Dogs With Jobs – A Barktastic Good Time at the Sacramento Children’s Museum

On April 5th, 2025, over 400 community members gathered to celebrate the working dogs of the region at the Sacramento Children’s Museum’s Dogs With Jobs event. Kids and their families met and learned about all kinds of local working dogs – from service dogs to K-9 officers! Dogs With Jobs is an important annual event that highlights the important roles that dogs play in our community and beyond. 

Starting in 2018, Dogs With Jobs has invited thousands of kids and their families to the Sacramento Children’s Museum to learn about the importance of working dogs. The event directly corresponds to the museum’s mission to inspire a love of lifelong learning for children, and accomplishes this through hands-on activities and the experiences of meeting each dog in attendance. It provides a chance to learn about the roles of working dogs and how to interact with them, including when it is and when it isn’t appropriate to pet a working dog. This year, approx. 30 career canines attended, from therapy dogs and guide dogs to K-9 officers, agricultural detection dogs, and mobility assistance dogs.

The event is also a chance for the community to meet the organizations behind the important work each dog accomplishes. In 2025, 11 organizations attended, including 4 Paws to Freedom, Althea Canines, Capital Therapy Dogs, and Guide Dogs for the Blind. Working K-9s from California State Parks , Sacramento County, and the Folsom Police Department also attended, including Liberty, the Folsom Police Department’s therapy K9! Each visiting organization got to share its mission, programs, and working dogs with the community. 

“Dogs with Jobs is truly a community event. All the organizations we partner with share their time, their expertise and their dogs to give our visitors a chance to learn firsthand the important roles dogs play in everyday life. Through the years, we’ve seen children meet dogs for the first time, families have been introduced to what a service dog could do for their own child, and watched our visitors develop a deep appreciation for working dogs of all kinds,” says Meghan Toland, Deputy Director of the Sacramento Children’s Museum. 

Dogs With Jobs will return in April of 2026 for another year of celebrating the working dogs in the community. Keep an eye out for more information closer to the event at Sackids.org!

Photo credit: Armstrong Creative Co.