ATM training routine
for Canine Partners

DON'T worry, these dogs aren't robbing their owners. They're a group of assistance dogs under training by Canine Partners to assist owners at the ATM. The owners still have to input their pin number but the dogs put the card in, then take it, the money and receipt out.

It takes two years for Canine Partners to train the 30 dogs that enter the programme every year. The dogs are then given to owners who are confined to wheelchairs.

The programme started with a dog name Endal belonging to Gulf War veteran Allen Parton. When Endal noticed his owner struggling to get his money out from the ATM, he jumped up and grabbed the money, card and receipt with his mouth. The feat earned him the Millennium Award and kick-started the training programme at Canine Partners.

A spokesman for charity Canine Partners, which trains the dogs, said: "They are trained to put in the card and take it out and take out the money and give it to the person in the wheelchair. They can't put in the pin, but a person in a wheelchair can go sideways-on and do that."

Up to 30 dogs are trained each year and the charity is hoping to double that figure next year. It takes two years to train them, in which time they also learn to load and unload the washing machine and pick up items from shop shelves.