Strut Your Mutt is coming home

We’re thrilled to announce that Strut Your Mutt is returning to the place where it all began: Salt Lake City.

For decades, Best Friends Animal Society’s annual dog walk and community festival has been bringing people together to save the lives of homeless pets across the country. This year, it’s back for good, and we hope to see you there. Mark your calendar!

Strut Your Mutt 2026
Saturday, October 17
11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Liberty Park in Salt Lake City

Registration will be open soon — stay tuned for more details.

From our CEO, Julie Castle

"Strut Your Mutt holds a very special place in my heart. Beyond the remarkable journey this event has had, the memories that have been made, and the lives that have been saved, creating this event was my launchpad into animal welfare."

Julie Castle

Read Julie's love letter to Strut Your Mutt »

A fundraiser that saves lives

Every dollar raised from Strut Your Mutt goes directly to help save dogs and cats in communities throughout the U.S.

Since every Strut Your Mutt participant chooses to support and raise funds for either Best Friends or their favorite participating animal welfare organization, so many animals are helped at shelters and rescue groups across the country.

All money raised from Strut Your Mutt has been used to save homeless pets in our communities through spay/neuter programs, adoption events, foster programs, veterinary care, lifesaving transports, and other activities.

The Best Friends Network, made up of thousands of rescue groups and shelters around the country, uses Strut You Mutt as a platform to raise the crucial funds needed to save the lives of pets in their care.

Find a network partner near you:

Strut Your Mutt through the years

Not only have we saved the lives of dogs and cats, but we’ve had so much fun and made so many connections with amazing, animal-loving people.

In Strut Your Mutt’s decades-long history, we’ve strutted in 17 cities and held a virtual fundraising event to benefit the animals of Best Friends’ partner shelters and rescue groups across the country.

So many ways to save lives

Can’t participate or don’t live in the Salt Lake City area? Don’t worry — there are so many other ways you can help create a bright future for homeless pets and their communities.

Two smiling people sitting with their small dog at a dog walk event

Create a fundraiser

No matter where you live, there are so many ways to raise money and awareness to help save the lives of homeless pets.

Raising funds to save lives

Smiling person sitting on a couch with a cat next to them

Foster a pet

Fostering a pet is a short-term commitment with a long-term impact. By opening your home to a dog or cat for even a few days, you can save lives. 

The fun of fostering a pet

Person petting a cat in front of a sunny window

Remember a pet

Memorials are spaces where we commemorate the lives of pets who are no longer with us but live on in our hearts.

Paying tribute to a special pet

Dog giving a hug to a person who is holding them

Adopt a pet

When you adopt a homeless dog or cat from a shelter or rescue group, you’re making a lifesaving difference for a loving and grateful animal.

Find adoptable dogs and cats near you

Join a local team of advocates.

We can help more animals when we work together, which is why we formed the Best Friends Action Team. Once you sign up for the Action Team, you’ll receive emails with more ways you can help save homeless pets.

Let’s stay in touch

We’ve had so much fun strutting with you over the years, and we hope you’ll connect with us on social media to stay in the loop about the lifesaving progress we’re making together.  

About Best Friends Animal Society

Best Friends is working to end the killing of dogs and cats in U.S. shelters in part by getting more pets out of shelters and into loving homes.

We’ve come a long way since the first known city reached no-kill in 1994, and now we’re closer than ever to making the entire country no-kill. Of the roughly 3,900 shelters operating in America today, 1,300 of them are not yet no-kill, but nearly half are close with 100 or fewer additional pets to be saved, and we know what to do to get them there.

Best Friends is committed to working with passionate people like you to save homeless pets through adoption, volunteering, fostering, and advocacy. In addition to our pet adoption centers around the U.S, we also founded and run the nation's largest no-kill sanctuary for companion animals.

Working together, we can save homeless pets in our communities and secure a better future for our best friends. Together, we will bring the whole country to no-kill.