The Zieba family, originally from Saratoga but more recently from Oakland, couldn't be more thankful that the Saratoga Lions Club upheld that motto recently, raising thousands of dollars for Canine Companions for Independence. After all, it was the Lions' donation that helped bring the Ziebas the newest addition to their family--Haidis the dog.

Thanks to the Saratoga Lions, Saratoga Wells Fargo Bank and the San Jose Host Lions, Haidis completed training with the Canine Companions for Independence program and graduated on Aug. 21. Since that day, Haidis has become a member of the Zieba family and has helped make young Axel, the family's 7-year-old autistic son, a very happy child.

"She's so easy to get along with, and she's wonderful with Axel," said Axel's father, Jeff Zieba.

The Ziebas were invited to the Saratoga Lions' meeting on Jan. 18 to commemorate the Lions Project for Canine Companions for Independence, and allow the family to meet all who were involved.

Carl Andersen, the project chairman, and members of the Saratoga Wells Fargo Bank, San Jose Host Lions and other local Lions clubs were also in attendance, as well as Sarah Waterman, Axel's personal aide who stays with him each day and takes him to school.

After introductions by George Bunyard and Saratoga Lions President Helen Lemmon, the Ziebas detailed their experiences with Haidis since she joined their family.

Bronwen Morgan, Axel's mother, started out by explaining that autism is a disorder of social, communicative and language delays.

"It's very hard for Axel to socialize with people. As a mother, my worry is that he won't be able to have a friend," Morgan said. "Haidis is a presence in our lives that can be a friend to Axel, no matter what. He's learning to love her."

"The training Haidis has had ... she's so disciplined. She's just in a state of mind that she wants to know what you want her to do," Zieba said. "The thing that amazes me is that Axel makes loud noises, sudden movements and all the things you would think would make a dog skittish. This dog is unfazed, and she keeps coming back to Axel."

Morgan said that Haidis has a vocabulary of around 350 words and is slowly increasing her verbal skills.

Throughout the meeting, which lasted approximately 90 minutes, Haidis never once made a sound, or did anything to let people know she was even in the room--in fact, some members were surprised when Zieba called Haidis out from under the table where she had been sitting quietly, hidden from view by the tablecloth.

"She's been with us five months. We're just beginning to find out what Axel can do with this dog," he added. "When you have a child with autism, you don't look for the big miracles, you look for the little ones."

Those in attendance also got to learn more about Canine Companions for Independence, a nonprofit organization that has been training dogs to assist people with physical and developmental disabilities since 1975. The process begins when a dog is born, and is then kept by a volunteer family for the first part of its life. Once it reaches a certain age, the dog begins its advanced training. Once a dog graduates, its service career is typically around eight years.

Canine companions are trained to respond to more than 50 specialized commands. They become the physical extensions of their disabled partners by performing a variety of tasks. The dogs do things like turning on a light switch for a person in a wheelchair or alerting someone who is deaf to the sound of a fire alarm. Basically, canine companions help the disabled live more independent lives.

In the first half of 2004, the Saratoga Lions began their project to solicit donations for the project. The Lions secured $2,000 from the Saratoga Wells Fargo Bank, and $1,000 from the San Jose Host Lions. The Saratoga Lions matched the $3,000, giving $6,000 to the Lions Project for Canine Companions for Independence.

For more information, visit www.caninecompanions.org. For information on the Saratoga Lions, email Marge Bunyard, membership chairman, at gmbun@pacbell.net.