The Purina Walk for Dog Guides fundraising walk Sunday, May 31 was a day to celebrate man’s best friend and their ability to save human lives.
Hosted by the Lions Club of Ponoka at Centennial Park, the dog-friendly event was also a chance for families to get out and enjoy the sun before thundery showers fell on Ponoka. During the event, youths also had a chance to try their hand at fishing in the Centennial Park pond, walk their dogs and see rescue dogs in action.
One attendee was able to show just how important these dogs are. Don Scorah is unable to see and has had three seeing-eye dogs over the years and he says his dog guide frees him to move around with confidence. About two and a half years ago he was paired with Enzo, a standard poodle from the Lions Club Foundation of Canada Dog Guides.
They have become friends fast. “With him (Enzo), he’s my buddy all the time . . . he’s constantly with me.”
He has come to trust his dog over the years because at times Enzo would do something that Scorah was unsure about but it was to protect Scorah from harm. “It’s for safety. The dog just takes over,” he said.
“You have to trust the dog and you have to listen to the dog,” he added.
Most of the Lions clubs across the country used May 31 as the fundraiser day for the dog guide school based out of Oakville, Ont. explained André Nimchuk, Alberta/NWT director with the Lions. “It’s the largest fundraiser of its kind in Canada. It raises over $1.3 million for the school each year.”
Nimchuk says club donations range from $1,000 to $25,000 and all the funds go directly to the dog guide school to help people in six areas: vision, hearing, service dogs to help with physical disabilities, autism assistance, diabetic alert and seizure response.
These dogs go through important training and over the years the school has graduated 140 to 160 teams — the dogs and their human protectees. Nimchuk says the goal is to graduate 200 teams in the near future.
Two things struck Nimchuk the most when he first visited the dog training school: the trainers and the volunteers who want to help. He says there are many people in Oakville who volunteer their time to help out and train the dogs.
Rescue dogs show their search abilities
The day also brought live mock rescues by dogs and their owners from the Canadian Search and Disaster Dogs Association (CASDDA), a non-profit organization that trains dogs how to search for missing people.
President Richard Lee explained the process to attendees while dogs searched for “missing” people in a mock rubble pile. CASDDA, which has its headquarters in Edmonton, has taken calls for rescues in Alberta, countrywide in Canada and internationally. Members recently went to Nepal to help with rescue operations after the recent earthquake, he explained.
Dogs are trained to bark on command and to bark in the event they find a missing person. Being part of CASDDA isn’t easy but Lee says it involves great teamwork between the dog and owner. “We train as a team and we work as a team.”
“It is very much a partnership,” he added.
Lee said owners know the strengths and weaknesses of their dogs and understand their characters.
He says training is intensive and being a CASDDA member takes quite a commitment, but the rewards outweigh the extra work. “This is something that is extremely demanding obviously, but it’s extremely rewarding.”
The fundraising event was organized by Lions Club member Dixie Tyndall, which raised $5,382 from the event.