BREWER – The Wal-Mart Supercenter in Brewer has added a furry friend to its family.

A 4-month-old golden retriever named Wini will spend the next year in training and then will be given to an individual or family that requires an assistance dog. Wal-Mart is subsidizing this puppy.

“Today we’re giving a check for $500, which will be the beginning of our sponsorship for a puppy,” said Carol Lackedy, community relations person for the store. “We’ll continue to sponsor the puppy through 2004. We’ll have a Wal-Mart puppy.”

The money will go to Golden Moments Assistance Dogs, a nonprofit service that trains hearing dogs for people with hearing impairments and service dogs for individuals with disabilities other than vision and hearing.

“She’ll be trained to open up drawers and fetch meds,” said volunteer Golden Moments trainer Terry Sylvester. “She’ll also learn how to put trash in the trash can and retrieve stuff, turn on and off the lights, remove clothing and put clothes in the laundry and specific requirements of the client.”

The assistance dogs can be trained to pull a wheelchair or help people with prosthetics. They also can be used for balance and counterbalance and to alert others in an emergency.

“These dogs are obtained through several sources such as breeders, rescue organizations or shelters,” a brochure for Golden Moments states. “They are raised by volunteers in our Puppy Foster Program.”

Clara Grover, operations manager for Golden Moments, said assistance dogs cost around $6,000 and take about 18 months to train.

“At the end of 2004 she’ll be 11/2 years old and she’ll be ready to go out,” she said.

Brewer High School is another group that has adopted an assistance dog in training. It is sponsoring Liberty, a sister to Wini.

Carlene Rice, a 16-year-old Brewer High School student who is in a wheelchair 60 percent of the time because of a form of muscular dystrophy called CMT, uses an assistance dog named Champ, thanks to Golden Moments, students and staff at the school and Penobbie Paws 4-H Club. The groups all helped to raise money for the Rices’ dog.

Leftover funds that were raised for Champ will be used to sponsor Liberty. Over the next year, fund-raisers are planned for Wal-Mart’s dog.

“We’re going to work jointly with Golden Moments to raise the money,” said Lackedy. “We’ve worked with Golden Moments since the grand opening. I think it’s a great thing to do.”