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As Karen points out (see above) the HSUS do tremendous work shutting down puppy mills. They also work to crack down on dog fighting - rescuing thousands of dogs from both of these types of operations and pushing for stricter laws to bring an end to these forms of abuse.

They provide spay-neuter clinics, which is perhaps one of the most puppy-friendly things to do, all the while leading dedicated campaigns for adoption through public service announcements and awareness campaigns that your small local shelter would never be able to afford.

Their website and magazines are always providing information for dog owners on how to care for their pets and solve "problem behaviors" - one of the biggest reasons why pets get abandoned. This helps to stem the tide of dogs that end up in shelters, and create sociable and well-trained animals that can be more easily adopted should anything happen to their owners.

Their Disaster Response teams provide assistance and medical care in times of emergency, and thanks to donors they have the necessary equipment to carry out their missions. Their trained rescuers have helped save thousands of pets in need.

Finally, their Street Dog Welfare program works to help alleviate the suffering encountered by dogs in developing countries, where overpopulation is a problem.

They seem like a pretty dog-gone dog friendly bunch to me! Just because the HSUS does not run any dog shelters per se does not mean that they don't help a LOT of dogs on a daily basis!

When it comes to farm animals (the last on their list, actually) their main concern is bringing an end to factory farming - one cruel practice at a time. In fact, they encourage better husbandry practices (like cage-free farming) and bring much needed public support to farmers who are invested in the welfare of their animals.

Finally, a lot of people working for HSUS do indeed seem to love animals enough to have personally sworn off from eating them, and are not ashamed to let their choices be known.

At the same time, their website and most of their articles concerning diet ask people to simply *reduce* their meat and dairy consumption. I would hardly call promoting Meatless Mondays and a "flexitarian" approach to be a "PETA type agenda".