The Big Dog Walk with Lots of Dogs is a thing - and it’s coming to Australia in 2016

For the first time ever, ‘The Big Dog Walk with Lots of Dogs’ is coming to Australia and it’s as good as it sounds.

Hosted by Not-for-profit pound Sydney Dogs and Cats Home,‘The Big Dog Walk’ will take place on April 9 at Sydney Park in St Peters, New South Wales, and will see an expected 2,900 people walking their dogs at the same time.

The original event started in Wellington, New Zealand, and was founded by New Zealand-based stand up comedian and producer, Alice Brine. The dog-lover had thought it would be fun to organise a mass dog walk, but the popularity of the idea quickly took off, and the Wellington event has spawned similar events that will run across the world at the same time and day in April.

“The main goal of The Big Dog Walk with Lots of Dogs Home was initially to just bring people and their dogs together but after seeing how many people wanted an event like this, it grew so rapidly,” Australian event organiser Hannah Klomp told International Business Times Australia.

Participants are encouraged to bring gold coin donations for the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home, who will also hold a Supplies Drive to donate towels, blankets, tins of food and toys to animal rescue groups. You do not need to own a dog to participate as the event is open to the public.

This year, Sydney Dogs and Cats Home is planning on building a bigger home for rescued animals in Sydney council areas, with the aim to build Sydney’s largest charity pound and community facility that does not place a time limit for animals needing to be adopted.

The Sydney organisation, established in 1949, seeks to prevent the unnecessary euthanasia of animals, but give them a second chance at life by facilitating their rehoming process.

Each year, the charity organisation welcomes up to 3,000 lost, abandoned, and mistreated pets, with Klomp stating that over 250,000 healthy cats and dogs are euthanised each year in Australia.

"We want to show to show people that they can make a contribution to help stop the problem by simply choosing to adopt rather than buy animals," she said.

“The issue of euthanasia is massive in Australia . . . Unfortunately, because of over breeding, puppy factories, pet shops and backyard breeding, there are so many animals that just do not have a loving home to call their own. We want to show people that they can make a contribution to help stop the problem by simply choosing to adopt rather than buy animals.”

The event will debut this year in Sydney, Australia; Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand; and Harajuku, Japan. The walk will begin at 10.00am at Sydney Park. For more information, visit this page.