![\"Volunteers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DOG-WALKERS-2_1139fc.jpg\")
Volunteers wait their turn to walk shelter dogs while others write notes about the dogs they have just walked at the Chula Vista Animal Care Facility on Feb. 21, 2026. (McKenzie Patterson \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nKristiansen Shuzuko wasn\u2019t planning on leaving with a new dog when she signed up for Chula Vista Animal Services\u2019 Walk a Dog Day.<\/p>\n
But Mocha, a 7-year-old boxer mix sporting a plaid pink sweater, stole her heart and she left the event with a new best friend. A month earlier, she\u2019d lost her long-time dog and said she was excited to bring home her new one. Mocha\u2019s sweet, calm energy won her over right away, Shuzuko said.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of community members gathered for the second annual dog-walking event on Saturday, which fell in line with National Walk Your Dog Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe asked the community for help last year and they came out in spades,\u201d said Ashley Milo, the shelter\u2019s director of animal services. The outpouring of support led shelter officials to make it an annual event, she said.<\/p>\n
The line of people waiting eagerly to walk dogs lapped the shelter\u2019s parking lot and stretched to the street.<\/p>\n
Volunteers wait their turn to walk shelter dogs while others write notes about the dogs they have just walked at the Chula Vista Animal Care Facility on Feb. 21, 2026. (McKenzie Patterson \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re overwhelmed by the support that the community is offering to make sure that these dogs have an opportunity they wouldn\u2019t otherwise have,\u201d Milo said.<\/p>\n
Since last year, the number of adoptable dogs had halved, with just under 90 dogs available for adoption. Forty-five dogs were available for walks and a few foster dogs were brought in for socialization. Nearly 800 people signed up to participate, and sign-ups were cut off early due to the surplus of interest, she said.<\/p>\n
At best, most dogs at the shelter get out of the kennel for an hour or two a day, she said. Volunteer walkers help to maintain the dog\u2019s health and socialization while they wait to be adopted, Milo said.<\/p>\n
![\"Vanessa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DOG-WALKERS-12_574bbc.jpg\")
Vanessa Ramos pets a shelter dog before selecting one to walk at the Chula Vista Animal Care Facility on Feb. 21, 2026. (McKenzie Patterson \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
With the large number of volunteers, Milo said many dogs were walked more than once, or until they seemed to have got their energy for the day out.<\/p>\n
Franco, an energetic pit bull terrier mix, came bouncing back from his second walk of the day, leading walker Ashley Smith back to the shelter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just want to help give the dogs a bit of a change of pace,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt\u2019s just nice to get out, give them some love and get some fresh air.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith has a Labrador at home that she had adopted, but she said she hopes somebody adopts Franco, describing him as a \u201cstrong but sweet dog.\u201d<\/p>\n
For volunteers like Smith who can\u2019t adopt but are looking to help, dog walking is the perfect opportunity, Milo said. She encouraged those who can\u2019t adopt or walk dogs to consider fostering, donating, or sharing social media posts that are put up online by the shelter.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody here just might help them find their home; we get a really good success rate with just word of mouth,\u201d Milo said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kristiansen Shuzuko wasn\u2019t planning on leaving with a new dog when she signed up for Chula Vista Animal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,9974,181,23,100,74,84,76,75,3055,1696],"class_list":{"0":"post-188058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-chula-vista","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-san-diego-county","15":"tag-san-diego-headlines","16":"tag-san-diego-news","17":"tag-south-county","18":"tag-top-stories-sdut"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}