Mason resident Sarah Erickson walks four of the five dogs she came with Friday night to the Harris Nature Center, 3998 Van Atta Road, in Okemos, for the monthly Howl at the Moon Dog Walk. Erickson works at the Ingham County Animal Control and Shelter and brings her two dogs each month along with three other dogs to which she currently is giving foster care.
Holding tightly to leashes in both hands, Mason resident Sarah Erickson corralled five dogs over to the trail head at the Harris Nature Center, 3998 Van Atta Road, in Okemos.
“(The dogs) love going,” Erickson said. “They know where we’re going when we drive down the road.”
Erickson was one of more than 40 people who went to the Harris Nature Center’s Howl at the Moon monthly night walk at 9 p.m. Friday.
The walk was about 2.8 miles through the trails behind the center, said Angela Porter, an assistant naturalist at the Harris Nature Center, who led the walk.
“I make sure everybody stays together, which for this group is going to be more difficult,” Porter said. “It’s a busier night.”
Walkers and their dogs met at the trail head to pick up plastic doggie bags and douse themselves with bug spray before heading into the woods.
Erickson, who works at the Ingham County Animal Control & Shelter, owns two of the dogs she brought and is fostering the other three.
“It’s really good exposure for the dogs, and sometimes we get adoptions from it,” she said.
One of her foster dogs, Gracie, was afraid of people when she first came with Erickson, who said she has been going on the monthly walks for about three years.
“It was really good to interact with people and dogs in a nonconfrontational manner,” Erickson said.
As she waited for the walk to begin, nursing junior Emily Jarmoloski kept a careful rein on her dog, Tinkerbell, who trotted up to another dog, sniffing and barking in greeting.
Jarmoloski said the walk allowed her mom to bring her dog from her home in Lakeview, Mich., to visit her.
“I wanted my mom to bring her up and get her used to other dogs,” Jarmoloski said.
Okemos resident Susan Steinke found out about the walk from Erickson and has been bringing her dogs, Kiwi and Mango, for about a year.
“We love it — the length is fantastic,” Steinke said. “My dogs love to walk, and it’s fun to do it at night.”
The Harris Nature Center’s purpose is to protect and promote the Red Cedar River’s watershed, and the center offers nature-related educational activities, picnic areas and about 48 acres of trails, Porter said.
However, there was no educational component to the walk, Porter said.
“It’s just to get people together,” she said. “These are dog lovers.”
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