JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Looking to get some steps in with your dog while helping some local rescue groups? Well, you can come to Riverside Park on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. to "Strut Your Mutt."
Strut Your Mutt is a series of charity dog walks. They bring communities together to raise money and save the lives of homeless pets.
The walk is 1.33 miles long and starts at 10 a.m. Participants walk from Riverside Park, along College Street and then up Osceola Street.
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Best Friends Animal Society is running the event. Andie Peart works on the Best Friends Network Partners team.
"Best Friends was founded in 1984 and we're a national animal welfare organization and we provide support to shelters all across the country," Pert said. "The funds raised at Strut Your Mutt in Jacksonville will stay locally with the organizations who raise them in Jacksonville. And that helps support their programs and needs specific to that organization."
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One of those organizations is the Akita Rescue Society of Florida.
"There are 'bar none' rescues like Dorie's," Peart said. "She's a great person and takes great care of her dogs, and she's one of the Best Friends Network Partners."
Dorie Sparkman started rescuing Akitas in 1985. She had a rescue Akita and she was showing them competitively. But she didn't want to breed them, so she started saving them.
"We're one of the oldest breed rescues in Florida," Sparkman said.
The money raised from Strut Your Mutt will help with medical bills.
"All of our dogs are vetted, they receive their vaccines, they're spayed and neutered and they receive a preventative gastropexy," she said.
That's a surgical procedure to prevent Gastric Dilatation and Volvulus (GDV), commonly called torsion or bloat. It's a common Akita and large breed dog problem.
GDV is a life-threatening condition where the stomach flips or twists, trapping air and gases in the stomach. It's expensive, but Sparkman thinks it's worth it in order to make sure her dogs are happy and healthy. They are able to do it at the same time as the spay/neuter surgery.
Sparkman knows that just because a dog is cute and fluffy doesn't mean it's necessarily the right fit for everyone.
"They aren't the breed for everybody," she said. "They are a big powerful breed and often don't get along well with other animals unless they're well socialized as puppies. So we have to be very careful when selecting homes for them. But once you've owned an Akita if that is your cup of tea, You usually don't have anything else."
Annette Scruggs has been volunteering for six to seven years.
She helps walk and socialize the dogs. Scruggs started helping at the rescue after getting some Akitas of her own.
"My daughter and I had purchased a couple of Akita puppies and then we, later on, found out that they can be a challenge," she said. "And we found out about Dorie and brought our dogs to class, and just ended up volunteering here. Just love the Akita breed."
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"Every year about 733,000 animals are killed in America's shelters," Peart said. "Events like Strut your Mutt help people in their own community reduce that number and we are working to save them all and that means that every shelter in every community in America will be no-kill by 2025. "
When you fundraise, you choose where your support goes: to Best Friends Animal Society, or to your favorite participating local animal welfare organization.
Those organizations include:
- Akita Rescue Society of Florida, Inc.
- Clay Humane
- Epic Outreach
- Florida Urgent Rescue (FUR)
- Friends of Animals in Nassau
- Friends of Clay County Animals
- Friends of Jacksonville Animals, Inc.
- Jacksonville Humane Society
- Nassau Humane Society
- Pit Sisters TAILS
- SAFE Animal Shelter
- St. Philip Neri Animal Ministry
- The Old Dog House
All funds raised go directly to lifesaving programs, such as spay and neuter services, adoption events and more.
There will also be a lot of local vendors including:
- Therapy Animal Coalition
- Intracoastal West Veterinary Hospital
- Pawfection Bakery
- Topgolf
- Golden Dog Title & Trust
- AT&T
- HelloFresh
- VCA Animal Hospitals of Jacksonville, Fleming Island, & Ponte Vedra
- Beaches Jet Set Pets
- Camp Bow Wow
- Forever Vets Animal Hospital
- First Coast ChemDry
- Custom Creations Dog Beds by Holly
- Kristin's Mobile Pet Spa
- Central Bark
- BluePearl Veterinary Partners
- Superior Fence & Rail
- Woof Gang Bakery and Grooming
- The Woof Pack Pet Boutique
- BrewHound
If you would like to donate, participate, or fundraise, click here.