[Nyagdu] sorry hear it is

[cheryl echevarria]

 National Guide Dog Awareness Month



      Paula Abdul

      has teamed up with Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance®, Petco® and 
independent pet stores to raise money for Guide Dog Organizations across the 
country.


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      State Governors are now in the process of declaring May National Guide 
Dog Month.



      A potential guide dog puppy is raised with a trainer for 18-20 months, 
then the dog is given to the school for formal guide dog training which 
consists of actual guide dog work with a harness. This takes 4-6 months. 
Then the dog is matched with a blind person, who is sent to the guide dog 
facility to learn how to handle their dog, and this training takes 28 days. 
It costs over forty thousand dollars to train a guide dog team. Guide dogs 
are given to the blind for free.

      Money will be raised in the following ways:

        a.. Petco® & Independent pet stores will participate in a Round Up 
Program, for example, when a customer makes a purchase for $5.55, at the 
register they are asked if they would like to round up to $6.00, and the 45 
cents will then be donated to Guide Dogs.
        a.. For Independent pet stores that are not able to do the Round Up 
Program, the customer will be asked for a one dollar or more donation to 
Guide Dogs at the register, or the store can create their own collection 
program.
        a.. Natural Balance will have specially marked bags of dog food, and 
50 cents of the purchase will be donated to Guide Dogs.


      100% of the proceeds from National Guide Dog Month will be donated to 
Guide Dog training facilities across the country. There are no 
administration fees.


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      Guide Dogs Program
      Natural Balance® provides food for Guide Dog Associations. Click on 
the links below for more information about each program:

      <http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/programs/gdd/guidedogs.html><http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/programs/gda/gda.html><http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/programs/gdtx/gdtx.html>

Cheryl Echevarria