DogFest Bay Area, a fundraiser for the Santa Rosa-based service-dog nonprofit Canine Companions, is set for Saturday, October 17, 2026, from 12:00 to 4:00 PM on the Civil War Parade Ground near the Main Post Lawn at the Presidio of San Francisco. The organization's graduation ceremonies in Santa Rosa on Friday, October 16, and Friday, November 6, are open to the public as well.
Founded in 1975, Canine Companions provides service, hearing, facility and medical-alert dogs at no charge. Its national headquarters and its Northwest Region training center are both in Santa Rosa, and the region serves Northern California, Northern Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Alaska. Figures on the organization's website put its total placements at more than 8,000.
What DogFest is
DogFest is a peer-to-peer fundraiser. Supporters raise money online for Canine Companions, and that online campaign is followed by an in-person gathering, which for the Bay Area takes place at the Presidio. Registration is linked from the event page. Anyone hoping to bring a dog should check with the organizers first.
DogFest Bay Area details and registration
Service dogs for veterans
Canine Companions says it has placed hundreds of service dogs with U.S. veterans, and it has run a program since 2018 that pairs veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with service dogs. As the organization describes the work, these dogs are trained to interrupt nightmares, create space for their handler in a crowd and disrupt symptoms as they start to escalate. Veterans can read about the program on the organization's veterans page or call 1-800-572-BARK to apply or ask questions.
Graduations in Santa Rosa
Canine Companions' graduation ceremonies honor new client teams, along with puppy raisers and volunteers. The ceremonies are open to the public and streamed live on YouTube. The next two Northwest Region ceremonies are:
- Friday, October 16, 2026, 12:30 PM: a Northwest Region graduation at the Jean and Charles Schulz Campus, 2965 Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa, according to the organization's graduation schedule.
- Friday, November 6, 2026, 12:30 PM: the region's ceremony for National Graduation Day, the last of four National Graduation Days on the organization's 2026 calendar, at Spring Hills Church, 3700 Fulton Rd., Santa Rosa, according to the ceremony's event page.
Pets are not allowed at any ceremony, and neither are retired or released Canine Companions dogs, the organization says. At off-site ceremonies, such as the one at Spring Hills Church, the only dogs allowed are service dogs and Canine Companions puppies.
People who cannot make a ceremony can join a drop-in public tour of the Santa Rosa campus on Mondays at 10:00 AM, according to the organization. Anyone who wants to confirm details before making the drive can call the campus at 707-577-1700.
Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael
In Marin County, Guide Dogs for the Blind holds public graduations at its headquarters, 350 Los Ranchitos Road in San Rafael. The school was founded in 1942, and it said in April 2026 that more than 16,000 guide dog teams had graduated since then.
An April 2026 article in BayWoof by Sarah Blevins, the school's director of puppy raising, said the school's 2026 public ceremonies would take place at 1:30 PM on alternating Saturdays, starting Saturday, April 4, 2026. The article says admission is free, the campus offers public tours on ceremony days, bus groups are welcome when they register ahead, and ceremonies are streamed on YouTube. Puppy raisers and Orientation and Mobility graduates are recognized at the ceremonies too. Specific fall dates were not confirmed for this article, so check the school's graduations page before making the trip.
The same article describes Guide Dogs for the Blind as North America's largest guide dog school and says its services are free and that it takes no government funding. In April 2026, the school also held its first Advocacy Month, which asked supporters to hand businesses a flyer on service-dog rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The school cited its own 2023 survey, in which more than 83 percent of the guide dog handlers surveyed in the United States and Canada reported being denied rideshare service.
How to help
- Raise a service-dog puppy. Canine Companions places puppies with volunteer raisers at about eight weeks old for roughly a year and a half. Raisers go to at least two training classes a month while classes are in session, and the organization supplies an orientation, a manual and a starter kit. Puppy raiser information.
- Raise a guide dog puppy. Guide Dogs for the Blind runs puppy raising in nine Western states, where volunteers ranging in age from 9 to 90 care for puppies from about 2 months to about 15 months old. Puppy raising with Guide Dogs for the Blind.
- Donate a vehicle. Canine Companions is running "Cartober," a vehicle-donation campaign, through Saturday, October 31, according to its website.
From Saved by the Saddle
Saved by the Saddle runs free horsemanship programs for military veterans and at-promise youth at Ocean View Stables in Daly City, and is building R&R: Rescue and Rehab, its horse rescue program. No horse is in its care yet: a vet and farrier on call, a quiet space for a new horse, a written intake standard and funding for a decade or more of care come first.
Sources: Canine Companions, "DogFest Bay Area" (modified May 13, 2026); Canine Companions, "Canine Companions Graduations" (2026 schedule, checked October 9, 2026); Canine Companions, "Northwest Region November Graduation" (modified May 13, 2026); Canine Companions, Northwest Region page (March 5, 2026); Canine Companions, "Service Dogs for Veterans" (accessed October 9, 2026); Canine Companions, "Become a Puppy Raiser" (accessed October 9, 2026); Canine Companions, home page (accessed October 9, 2026); BayWoof, "Guide Dogs Public Graduations Melt Hearts: Here's How You Can Attend" (April 3, 2026); Business Wire, "Guide Dogs for the Blind Launches Advocacy Month in April to Celebrate Progress Made in Disability Rights" (April 2, 2026); Guide Dogs for the Blind, puppy raising page (accessed October 9, 2026)