The Humane Society of the Ohio Valley works diligently everyday to help animals in their community. Located in Marietta, Ohio, the shelter cares for an average of 1,800 animals per year. The staff and volunteers are successful in getting about half this number of dogs and cats adopted annually. They measure their successes in happy endings and there are plenty at this shelter located close to the Ohio River. Like many shelters across the country though, the organization faces a tough on-going challenge of finding enough homes for the animals that come into their care.

One of the ways in which the Humane Society of the Ohio Valley has been able to creatively find loving, permanent homes for animals is to emphasis the benefits of adopting older animals, especially dogs. There is great information on their Web site that lists ten reasons why individuals should consider giving a home to an older dog.

Another innovative program offered by the Humane Society of the Ohio Valley is their obedience training adoption program with the Noble County Correctional Center. The shelter provides dogs which are assigned to an inmate that will become the dog’s primary care giver and trainer. Once the dog is fully trained they are returned to the shelter for placement. The training that the dogs receive makes them more adoptable. The added benefit is that this program provides an extremely beneficial experience for the inmates.

In addition to managing the shelter and placing animals, the organization works to prevent cruelty to animals and to relieve their suffering; provides vigorous support to improve anti-cruelty and animal control laws; offers humane education programs; condemns the practice of releasing animals from private and public shelters for the purpose of biomedical research, and consistently works toward finding solutions to the pet overpopulation problem.