Columbus Dog Connection
  • Adoptable Pets
    • CDC Dogs & Cats
    • Dogs/Cats With Other Rescues/Good Sam's
    • Mingle With Our Mutts
  • Veterinary Services
    • Spay/Neuter Clinic
    • No Sex In Our City
    • Vaccine Clinic
  • Rescues/Shelters
    • Ohio Rescue/Shelters
    • Other Animal Rescues
    • Resources for Rescue Groups
  • Dog/Cat Info/Need Help
    • Dog/Cat Info
    • Pit Bull Info/Resources
    • Surrender/Placement Tips
    • Lost Dog/Cat Info
    • Behavior Tips
    • Pediatric Spay Neuter
  • Humane Issues
    • Humane Issues
    • Ohio Commercial Dog Breeders
    • Ohio Puppy Mill Legislation
    • Definitions of Breeders, Brokers, Rescues
    • Humane Farming
    • Where To Report Abuse
    • Dog Fighting
    • Cock Fighting
    • Wildlife Issues
    • Petland Issue
    • Tethering Laws
  • Volunteer
    • Fostering
  • Donate/Wish List
    • Adopt An Envelope
  • About
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Awards, Media, Video Library
    • Our Work
    • Job Postings
    • Happy Endings
    • Events >
      • Subaru
    • Companies that Support Us
    • Elevated-Dog-Beds
About Us

Columbus Dog Connection is a 501c3, limited admission dog and cat rescue organization, formed in 1998. 

Mission Statement
The mission of the Columbus Dog Connection is to improve the lives of cats and dogs in Ohio by focusing on:
  • Ending the overpopulation of unwanted cats and dogs through high quality, low cost spay/neuter services.
  • Impacting the lives of unwanted and homeless dogs and cats through rescue, foster, and adoption.
  • Providing support and resources to our community and other animal welfare organizations in need. 
​Our Programs
  • Rescue, foster, and re-home stray and unwanted dogs and cats. Do our part to end the suffering of dogs and cats, with emphasis on abandoned, inured, and chained animals.
  • Provide permanent foster home or hospice to elderly, ill, un-adoptable foster dogs and cats
  • Operate as a quasi-cat shelter
  • Operate an aggressive spay/neuter program throughout Ohio to help end pet overpopulation by offering low cost spay/neuter services at our location in Columbus and traveling in our mobile spay/neuter clinic “The Andy” to rural counties throughout Ohio.
  • Low cost vaccine clinic offered to the community
  • Cat Colony Caretakers and Trap-Neuter-Release Program
  • Food and Supplies Pantry and share food/supplies with rescues and shelters throughout Ohio
  • Community outreach program to assist and promote animal welfare organizations in conjunction with educating the public regarding the severe pet overpopulation problem in Ohio
Newsletters
2008
2009
2010
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018 
2019
2020
2021 
2022
Picture










​


​In 2018, we celebrated ​20 years of our life saving work. 
Click here to see our anniversary newseltter with 20 years of highlights.

A Video Overview of What We Do
Awards            
Media  
     
Video Library

Our office    2761 Johnstown Rd      
Columbus OH  43219  
614-471-9000   


​
If you would like to receive our annual newsletter via land mail, send your land mail address to:            ColumbusDogConnectionDonations@gmail.com  ​​

​

Our Board
Picture

Carol Folkerth,
Treasurer

Carol is a CDC adopter and longtime supporter.  Carol was the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Columbus until recently when she retired.  Carol and her husband have two rescued pooches from Kind Hands for Paws.  ​

Picture

Wendy Schutt,
Secretary

Wendy has been a long-time supporter of CDC and has adopted two dogs through us.  Currently she has 2 cats and 1 dog and has always had a passion for animal welfare.  Her professional background is in Human Resources and Project Management, and she has assisted us over the years with various HR issues and employment practices.  She has been an independent consultant for 20 years and prior worked for several years in corporate HR for Cargill, Borden and Cardinal Health.  She has been active in the Columbus community for many years – previously serving on the Board of CATCO (Contemporary American Theatre Company), working as a Docent for the Columbus Zoo, and most recently as a member of “The Contemporaries” with the Columbus Museum of Art.
​

Picture

Dr Kristy Clay

​Dr Clay is a graduate of The Ohio State University.  She has donated to and adopted a pooch from Columbus Dog Connection.  Dr Clay helps our efforts by volunteering at our vaccine clinic as well as seeing many of our foster dogs.  Dr Clay has been with Gahanna Animal Hospital since 1996.  She is an expert small animal pocket pet Vet.  Dr Clay also serves on the City Parks/Rec Dog Advisory Board.  

Picture

Donna Hara

Donna Hara is a new member of the CDC board.  Donna has been familiar with Columbus Dog Connection  since it’s early beginnings and adopted our precious rescue dog named Blue.  Donna  worked for 15 years at the Columbus Jewish Center starting as a preschool teacher and finishing as the membership director.  She then worked for 23 years as a front desk manager for a group dental practice.  


