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CRANBURY: Puppy love lessons

By Nicole M. Wells, Special Writer
   CRANBURY — Eleven-year-old Isabel Kinney, of Cranbury, knows that while you may see some things with your eyes, you see others with your heart.
   Starring as Helen Keller in The Pennington Players’ current production of “The Miracle Worker,” Isabel also recently became an official puppy raiser for The Seeing Eye.
   The Seeing Eye, based in Morristown, Morris County, is a philanthropic organization that enhances the lives of people who are blind through the use of specially trained guide dogs, according to its website.
   ”Helen Keller is such an inspiring woman,” Isabel said. “How she fought through all her struggles and her difficulties and achieved her goals is just amazing.”
   Isabel said that her character work for the role of Helen Keller has helped her better understand the obstacles blind people face and the importance of Seeing Eye dogs.
   ”My friends have been working with The Seeing Eye and I thought it would be such an amazing experience to actually raise a Seeing Eye dog,” she said.
   To become a Seeing Eye puppy raiser, Isabel had to attend puppy club meetings every other Monday for one year. She couldn’t miss any meetings and had to puppy sit another Seeing Eye puppy before she became eligible to receive her own.
   According to Isabel’s mother, Noel, the minimum age to be a Seeing Eye puppy raiser is 11 years old.
   Shortly before Thanksgiving, the Kinney family received ALu, a female black Labrador Retriever puppy. Her unusual moniker came with her, Isabel said.
   ”We don’t choose the name,” she said. “The Seeing Eye chooses it.”
   According to Isabel, Paris-based telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent is a big supporter of The Seeing Eye and ALu’s name is a tribute to their support. The “A” is from Alcatel and the “Lu” is from Lucent.
   So far, ALu knows the sit, down and come commands and needs to learn more but “she’s just a puppy now and we will teach her,” Isabel said.
   The Kinney family will foster ALu for approximately one year, teaching her basic obedience, exposing her to as much as possible and giving her lots of love before she returns to The Seeing Eye for her formal training, Ms. Kinney said.
   ”She’s such a sweet and calm and mild dog,” Isabel said. “It’s been very fun working with her.”
   When ALu returns to The Seeing Eye, she will begin her formal training and be tested to see if she has the aptitude to be a Seeing Eye dog, Isabel said.
   Isabel said she would like to continue working with The Seeing Eye in the future.
   ”I’d love to do it more,” Isabel said. “Even if ALu does not get accepted, I have another chance to learn from my mistakes.”
   ”The Miracle Worker” runs Feb. 1-10 at Kelsey Theater on the Mercer County Community College campus in West Windsor.
   ”It’s going to be hard to send ALu back,” Isabel said, “but knowing that, if she does make it, she will help a blind person is going to help me let go of her.”