Fun holiday gifts for pet lovers – for a good cause!

Looking for Holiday gifts for pet lovers?

Contemporary Cats has an awesome selection of accessories, bags and wallets, notecards and more – and they donate a portion of all sales to Companions For Life to help our humane education efforts!

Extra! Extra!

If you have other organizations you might want to support, check out Rebecca Poling’s latest article on great gifts for pet lovers that also benefit local shelters and rescue groups – from divine doggie treats at Sublime Bakery to Mousepads, Snowglobes and pet beds, your holiday shopping can mean more than just awesome gifts! Groups that benefit include Animal Rescue of Texas, Cat Matchers, Dog and Kitty City, SPCA of Texas, Homeward Bound Rescue and more. These are gifts that keep on giving!

Do you know someone who wants a new pet for Christmas?

Pets are like perfume, there’s a lot of chemistry involved in getting a perfect match, and many well-meaning gifts of pooches or kitties end up in shelters as a result of a poor match or because the time isn’t quite right. Instead of giving a pet, why not give a pet gift certificate instead? Many shelters offer gift certificates that can be used to cover adoption fees so that people can take their time and find exactly the right pet to love forever.

And… if you want something fun to wrap for under the tree, why not get a pet gift certificate from your local shelter or humane society, and pop it in a nifty little pet carrier like this one (from Contemporary Cats) – now they have something to carry their new friend home in!

Virtual Virtues!

Finally, if you’d like to directly help an animal, you can also make a donation on a person’s behalf – or sponsor an animal either in a shelter or at a zoo or sanctuary. This is a great way to help teach kids about conservation or animal welfare – many programs exist that provide an “adoption” certificate and information about the animal being sponsored, and sometimes also little plush toys that children can enjoy while learning about different animals.

Do you have any other suggestions for fun gifts that support a good cause or help teach humane values? Share them with us and inspire someone to make a difference - what better way to bring real cheer to the holiday season than with wonderful gifts that also help deserving causes – happy shopping!

How can shelters increase adoptions?

Dog training!  A recent article on the ZoomRoom website highlights new research confirming that even moderately trained dogs are more likely to be adopted from animal shelters. In the study, trained dogs were adopted about 1.5 times as frequently as dogs without basic training, corroborating the observations of the article’s author, that dogs in shelters “who exhibit friendly ‘pet-like’ behavior are the quickest to be adopted”.

Lola McKnight Co-founder of Shelter Animal Advocacy Fund, LA and Dog Trainer & Behavior Specialist completely agrees: “At the West LA city shelter we have an on going training program made up of volunteers and dog trainers. We work with as many of the dogs as possible teaching them basic obedience. Every time we show a dog who knows "sit" or walks well on leash, people are much more interested in adopting them. In addition, our dogs who participate in the K9 Connection program (at risk kids training shelter dogs) are also much more likely to be adopted.”

Prioritizing basic training for dogs at shelters is good on a number of levels: it keeps the dogs socialized and teaches them manners which, as we’ve seen above, makes them more desirable – but it also keeps them engaged and stimulated, helping prevent depression or other kennel-induced behavior problems that make it harder for a dog to find a home. And of course, for shelters that euthanize, adopting more dogs (faster) can mean fewer animals sent to the kill room.

How can you help? Well, the more volunteers a shelter has, the better its chances of being able to spare some resources to train the dogs – so do what you can! Walk dogs, train them, or just take on some shelter duties to free staff up to make this critical commitment. Fostering also helps – foster parents train and socialize dogs while caring for them in a home environment, helping to make sure they’re at their most adoptable.

So reach out to your local shelter now, to see what you can do to help them adopt out more dogs – helping a dog learn “sit” could save its life!

Children’s books you can use to teach compassion

In a world where violence and gore no longer elicit shock, it’s little wonder that some children are growing up thinking that it’s OK to abuse others, whether animal or human. But it’s not OK – and it’s the responsibility of parents, teachers and influential adults to help children learn and understand the concepts of compassion, empathy and humanity, starting as young as possible.

Stories are powerful tools in our humane education toolkit – reading to and/or with a child not only encourages literacy but helps to stimulate their natural curiosity, and introduces concepts of humane living in age-appropriate context.

The Institute of Humane Education has a new Children’s Literature section on their website, where they list some fantastic book suggestions for children of all ages. Options include fiction and non-fiction, picture books and chapter books – why not start by checking out the books listed under the “animal protection” category? There are some great Thanksgiving titles, or you could help a kid learn about adopting a dog, or why it’s not a good thing for cats to keep having kittens.

Come to think of it, some of these books might be useful for adults too!

 

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