Picture

Dr Devon Horne

​Dr. Horne is the proprietor of Clintonville Animal Hospital.  Dr. Horne has helped CDC by performing surgeries and tending to our foster cats/dogs either at our office or at her practice.  Prior to Clintonville Animal Hospital, Dr. Horne worked at several private practices.  Dr. Horne and her husband (also a veterinarian) have an English Mastiff and a rescued French bulldog. 

Annette Houck

Bio to be added

Our Staff

Picture

Mirna Bowman,
​Executive Director

Mirna is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Columbus Dog Connection where she has served since 1998. Mirna was born in Guatemala and came to the United States when she was 5 years old. She grew up in Washington DC and is fluent in Spanish. Mirna is a graduate from The American University in Washington, DC with a BSBA in Accounting and Finance (1982) and is a Certified Public Accountant (1986). Her work experience includes Auditor with Grant Thornton International in Washington, DC; Assistant Controller with Environ in Arlington, Virginia; and Controller at The Jewish Center in Columbus, Ohio. She shares her home with three dogs and four cats.  During her free time, she enjoys gardening and traveling.

Picture

Katrina Johnson,
​Assistant Director

Katrina is the Assistant Director of Columbus Dog Connection.  Katrina coordinates the scheduling of our travel clinics with The Andy and is also our foster dog coordinator. Katrina graduated in 2006 from Columbus State Community College and is a Licensed Registered Vet Tech. Her previous work experience includes Assistant Director of PetNursing at Banfield Pet Hospital of Polaris Parkway and Barn Manager at Circle P Sanctuary, a non-profit horse rescue in Marengo, Ohio.

Picture

Jen Kulina-Lanese,
Veterinary Assistant

Jennifer is a life long animal lover. She proudly served the animals of Franklin County as a Humane Officer for 8 1/2 years. She then moved on to do large scale animal rescue across the nation with HSUS. Jennifer was selected as one of Central Ohio's 20 Outstanding Women in 2016 for her work in animal welfare and advocacy. Knowing that spaying and neutering is a key step to help end pet overpopulation and neglect, Jennifer enjoys her role in caring for animals before and after their surgery.

Picture

Adelle Wills,
​Office Coordinator

​Adelle graduated from Columbus State Community College in 2019. She managed a dog daycare and boarding facility for about 3 years until she joined CDC in early 2022. She currently shares her home with one dog and one cat but is hoping to expand her pack soon.

Our Veterinarian
Picture

Audra Hanthorn, DVM


Picture

Picture
Picture

Picture
Picture

About Columbus Dog Connection and "The Andy" ​

For 13 yrs, we have been sprinting a marathon to save dogs/cats.  We know the most effective way to help the most dogs & cats is prevention.  
First, we obtained office space and now have taken delivery of our first mobile truck to do spay/neuter in rural areas of Ohio. 
We need to continue to raise enough funds to cover the salary for a vet, a vet tech, an assistant & supplies.  The more funds we raise, the more s/n surgeries we can do.

For sponsorship info, contact us at 471-9000 or ColumbusDogConnectionBusiness@gmail.com

We are incredibly excited to see our dream of doing high quality, high volume spay/neuter come to a reality.  We have known for many years now, 
our most efficient use of donations and endless blood, sweat and tears we (and all rescue people) put into saving homeless dogs and cats, 
is to get more spay/neuter services to the areas that need it most. This mobile truck will travel to rural counties to perform s/n services.  This truck will also afford us the opportunity to extend services to other rescues in order to help them serve even more homeless dogs/cats.

We could not have done this with out the generosity and support of many.  Without the support of Joyce & Bill, simply, we would still
be writing for grants to make the truck a reality.  We named the truck Andy after their beloved pooch Andy.  
Our most heart felt thanks to Joyce and Bill for believing in our dream and caring so deeply about helping so many dogs and cats.

The best way we know how to thank them is to turn Ohio into a state that has no euthanasia for lack of space.

The Dream  This project inspired by our love for all dogs/cats & the phenomenal rescue & shelter people in the trenches, who give so much of themselves to save every one of them.
We operate a mobile spay/neuter service, targeting areas with a high animal population.  Overpopulation results from unplanned litters in low income communities.
We travel to rural communities as well as offer services at our office here in Columbus.
Support to this project goes directly to more spay/neuter surgeries of rural, low income residents.  

Scheduling   614-471-9000    or       ColumbusDogConnectionInfo@gmail.com


Special thanks to:
  • Dr Gonzalez .  Maria Shriver described Dr G perfectly with this quote, "People who are really good at their game are generous with their gifts".  Thanks to Dr G for being so generous and caring about the big picture, which is addressing the overpopulation problem. 
  • Mike & Bob at Lizard Skinz, made our truck "ours" and we could not be more tickled with it.
  • Laura Sauer, professional photographer who gave a day to shoot the dogs and cats on our truck.  And thanks to her assistant, Lisa Barton.
  • Kathleen at Paw Prints Photography for doing an impromptu photo shoot of our cats !


​
Questions? Email us at:   ​ColumbusDogConnectionInfo@gmail.com​
Columbus Dog Connection    614-471-9000 
2761 Johnstown Rd Columbus  OH   43219   (near the Columbus Airport)