Dog lovers and the dogs they love got together for a special Halloween festival today in Mattituck, where Canine Companions for Independence hosted “Howl-O-Tails” — a free event with live music, food and merchandise vendors and a doggie costume contest.
The winning costumed pooch was CCI Yarnell II, a 12-year-old retired service dog owned by CCI trainer Kim Furino.
Fair organizer Josh Marino, a Mattituck resident and Canine Companions volunteer, said the event was intended to raise awareness for the national organization, which trains puppies to help people with wide variety of disabilities, both physical and developmental. The organization’s dogs don’t work with the blind, but with anyone with a disability who can demonstrate that a canine companion would help change their quality of life.
The organization is in desperate need of volunteers to raise and train puppies for the organization,CCI-L.I. Chapter president Pam Recchio said in an interview this week. “We have such a long waiting list for the recipients to get the dogs, and we have only about 30 puppy raisers right now,” Recchio said.
Anyone can volunteer to be a puppy raiser for the organization. Volunteers raise golden and labrador retrievers over the course of a year and a half, attending classes twice a week with their puppy to help teach commands that will eventually be used by the puppy’s future owner.
“A lot of people think they couldn’t be a puppy raiser because they don’t think they could give the dog back,” Recchio said. “I used to be one of those people. But once I started volunteering, it became a no-brainer. These dogs are changing people’s lives.”
RiverheadLOCAL photos by Denise Civiletti
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