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The great part is the beautiful weather to go out walking and burn off those couple extra pounds of winter insulation. What? You kept them off you and your dog? Excellent! If not, go take advantage of some pleasant exercise in the great outdoors. Cook out time? Yeah, it’s tempting to toss the dog a wiener, but try to resist. Begging is not good working dog behavior. Going for car rides? Don’t let your dog hang out the window – it is dangerous and bad for his eyes. Ever had a bug splat on your hand when it was out the window? Ouch! Picture that in your eye!

The nuisance part of summer? Mosquitoes, fleas and ticks! Don’t forget the heartworm checks and heartworm preventative. There are lots of ways to prevent fleas and ticks. Go as natural as possible; it may help your dog live a longer, more comfortable life. If you need advice, feel free to give us a call. In the meantime, enjoy the beauty of nature and the warmth of summertime!

Thank you all for the great response to our Canine Retirement Fund. Our goal was $10.000. and so far we have taken in $7655. Of course, we have spent some of it on the retirees already. It is really nice to know there is some money there for our special retired canines as we need it. We appreciate your understanding how important they are to us, after all the years they have dedicated to their masters with disabilities.

And, Congratulations to Ruth Binkly for winning the "Matching Name Game" in our last newsletter! The correct answers were: 1 – Dutchess; 2 – Gretel; 3 – Mandy; 4 – AJ; 5 – Crystal; and 6 – Heidi. Thanks for playing and helping us out!

A very caring member has issued a challenge to all other individuals, members, organizations, and sponsors. She has generously donated $3000 to help sponsor the training of Assistance Dogs. She challenges everyone else to meet or exceed her sponsorship donation!

As most of your know, our clients are requested to help fund raise to cover the cost of their Assistance Dogs. Some areas respond very generously, making full sponsorship a reachable goal. Other areas may not be able to help out as much for various reasons. Unfortunately, clients in these areas must rely more heavily on financial support from our end in order to meet their goal. Money from this sponsorship fund will be earmarked for those clients who genuinely make a good effort to fund raise, but can not reach their full goal.

As always, Canine Helpers, as well as our clients and dogs, greatly appreciate your support. YOU make the difference!

If you shop at Tops or Quality Markets do you save your register tapes and send them to Canine Helpers? If so, you probably know that we turn in over $300,000 worth of tapes each month to help us raise money. We receive $1.00 for each $600 in Tops tapes, which we cut to about 3" (leaving the total and Tops’ name on them). Whole Quality tapes brings us $1.00 for each $400 of tapes turned in.

If you buy Campbell products, do you save the labels? We redeem the front panel of these for small office supplies or larger items – even a van (some day…).

A special thanks to all our regular tape and label savers, and a hearty welcome to our new ones. We hear from people in all the surrounding communities, especially the Niagara Falls, area due to the articles in the Niagara Gazette. Hilde Hendricks collects tapes and labels for us, or they can be sent directly to Canine Helpers in Lockport.

Once again, thank you for the wonderful job you’re doing. Keep up the good work. It’s nice to know you care!

We were very pleased to meet so many of our new members and friends, as well as our long-time supporters at our Christmas Open House in December, and hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did! We certainly couldn’t do it without all of you, and we THANK YOU so very much for your support!

We’d also like to thank those who helped sponsor our Chinese Raffle including:

"Simba" is absolutely wonderful! I have only had him for about a month, and he is already helping me get in and out of my apartment building! Before I had him, I could not get in and out unless someone was there to help. I have also spent a great deal of time stuck in my apartment because my wheelchair got turned off and I couldn’t turn it back on. "Simba" is now helping me turn my wheelchair on so I will not have to worry about getting stuck with my chair turned off any more. I know that in the future he is going to be able to help me more than I can imagine right now.

I am going to become a special education teacher. I know that there will be a lot of challenges involved in being a teacher with a physical disability. I feel a lot better about taking on these challenges with the extra help that "Simba" will provide.

Our valued members are indeed the backbone of Canine Helpers. And once again, it is that time of year to renew your membership, or to become a supporting member of Canine Helpers for the Handicapped for the first time.

What do YOU GET for becoming a member? You will receive a Canine Helpers’ membership card. You will receive copies of our newsletters throughout the year, which contain stories and pictures of our Canine Helper recipients. You will also be invited to all our open houses and special events, which offer a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the special people who YOU are helping to become more independent by your support.

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