Easter Egg Hunt for Dogs hopping into Kitchener on Good Friday

About 5,000 Easter eggs will be scattered through Knollwood Park in Kitchener on Good Friday. Each one filled with a Milkbone treat as well as a sticker from the National Service Dogs.

The annual Easter Egg Hunt for Dogs that spans across Canada has been hopping around for 36 years. The hunt is planned traditionally on Good Friday every year.

This year the hunt will span six cities for six events nationally. They are aiming to raise $70,000 through those events that will go towards training and deploying more service dogs.

In previous years, they have had nine events in nine cities, raising more than $100,000 – but COVID forced them to put a pause on events like the Easter Egg Hunt for Dogs.

Danielle Forbes, executive director for National Service Dogs said they are hoping they can build things back up to where they used to be.

“In 2019, we had a lot of participants that were coming out, some of them had been coming to the events since they were 5-years-old and now were bringing their kids to the event,” said Forbes. “Building that back has been challenging post-COVID because for three years that didn’t happen and people kind of get out of the routine.”

Forbes said the annual event has already raised about $40,000 so far. They are predicting about 150 families and 200 dogs will show up on Friday morning.

On March 29 the community can bring their furry friends to 155 Borden Avenue N. to look for some treat filled eggs. Inside each egg is also a sticker that corresponds with prizes available to be won.

Forbes said those prizes range from a pair of Wonderland tickets to a gift card for The Keg.

Families are invited to register ahead of the event. Anyone looking to sign up on Good Friday should show up at 10 a.m. as the hunt starts immediately at 11 a.m. that day.

The Easter Egg Hunt for Dogs is their largest fundraising event of the year.

“The impact across Canada is all the money goes directly into funding our programs, so breeding our dogs, raising the dogs, providing for their food and veterinary care and all of their training.”

Forbes said it can take up to two years to train a service dog, and they also have to train clients on proper handling as well. Most service dogs retire around 10-years-old, and without any government funding, events like these help keep more service dogs available in the country.