A Dog's Best Friend by Jan Fennell

Author:Jan Fennell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-04-26T04:00:00+00:00

I have become quite actively involved with Dogs for the Disabled over the years. It was while visiting their centre at Banbury, near Oxford, that I met Maria for the first time.

As it happened, I was accompanied that day by a reporter from BBC Radio 4’s popular Woman’s Hour programme. They were doing a piece on me and my work and had wanted to record some material in an interesting environment, and the Dogs for the Disabled centre certainly fitted the bill. Dogs arrive at the purpose-built centre at around one year old and are trained to perform a range of tasks. They are then put together with their ‘partner’, who stays at the centre until the trainers feel both dog and owner are ready for the challenges of the wider world.

As I say, the skills the dogs learn there are remarkable. They will teach them to help people both in the home and out in the community, whether out on the streets or in shops. In general terms, the dogs are taught five essential skills: the pull, the push, the target, the fetch and the speak. The pull requires them to pull open doors around the house, from dividing doors to cupboard or washing machine doors. The push is the opposite, closing doors and appliances. The target teaches the dog to use its paws to touch specific objects, such as light switches, or the buttons on pelican crossings. The fetch teaches them to retrieve objects, from remote controls to purses, keys to clothes. Finally, the speak teaches the dog to raise the alarm by barking a particular bark that will be recognisable to neighbours or carers.

The journalist was fascinated by what she saw, as anyone would have been. After Maria had explained the basic principles of the programme and training process, she asked whether it would be possible to see a dog at work.

Maria was happy to oblige and headed off to the kennelling area, soon returning accompanied by Tangle, a one-year-old, yellow Labrador–Retriever cross. Dogs for the Disabled works almost exclusively with this type of breed; the Labrador’s intelligence and natural ability as a retrieving gundog make it ideal to undertake the range of duties required. It is also a good-sized dog and easy to maintain – an important factor when dealing with people who have a limited ability to reach to the ground.

The reporter wanted to set up some recording equipment before the demonstration began. As she set about getting things ready, Tangle lay on the floor near Maria where he promptly fell asleep. He remained there until things were ready, when Maria woke him up.

Maria wanted to simulate something that typified the day-to-day routine a dog such as Tangle would face. Climbing into a wheelchair, she flicked up its collapsible footplates before issuing Tangle an instruction to ‘push’. To help him along, Maria also pointed to the footplates. Rather than approaching the wheelchair, however, Tangle decided to take two steps back and pull at the toggle on the nearby door, hauling it open in one movement.

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