When Navya G. moved to Walnut Creek with her husband Sid, they knew almost no one.
As they adjusted to life in a new town with Pluto, their Maltese poodle, they visited a local park.
The daily visits quickly turned into something more meaningful. Those casual conversations between dog owners have grown into lasting friendships.
"We met some friends at the dog park, and this has become our whole social circle," she says.
The group gathers for birthday celebrations, movie outings, dinners, and poker games, and helps each other pet-sit.
"We owe all this community to our dogs," Navya says. "We met because of our dogs, and we bonded because of our dogs."
The daily routine of bringing Pluto to the park also transformed family life. Instead of staying indoors after work, Navya, Sid, and their four-year-old son Avi look forward to spending time outside.
"I was pregnant with my son when we first started coming here. My son learned to ride his bike here," she says. "We come almost every day. It gets us outside, moving, and connected to people."
Retired couple Candace and Michael Hirsch and their five-year-old Bernedoodle Riley are also regulars at the park after hearing about the community from a neighbor about three years ago.
After losing their dogs in 2007, Candace wasn’t sure she was ready for another pet, but Riley changed that.
Riley quickly became the center of their lives.
"He's really a good dog, sweet to be with,” she said.
Ken Marcus and his fur kids, Maui, a Labradoodle and Whisky, a chocolate merle phantom Goldendoodle, started coming to the park about six years ago.
Ken stumbled into the community shortly after getting Maui. While chatting with fellow dog owners, he mentioned that he had started cycling then.
One conversation led to another, and soon, he found himself joining regular bike rides with Sal Italiano, another regular at the park.
"Now I road bike two or three times a week with him," Ken said. "Another person in the group is a mountain biker, so we ride every Sunday somewhere in the Bay Area."
Friday evenings are special for the group as they gather for their weekly potluck party, bringing food and drinks to share.
"It's incredible to think that this started from a bag of chips and a six-pack of beer and that continued to grow and grow," said Ken. “People started bringing pastries, cakes, and everything they were making. Some of the people here are phenomenal cooks and bakers. They love sharing.”
Some Friday evenings often resemble gourmet potlucks, says Sal, who brings his eight-year-old Husky mix Enzo.
"We have a good group of people," he said. "It's something I really look forward to. I don't schedule anything on Friday evenings."
Aishwarya Naik and her husband, Akul Agarwal, the newest members of the group, learned about the community through Navya.
When they realized that Floppy, a rescue from South Korea, loved being around other dogs, they started coming regularly.
“Everyone is very welcoming and being new to this community, I think it’s a great place to be,” said Aishwarya. “We’ve leaned on everyone. I don’t reach out to Nextdoor, I reach out to the group that we have.”
Beyond gatherings, members also rally around one another during times of need.
Andy Kellam, who brings his dog Suki, recalled an incident when a dog he helped pet-sit escaped during a morning jog, prompting him to send an SOS message to fellow members.
Within hours, a handful of people came to his rescue.
They finally found the dog after hours of searching, and now that story has since become a running joke among members.
“The moral of the story is, don’t let me dog sit, but if you do, know that I’ve got people that will help me,” he chuckled.