On Saturday, Oct. 31, the dogs have their day at Yelp! Baton Rouge’s Howl-O-Ween Parade from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. at BREC’s City-Brooks Park

For a $10 entry fee, pups and their people can participate in both the noon-time parade and the costume contest. The fee to enter the costume contest without parading around the park is $5.

“In the past, we have held the Yappy Halloween Run,” says Jessica Card, Yelp’s executive director. “We decided to try something different this year, knowing how much people love celebrating Halloween and how much they love dressing their dogs in costumes!”

Besides modifying its signature Halloween event, the nonprofit has undergone a big change in the past few weeks.

In early October when Yelp’s leased building was placed up for sale, the non-profit quickly adapted from housing its rescued dogs in a North Baton Rouge shelter to placing the dogs in foster homes exclusively.

Of the 40 dogs who lived in the shelter, all but 10 have found new homes. So, Yelp is recruiting new fosters for those dogs and others.

Even without a shelter, “Yelp! BR will continue to rescue and rehome as many dogs as we can safely place in foster homes,” Card says. “We will continue to attend weekly adoption events and hold fundraisers for the care and medical needs of the fostered dogs.”

For more information on the Halloween event, visit Yelp’s website.

Creature feature

Among the cuddly canines at Yelp! Baton Rouge are:

Pireaux is an 8-month-old male lab. Pireaux is a good boy with lots of energy. Although Yelp does not have his papers, he is supposedly from a bloodline of hunting dogs. He was in the middle of learning to retrieve when his owner became too ill to keep him, so she surrendered him to rescue.

Kiaya is a young female Chihuahua/terrier mix. She is house-trained, energetic and playful. She is good with children and cats.

Shiloh is a 5-year-old, male Corgi mix. He is a sweet little guy who likes to act tough at times.

Many other puppies and dogs are available at Yelp! Baton Rouge’s website or Facebook page.