Lions may go to the dogs - at least puppies

Warwick - The Warwick Lions Club and the “Pals with Paws” program are looking to reestablish their relation to work on projects to help the blind. Warwick Lions originally sponsored the local “Pals with Paws” program more than 10 years ago, and the pairing is natural: Lion clubs are renown for their long-term commitment to helping the visually impaired while “Pals with Paws” provides potential guide dog puppies with homes. In seeking to forge new ties, the Lions invited Todd Plaisted, an active member of “Pals with Paws” program, to the club’s Dec. 1 meeting to explain how the program works. Plaisted said there are currently nine families raising 10 puppies; he and his family are on their fourth with a puppy named Nibby. The puppies, mostly Labs, Shepherds and Golden Retrievers, arrive at seven weeks and remain with a family until they are 18 months. The time spent in a family setting helps the dog become accustomed to the ordinary events it will encounter as a seeing-eye dog living with a blind person, Plaisted said. He acknowledged how attached host families become and that it is difficult to give up the dog for further training. But the reward comes, he noted, in seeing the animal work with a blind person and in understanding the freedom that dog provides. The two groups will continue to discuss mutual efforts. Meanwhile, the Lions also heard a report from Taylor Curtin, a junior at Warwick Valley High School and member of the Warwick Leo Club, on the activities of the club. The Leo Club is a community-based youth service organization for students 12-17 sponsored by the Warwick Lions Club and designed to provide leadership, experience, opportunity - thus the acronym LEO. This past summer the Leo Club helped serve lunches at the senior citizen barbecue and provided assistance with clearing trails for the Winslow Therapeutic Riding Center Ride-a-Thon. During the fall, the club provided Thanksgiving baskets for two needy families; on Halloween - “Sight Night” - the Leos collected 25 pair of eyeglasses to give to those in need. Curtin also reported on the Warwick Leo Club’s recent donations of $1,000 to the Puppies Behind Bars program and $300 to the Warwick Valley Community Center. The Warwick Lions meet the first and third Thursday of each month. Anyone interested in joining the Lions, or looking for more information about Lions, may visit their Web site www.warwicklionsclub.org or call Warwick Lions Club President Craig Thompson at 986-9595.