Christmas and Charities for Dogs

This time of year a lot of people wish to donate money to various charitable organizations. If you're interested in helping homeless pets, as in the past, I suggest you donate directly to a local rescue or shelter where you can knock on a door and see how your money is being used.

There are an abundance of TV campaigns for various national and international organizations designed to pull at heart strings. A little time researching them will find they are often not really all that helpful to animals, especially at a local level. For example, I saw an ad yesterday on TV advising that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has received a "D" rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy. HSUS has had many years of dismal ratings, mostly because they are a political organization, not a service organization IMO. Please read more here.

In any event, there a many local shelters here in Central Ohio that do great work - hard work - every day for our community and its homeless animals. If you are able or wanting to help at this (or any) time of year, please consider donating your time and/or money locally.