The warm, humid weather of August are truly the dog days of summer, but August is also filled with many dog-centric holidays! Here are just a few you might find interesting:
Dogust, or August 1st, is considered the universal birthday for shelter dogs who may not have accurate birth records. It’s a day to celebrate all rescued dogs, and if you don’t have a pet to celebrate yourself, you can always adopt a pet or volunteer at a shelter. The Clear the Shelters organization advocates for donations and adoptions throughout the month of August to help shelter pets find their forever homes.Check out the Yonkers Animal Shelter or the Humane Society of Westchester.
August 4th is Assistance Dog Day to celebrate the wide range of assistive service dogs who are trained to help those with disabilities or medical conditions. These dogs provide companionship and improve the quality of life for the humans they assist.
August 26 is National Dog Day, an annual celebration of our furry friends. According to the official website, National Dog Day was founded in 2004 to celebrate all dogs and raise awareness for the dogs in shelters, rescues and breeding farms that are looking to be adopted. National Dog Day also honors service dogs and dogs trained for tasks like rescue operations.
We love celebrating our furry friends at Yonkers Public Library. You can join us this August to pick up some dog-themed reads, or you can hop online with us for Art with Erica: Dog Days of Summer. More information for these events can be found below, or you can check out our events calendar.
Art with Erica: Dog Days of Summer - August 30th at 4:00 PM on Zoom
If you’re looking for any dog-themed reads to wrap up your summer reading, be sure to ask a librarian for a recommendation.
If you haven’t already, be sure to log your reading in Beanstack for our summer reading challenge! All ages are welcome to sign up. For every book you log until August 15th, your name will be entered into a drawing for a reader basket. Each library branch will host its own drawings for 1000 Books Before Kindergarten, Children, Teens and Adults. Also worthy of note is that children get small prizes as they read books during the program. Register yourself and your family on Beanstack.
Update 8/7/2023: Please note that a previous version of this blog listed dates and times for the Read to Cooper the Therapy Dog program. Due to an injury sustained by Cooper's handler, there will be no Cooper the Therapy Dog programs at any YPL branch for the rest of August.
Alison Robles is a part-time page at the Crestwood Library. She is an avid reader with a passion for YA lit, historical fiction and fantasy. A Yonkers native, she graduated from Iona University in 2020 with a dual-degree in Marketing and Public Relations. She is pursuing a Masters in Information and Library Science from the University at Buffalo.