Shelter to Soldier is bringing its Salute to Paws 5K & Gratitude Festival for Dogs back to Fox Point Farms in Encinitas, with a 5K run/walk, an all-levels yoga flow and a dog-friendly festival built around the nonprofit's mission of pairing rescue dogs with veterans. The nonprofit's official event page lists the date as Saturday, November 7, 2026, so runners and dog owners planning to attend should double-check the date closer to the event.
According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, the event is presented by Avion Law and will bring together runners, dog lovers, military supporters and community members at Fox Point Farms, located at 1200 Fox Point Farms Lane. Proceeds raised through the event will support Shelter to Soldier's mission, which the nonprofit describes on its event page as directly supporting its programs for veterans and shelter dogs.
The day kicks off with registration at 8 a.m., followed by an all-levels yoga flow at 8:45 a.m. and the 5K run/walk starting at 9:30 a.m., winding through Fox Point Farms and surrounding Encinitas trails. Leashed, social dogs are welcome to join their owners along the course, and organizers say water and shade will be available on site throughout the morning.
Festival Features Tacos, Live Music and a Dog Spa
Once the run wraps, the Gratitude Festival for Dogs takes over from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., billed as Southern California's only gratitude festival for dogs and designed to celebrate the bond between humans and their canine companions. The festival lineup includes live music, farm-fresh pizza, street-style tacos, beer, Tito's Handmade Vodka cocktails, a silent auction, local vendors and sponsor activations, per the Union-Tribune's reporting.
Sponsor-run activities add to the pet-centric atmosphere: UNITE Hair is sponsoring a dog spa, Sycuan Casino Resort is behind the Happy Pups activation, and Furvor Field is sponsoring Zoomies. Last year's second annual event, held Nov. 9, 2025, featured a similar dog spa run by UNITE Doggy 'Poo as well as adoptable dogs from The Animal Pad on what organizers called Rescue Row, according to the San Diego Reader.
Registration Pricing and VIP Options
Registration for the 2026 event is tiered: adult 5K runner/walker entry costs $50, children 12 and under cost $25, and adding a dog to a runner's registration costs $10. For those who just want festival access, a Gratitude Festival-only ticket is $25, while a $50 VIP Experience adds Paw Party access, styled picnic lounges, small bites, human libations, broth for dogs, exclusive photo opportunities and a VIP gift. Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now, with ticket information posted at bit.ly/salutetopaws3.
Those prices track closely with what the Reader reported for the 2025 event, when adult pricing also began at $50, child pricing at $25 and the dog add-on at $10, with all 5K registrations including access to the Gratitude Festival. Shelter to Soldier's mission statement — “Saving Lives, Two at a Time” — reflects the organization's focus on rescue dogs and veterans alike, as the Reader's 2025 event coverage noted.
Behind the Mission: Training Service Dogs for Invisible Wounds
Shelter to Soldier rescues dogs from local shelters and trains them into service animals for post-9/11 veterans, with its programs supporting veterans suffering from PTSD, traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma and other injuries tied to traumatic service experiences. The nonprofit's service-dog training page states that it pairs post-9/11 veterans, Gulf War veterans and survivors of Military Sexual Trauma living with invisible wounds of service with rescue dogs trained to become psychiatric service dogs. Through a structured training process, the organization says, each veteran learns to work alongside their dog to build a dependable partnership that provides daily support, greater independence and improved quality of life.
The nonprofit's capacity to do that work expanded in 2024, when it opened a new 3,700-square-foot training facility at 3308 Mission Ave. in Oceanside. The facility opened Jan. 25, 2024, increasing Shelter to Soldier's training operation from six to 10 service-dog trainees at one time, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Since the organization's founding in 2012, it had trained more than 85 dogs and paired them with veterans as of that 2024 report, underscoring how the Encinitas fundraiser feeds directly back into an expanding local program.
