When Charlie Annenberg founded Dog Bless You in 2006, it began as a Facebook page and documentary show (Explore.org) documenting his travels across America with his close companion Lucky, an adopted golden retriever. Lucky visited schools and retirement homes, bringing love and comfort wherever he went. Charlie and Lucky’s travels were philanthropic, and they took a grassroots approach to support each community they visited. Their mission was to champion the selfless acts of others, inspire lifelong learning, and create a portal into the soul of humanity. As they documented their journey, thousands began to follow their Facebook page.

In March of 2011, Charlie and Lucky attended the South by Southwest Film Festival in Texas to showcase a film about some of Charlie’s philanthropic work. While they were at the festival, disaster struck Japan–a magnitude nine earthquake triggered a tsunami that killed thousands and injured many. Charlie sprung to action. He utilized the hub of media at SXSW and the Dog Bless You Facebook page to spread a message of hope: search dogs were on their way to find survivors in Japan. He mobilized thousands of people to support the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation’s efforts to deploy trained search and rescue teams.

After the search dog initiative, Charlie focused on other dog-related organizations needing support. He ran philanthropic campaigns that funded the training of service dogs for war veterans, guide dogs for people who were blind, and many more. Today, the Facebook community has grown to a following of over 9 million, with an Instagram following of hundreds of thousands.

In 2013, Dog Bless You initiated several live-streaming puppy cams at non-profit service dog facilities to provide puppy therapy to viewers worldwide. To this day, five Dog Bless You puppy cams still stream live on explore.org.

Today, Dog Bless You mirrors the selfless act of service dogs in improving the human condition. On a philanthropic level, it is a leading provider of service dogs. The Dog Bless You live camera on Explore.org allows individuals to watch puppies grow and become future service animals. In addition, whenever a natural disaster strikes, Dog Bless You sends search and rescue dogs and runs match grant campaigns to raise money to help with the relief process.

From a community lens, Dog Bless You is a social media platform for kindred spirits who understand their dogs’ unique role in their life. With fun photo contests throughout the year, our social media recognizes how dogs improve the lives of many. 

Dogs represent unconditional love, selflessness, and forgiveness which is the heartbeat of all religions; hence the name Dog Bless You.