Tails on Trails event draws pups and their people for 12th year

About 100 people and dozens of dogs turned out Saturday for a stroll through Northmoreland Park to raise money for the New Kensington-based Animal Protectors of Allegheny Valley.

Saturday was the 12th year for the fundraiser and the second year it’s been held in Northmoreland Park in Allegheny Township.

“It’s just a day to get together,” said Jeanne Lessig, a member of the animal shelter’s development committee.

It’s also one of the shelter’s largest fundraising events each year.

“These funds help us keep the doors open,” she said.

Late last year, the shelter moved operations from a 3,000-square-foot facility on Linden Avenue in New Kensington to a building three times that size along Church Street.

The project, from building purchase to move-in day for the animals, took more than four years as shelter leaders and volunteers worked to raise money and renovate the building — with a global pandemic-induced construction shutdown thrown in.

The building began as the school for the nearby Logans Ferry Presbyterian Church and was later sold and leased to an adult daycare. Most recently, it housed a child care center.

“We’re in our big, new building with all of these nice things, but it does cost more,” said board president Phyllis Framel.

People and their pets walked the roughly one-mile loop around Northmoreland Lake and then had the opportunity to visit several food trucks and play games with their pups. There was a youngest dog contest, oldest dog contest, human-dog look-alike contest and musical chairs — the last one to sit and stay each round was out.

There was an eating contest, too. Pups started out with treats like pieces of hotdog and animal cracker. Each round saw the treats become less like treats and more like a low-carb menu: foods like celery, broccoli and olives.

Mickey, a mixed-breed rescue pup, bowed out after turning down the celery.

“We support everything Animal Protectors does,” said Mickey’s human, Nancy Cochran, of Springdale. Mickey is short for Mickey Mouse, a name given for his big pointy ears.

If there’d been a “biggest ears” contest, Cochran said, Mickey would have been a shoo-in.

Fuzzy 11-year-old miniature poodle Diego lost out on the oldest dog contest to an older pup, but he appeared unperturbed by the loss.

“Animals are very important to me,” said his human, Jennifer Monstrola, of Greensburg. “You can trust animals. What you see is what you get.”