Pup crawl to benefit Tailwaggers

Downtown Siloam Springs' first Pup Crawl, planned for June 15, will celebrate pets and raise money to help Tailwaggers support local animal shelters.

Those who attend the event will have a chance to visit four local restaurants -- Creekside Taproom, The Park House Kitchen and Bar, Chickadee's Fresh Fare and Ziggywurst -- to try their food and beer. Each restaurant will be donating 10 percent of their proceeds for the evening to Tailwaggers, according to Abby Trinidad, who is a partial owner of Creekside Taproom along with her parents Keith and Rhonda Rutledge, and also serves as marketing and events manager.

All four establishments have dog-friendly areas so participants are welcome to bring their pups along, Trinidad said.

Tailwaggers will also be grilling hamburgers and selling T-shirts at Creekside Taproom, according to director Tina Berrios. The nonprofit will also have several adoptable dogs at Creekside Taproom for those who are looking for a pet of their own, she said.

Participants can pick up a passport at any of the establishments and if they get the passport stamped by all four restaurants, they will be entered to win a free bandana for their dog, Trinidad said.

The passport also includes a map on the back of suggested dog-friendly and safe routes between restaurants, including some routes through the new Memorial Park, Trinidad said. There will be plenty of pickup bags along the way so owners can clean up their dog's waste, she said.

Berrios said she got the idea for the pints and paws events that Tailwaggers has hosted at Creekside Taproom for the past few years from a rescue group in Colorado. This year, the owners of the taproom approached her about expanding the event and getting other local businesses in on a pub crawl.

Keith Rutledge said his family wanted to participate in the fundraiser because they are pet owners and want to make sure other pets get the attention and care they need.

Tailwaggers supports five local city animal shelters financially, by posting about animals in need of adoption on their social media network and by organizing volunteers to walk dogs and socialize cats.

The nonprofit helps local shelters pay for food, spaying and neutering animals, medical expenses and adoption costs, Berrios said. They also arrange for adoptable animals to be transported to other parts of the country where pets are more in demand.

This year, Tailwaggers has focused on helping the city of Colcord, Okla., build a badly-needed animal shelter from the ground up and install fencing, Berrios said. Volunteers from Tailwaggers also go out once a week to help clean cages and work in the shelter, she said.

More information about Tailwaggers is available online at nwatailwaggers.org and on the NWA Tailwaggers Facebook page.