“Oh, I subscribe to dogtrotting,” the Weruva rep tells me when I hand her my card. “In fact, it’s where I found out about his event.”

Love it! … What event, you ask?

Dogs 4 Youth dog (and now pet) marketplace at the Peach King Centre in Grimsby, Ontario. I’m here with my little black Holy Terrier Victor who’s decided the cement arena floor doesn’t count as ‘inside’ making it pee possible central.  Then again, he does pee on our backyard patio, so I suppose this assumption is my fault.

Dog 4 Youth is an annual fundraiser for the FORT youth centre, an organization providing activities and employment assistance to teenagers in the area. It claims to be the largest dog related exhibition if its kind, but likely that title’s been usurp this year by the first Niagara Canadian Pet Expo (see our experience here).

This is our first visit to Dogs 4 Youth event and it’s a good cross section of Niagara (and beyond) vendors from commercial foods, like Weruva (who we also met at BlogPaws), and home-made treats, such as Norfolk county-based Two Spent Grains selling Brew’ed Biscuits created from spent grains (who we met at the Kitchener Dog Expo). We get around.

But that’s the point – dogtrotting.net is about taking your dog everywhere.

Admission to Dogs 4 Youth was free. The event filled a hockey arena. There was enough space between vendors that dogs were not on top of each other – important because Victor doesn’t like pups directly in his face. Other than a costume competition early in the day, this event is about shopping for pet stuff, services and even a few non-profits and rescues, including Lady Bird Sanctuary where I found my feline fur-baby Daisy.

Who else did we meet?

• Greenhawk equestrian sport (also owners of Bark & Fritz) who sponsored the early-arriver loot bags including a 25% coupon;
• ShopPal, an online store that partners with non-profits – a percentage of sales goes to supporting a cause. Today on the table are Barnies, dehydrated beef chews made in Canada from beef lung and a successful Dragon’s Den (CBC’s version of Shark Tank) deal maker.
• Designer Doggie (formally Canine Cupcakes at Woofstock). Unfortunately, even the XL sized doggie denim jacket didn’t fit Victor; he would have rocked it.
• And several more tables from dog boarding to canine physiotherapy to members of Therapy Tails, a non-profit therapy dog program in the Niagara Region.

It’s the season of Pet Festivals, folks. Check out our Dog Events page and send us your listing if it’s not there. (Dogtrotting is currently expanding the list beyond Ontario, Canada).

Time to gas up the car and take the dog along this summer.