Maricopa County Parks and Recreation: Tails Around Town on Tour Session 1

Join Ranger Olivia and Maricopa County Animal Care & Control to hike with shelter dogs who are looking for their forever homes! Are you not located near one of our Maricopa County’s shelters, but still want to take a dog on a field trip? No problem! Maricopa County’s Animal Care & Control and Parks and Recreation Departments have united to bring you this exciting program. Tails Around Town on Tour is a new take of the original Tails Around Town program where you get the opportunity to take a dog on a “field trip” at one of our county parks. Our first tour stop will be at Usery Mountain Regional Park and allows you to just come to the park and we bring the dogs! This adventure gives dogs a much-needed break from the shelter and also helps them be seen and allows us to learn more about them to help find their perfect forever home. Animal Care and Control will be bringing dogs that currently reside in the shelters across the Valley for participants to take them on a short hike to get to know them while also learning about trail etiquette with pets. Please NO other dogs allowed to ensure the safety of our shelter dogs. This route uses Merkle Trail, the terrain is barrier free, flat, and rated the easiest trail in our park. Wear closed-toe shoes and bring plenty of water. Restrooms are not available at trailhead. MEETING LOCATION: Merkle trailhead (area 10), additional parking can be found across the street at the outdoor gym. There is a limit of 8 participants, and registration is required. To register, please call the Nature Center at (602) 506-2930 ext. 4 with your name, phone number and number of people attending. If you find you cannot attend a program after you have registered, please call the Nature Center ASAP so we may update Animal Care & Control. Registration for this program will close on 04/04/25.