Editor’s note: “Behind the News” is the product of Sun staff assisted by the Sun’s AI lab, which includes a variety of tools such as Anthropic’s Claude, Perplexity AI, Google Gemini and ChatGPT.

National Dog Day is celebrated annually on Aug. 26. [1].

The holiday was founded in 2004 by Colleen Paige, a pet and family lifestyle expert, animal rescue advocate and conservationist [2]. The date was specifically chosen because it marks the day Colleen’s family adopted its first dog, Sheltie, from a local animal shelter when Colleen was 10 years old [3].

Purpose and mission

The holiday celebrates all dogs and aims to raise awareness about the number of dogs needing rescue and adoption each year [4]. It also honors family dogs and service dogs that work selflessly daily to save lives, keep pe

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