Nearly 1,000 runners and walkers are expected to retrace the curves of a 19th-century horse track through Metairie Cemetery this weekend for the ninth annual NOLA Dogs Race to the Rescue, a 3.1-mile fundraiser that has pumped roughly $225,000 into local animal rescue groups over the past eight years. Leashed dogs and their owners may watch from the sidelines. The event is scheduled for Sunday, October 11, and will be held rain or shine, with rescheduling in severe weather.
As reported by New Orleans CityBusiness, the race is hosted by Heaven's Pets at Lake Lawn Metairie in partnership with NOLA Dogs Charitable Giving, and this marks its fifth year at the historic cemetery grounds. The event's Race Roster page lists the race as rain or shine.
The 5K is capped at 1,000 human runners and comes with the kind of New Orleans flourishes you would not find at a typical road race: a second line parade complete with a live brass band, chip timing for competitive runners, and $100 cash prizes for the top male and female finishers, according to Fleet Feet Metairie. Participants who raise $250 or more get their registration fee waived entirely, an incentive built to push fundraising totals higher. Race day itself unfolds in stages, with the dog parade kicking off at 8 a.m., the 5K starting at 8:30 a.m., and the annual Blessing of the Pets following at 9:30 a.m. at 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd.
Running the Old Racetrack Oval
The route itself carries its own backstory. Metairie Cemetery was founded in 1872 on the site of the former Metairie Race Course, a horse track that dated to the 1830s, and the cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. Its central roadways still trace the original oval shape of the old racetrack, according to The Cultural Landscape Foundation.
Heaven's Pets, the facility hosting the event, has its own layered history tied to the city's hardest years. The pet death care and grief counseling center was established in 2005 as a joint venture with Stewart Enterprises, and ground was broken just days before Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005. The facility finally opened in April 2006, per Heaven's Pets.
Why the Money Matters So Much
NOLA Dogs Charitable Giving, the nonprofit behind the fundraiser, traces back to a single adopted dog. JoAnne Casey, owner of local shop Alice and Amelia, founded the organization in 2019 after adopting a Hurricane Katrina rescue pup from Animal Rescue New Orleans. The organization is known as NOLA Dogs Charitable Giving.
This year's race benefits six nonprofit animal rescue organizations across greater New Orleans, including Animal Rescue New Orleans, Take Paws Rescue, and Zeus' Rescues. In 2025, the partner rescues took in 1,929 animals and incurred more than $625,000 in medical expenses, according to NOLA Dogs Charitable Giving.
A major share of that medical burden comes from heartworm treatment, since South Louisiana ranks among the regions with the highest heartworm infection risk in the country according to the American Heartworm Society, as cited by RunGuides. Treating a single infected dog can cost a nonprofit rescue hundreds of dollars, a financial strain that compounds quickly when shelters are managing hundreds of animals at once. The event's online auction and Blessing of the Pets ceremony round out a day meant to chip away at those bills one donation at a time.
Beneficiary Groups Feeling the Strain
The stakes behind this weekend's fundraiser aren't abstract for at least one beneficiary. Zeus' Rescues was forced to temporarily shut down its Uptown pet food bank on Freret Street two months ago after a thief broke into an organization van overnight on multiple occasions and stole bags of dog food, Hoodline previously reported. The incident underscored how thin the margins are for volunteer-run rescues operating without a government financial backstop.
Local rescues also face ongoing financial pressure. The Inner Pup is another event beneficiary, according to NOLA Dogs Charitable Giving.
The race is scheduled for Sunday, October 11, and will be rescheduled in severe weather. The ninth annual event is set to follow the cemetery's old racetrack oval.
