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PV Lions Join the Yorktown Lions in Celebrating Accomplishments of Guiding Eyes for the Blind
On the evening of April 24, 2007 the PV Lions joined the Yorktown Lions Club in celebrating the accomplishments and personal success stories of the 'mission accomplished" by the Guiding Eyes for the Blind. It was a SRO crowd of enthusiastic supporters that worked the room networking and listened to the speakers share their stories and experiences with this great organization. Things learned at the presentation and awards dinner that night included:
-Each trained guiding eyes dog is valued at $40,000. The dogs work from 2 years to 10 or 11 years on average. Their training time is about 6 - 8 months. The age of the dogs to start training runs from 6 months to 14 months old.
-Dogs retire and are put up for Adoption in a carefully screened program so they can enjoy their well-deserved golden years.
-Dogs and their new owners, clients of the Guiding Eyes for the Blind, attend classes so they can bond with each other, learn the proper daily living protocols and commands, etc. Class sizes are up to a maximum of 16. In cases of special needs due to the nature or extent of the disabilities of the client, classes can be as small and personal as 2 per class.
-Before graduating and being paired with new owners, the guiding eye dogs as puppies go to live with adoptive families and attend basic training in a class of 12 to learn the basic commands and to gauge whether the puppy is a good candidate for this program. It's a 3-year apprenticeship of extensive hands-on training for Instructors who work for the Guiding Eyes for the Blind as employees.
It was a lively and informative night in which, of course, the dogs stole the show. Anyone interested in volunteering for various programs at the Guiding Eyes for the Blind in Yorktown should contact them direct at (914) 245-4024 - ask for the Coordinator of Volunteers.
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