Ollie the Do Good Dog, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, who will make a 500 mile trip on the Ohio River starting Sunday with Michael Kruer and Cammy Hummel to raise money for no-kill animal shelters. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG — A man and Ollie the Do Good Dog are raising money for no-kill animal shelters by riding a personal watercraft next week on the Ohio River from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati.

Michael Kruer, depending on the weather, will be in the area around Tuesday in the 500-mile journey starting Sunday from Point Park in Pittsburgh, where the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers form the Ohio, to a public landing in Cincinnati near Great American Ball Park, home of the Cincinnati Reds. The trip will take about five days, Kruer said.

“I’m going to make the same trip that I made 41 years ago starting and ending at the same points,” Kruer said.

At that time, Kruer was raising money in the fight against muscular dystrophy, a disease causing muscle deterioration. The journey was on a craft in which he had to stand the entire way.

Kruer, originally from Cincinnati, will be sitting on a Jet Ski next week with Ollie, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel. Cammy Hummel, a Glen Dale, W.Va., native, will accompany them in a vehicle, assisting with various arrangements such as eating and overnight accommodations. They live in Dunedin, Fla.

Michael Kruer and Ollie the Do Good Dog pose on a Jet Ski for their 500-mile journey on the Ohio River from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati to raise money for no-kill animal shelters. The fundraising duo and their follow-along partner will be in the area on Tuesday, depending on the weather. (Photo Provided)

Kruer also will carry the game ball he threw in the first pitch of a Pittsburgh Pirates game in 1982 against the Reds and four other balls Ollie carried at minor-league games in the Florida area.

The Reds will feature him pre-game on the Jumbotron scoreboard and he will participate in a pre-game event with the Pirates on Sunday, he said. The Pirates are playing the Reds on Sunday.

The mission is to raise funds for no-kill animal shelters, he said.

The goal is $5 million, 10,000 adoptions and 10,000 volunteers for animal shelters and raise awareness of keeping the river clean, Kruer said.

Information is available at olliethedogooddog.com where links to no-kill shelters can be found to make donations. Donations also can be made directly to the shelter by googling “no-kill shelters near me,” he said.

“Every penny then goes to the shelter,” Kruer said.