Rosemarie Rinehart sees no reason for people who love animals not to join her on Sunday.
Even if they don’t have a dog, they’re welcome to take part in the annual Purina Walk for Dog Guides, sponsored by the Lions Foundation of Canada.
“One of our members came one year with a stuffed dog,” Rinehart said of the event she is helping to organize.
In Kamloops, the walk starts with registration on Sunday at noon at the Kamloops Yacht Club, 1140 River St., and then moves on to the walk itself in Pioneer Park at 1 p.m.
The walk was a staple fundraiser in the city for many years but stopped happening in 2011.
Rinehart is involved because she wanted to not only bring it back but see it grow.
The reasoning is simple — it costs about $25,000 to raise train and place a dog guide, also referred to as a service dog, and these remarkable canines are provided through the foundation to people who need them at no cost.
The foundation doesn’t receive any government funding to do this but relies on donations.
In past years, the walk saw Dennis Robertson bring his service dog Crackers to the walk.
Crackers was trained to assist Robertson with his profound hearing loss, a relationship he later wrote about in a book, Crackers . . . Come Hear.
The walk also saw young Brant Settle come down from his home in Clearwater to take part one year. Brant was inspired by seeing others around him using guide dogs and decided one year to use his birthday as a way to take part and raise some money to help others receive a guide dog.
The dogs work with clients with a variety of challenges, Rinehart said, ranging from hearing loss to autism to seizures. Others are trained with special skills like opening and closing doors, retrieving dropped objects and getting help when needed.
Still other dogs are trained to help those with diabetes, able to not only bark for help but to activate alert systems, retrieve food and provide support after hypoglycemic episodes.
Training a dog can take from four to six months.
Once trained, the dogs are matched with handlers who spend another month at a facility in Oakville, Ont., learning how to work with their canine guide.
The most common breeds trained are Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers and, for those with allergy issues, poodles.
Rinehart and her committee members have been busy getting rewards for those who come out and join them, including prizes, certificates, canine-related coupons and water stations for humans and their dogs to use during the walk.
“The response has been good,” she said of local pet stores and groomers.
For more information, call 1-800-768-3030 or go online to purinawalkfordogguides.com. The Kamloops Riverside Lions Club can also provide information. It can be reached at 250-573-3217.
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