Fall is here, and the Tucson Botanical Gardens is giving summer a last hurrah with Summer’s Tail End — a Golden Meet-N-Greet.
The event caps four months of dog-friendly activities at the gardens while also promoting awareness about Southern Arizona Golden Retriever Rescue (SAGRR). The local nonprofit typically rescues 50 golden retrievers annually from shelters and private individuals throughout the region.
Dog “ambassadors” for SAGRR will be on hand, and the 2025 Golden Days calendar will be available for purchase to raise funds for the organization, which has been overwhelmed with dogs in need of fostering and rehoming, according to SAGRR President Joyce Sanford.
“We are totally inundated and hit our yearly average in August,” said Sanford. “In the last few days we brought in five 9-month old puppies. We have had 23 puppies this year. I have been rescuing dogs for more than 20 years and never seen a year quite like this.”
She attributes the large number of puppies to the economy, which has made it more difficult for many people to take on the expense of a dog.
Pima Animal Care is full, especially in their dog kennels. Kaleigh Murdock said PAC's dog kennels are past critical capacity which means they have more dogs than space. PAC is looking to find homes for their big dogs specifically but also have small and medium dogs as well as cats looking for new homes.
Spotlighting SAGRR seeks to alleviate some of that pressure by identifying prospective foster homes, permanent homes and volunteers, according to Laura Leach, director of development and marketing for Tucson Botanical Gardens.
“We want to introduce them to people who might be placed on the list for future adoptions. We know the friends of SAGRR want people to go through a thoughtful process before adoption,” said Leach.
She said that collaboration with area nonprofits also helps facilitate the Botanical Gardens’ mission to connect people with plants and nature through art, science, culture and history.
“This may seem a little off mission, but we know many of our supporters have dogs, and as humans who love dogs, we thought this was a nice way to finish the Dog Days of Summer at the Botanical Gardens,” she said.
Check out Summer’s Tail End from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28, at 2150 N. Alvernon Way. It’s free with garden admission.
Learn more at tucsonbotanical.org. For information about SAGRR, head to sagrr.org.
A woman walks her dog around the Barrio Garden at the Tucson Botanical Gardens Wednesday, July 24.
