Glendale Chamber of Commerce, Don Sanderson Ford and Bark Busters Phoenix, which is a dog training business. 

There will be a number of activities for dogs and their owners to take part in such as an agility course, demos, a coloring contest for kids and dog food trucks with one serving hot meals for dogs. 

“The event is going to be handing out a free candy bag, holders, dog poop bags and collapsible water dishes for dogs while supplies last,” Moran-Whittley said. “We are going to host two 501(c)(3) pet charities that you have an opportunity to make donations to or bring things on their wish list.” 

The two nonprofits are Animals and Humans in Disaster, Empty Pet Bowl Pantry and Companion Pets in Crisis, and attendees who are interested in donating off their wish list can find it on the Dog Days of Glendale website and social media pages. 

The event will also have over 50 vendors, as well as have a raffle table with prizes ranging from $5 to over $500. All of the proceeds from the raffle table will go to the two nonprofits. 

Moran-Whittley emphasized that the main difference the event will have this year is the new location, as well as the mobile gym that gives the dogs the opportunity to run on a treadmill with trained professionals. 

“It is still going to be the great event that people may have attended in the past,” Moran-Whittley said. “It’s a lot of fun, there’s a lot of animals, and it’s just a very good opportunity for people to get their animals out to socialize them.” 

The event does require that attendees follow the proper dog rules, including having them on a leash and picking up after them. 

The main importance of the event, Moran-Whittley stated, is to bring the community together to learn the best practices for the health and wellness of their animal in turn providing health and wellness to the owners. 

In addition to all the different activities and vendors for attendees, they will also have the chance to find their new forever friends. The event currently has six rescues who have signed up to attend the event and bring animals that can be adopted. Last year the event was able to find 23 dogs their forever home. 

Moran-Whittley hopes the event continues to grow and provide attendees with good information and good times. 

“We invite everyone to come and enjoy the day with other fellow animal lovers,” Moran-Whittley said.