Miranda Lambert and her pet pooches led more than 1,000 people, including Nashville mayor Megan Barry, along the first-ever MuttNation March through Music City on June 8 as part of CMA Fest. The almost-one-mile march, which was created to raise awareness and funds for pet adoption, helped 60 shelter dogs find new homes across 21 states and Canada.

If Miranda has her way, the MuttNation March will become a yearly event.

“[The MuttNation March] was awesome,” says Miranda to Nash Country Daily. “It was our first year. We’re kinda in a revamp phase for MuttNation just ’cause it started with my mom and I and four other girls, and we kinda got a little too big for our britches. We don’t know what we’re doing at all [laughing]. Our main goals are to raise money for aiding shelters and aiding in rescues, either natural disasters or when dogs get misplaced in storms or when shelters need someone to come in and help move dogs out of there.

“We want to be able to raise enough money to help shelters do renovations and help with adoption drives. I really love it and I’m just excited because we’re sort of in a brainstorming mode of what can we do to make it bigger and better. At CMA Fest, we adopted out every dog that we brought and 1,000 people showed up to walk with us, so it really was amazing. I was so excited that it worked. You know what I mean, hopefully we’ll make it a [yearly] habit.”

With 18 pets under her care, Miranda is certainly practicing what she preaches through her MuttNation Foundation.

“I have five horses, two mini-horses, seven dogs and four rescue kitties,” says Miranda. “18 total—it’s my new lucky number.