National Black Dog Day Date in the current year: October 1, 2024

National Black Dog Day stands out among the holidays created by Paige because it is probably the most personal one since it is based on an important episode from Paige’s life. Many years ago two young girls coming home from a party found a badly injured, exhausted black dog in the middle of a highway. The girls took the dog with them, kept her overnight and drop her off at a shelter in the morning.

Several hours later, Paige arrived at the shelter looking for a dog for her five-year-old son. The dogs began to bark and jump up on their kennel doors, hoping to be adopted, but the black dog was too exhausted to even react. As soon as Paige saw her, she realized that she had to save that dog. The shelter employees were glad to give her the dog because “no one wants a black dog anyway”; had Paige not adopted her, the dog would have been euthanized.

On the very first day the dog, now named Sailor, spent in Paige’s home, it became crystal clear that she had been horribly abused and traumatized. It took a whole year before Sailor overcame her emotional trauma and turned out to be a friendly dog who loved kids. She spent 14 happy years in Paige’s family and passed away from cancer in October 2014.

Paige created National Black Dog Day as a tribute to Sailor, as well as to combat the stigma about black dogs and raise awareness about their plight in shelters. Although the reputation of black dogs isn’t quite as bad as that of black cats, their chances of getting adopted are still low compared to other dogs. So one of the main goals of National Black Dog Day is to encourage people to adopt black dogs from shelters to give them a loving family.

If you can’t adopt a black dog for one reason or another, you can still contribute by supporting your local animal shelter. And if you’re a proud black dog owner, you can celebrate the day by sharing your story and some photos on social media with the hashtag #NationalBlackDogDay.