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| Val Strong founded Support Dogs in 1992 and is now the training manager of the UK organisation that supplies dogs to help people suffering from disability and chronic illness. She is pictured with her own dog, Bruno. |
By Jim Kelsey, LPS Special Correspondent
GEMMA is a reliable helpmate around the home and enjoys doing the washing. Samy and Sally are also efficient on domestic duties but are admired for their unusual medical skills. They are not au pairs or young people serving as nannies with families but three of 86 canines trained by Support Dogs, a United Kingdom charity founded by Val Strong, for those who have a physical handicap or long-term ailment.
Heather Swindell, a disabled former schoolteacher, selected a mongrel called Gemma from a dog's home and asked Support Dogs to train the animal. The charity teaches such pets to carry out extraordinary tasks, providing that the dogs fulfil certain qualifications.
They must be obedient, confident, sociable, well adjusted and closely bonded with their owners who also have to undergo some training. They find that the animals become inseparable from their owners.
Gemma underwent a rigorous behavioural and veterinary evaluation test before beginning her intensive training programme that usually lasts between three and six months. These canine carers, usually from dog rescue kennels, must be neutered and between six months and four years old. Their social and domiciliary instruction is carried out by one of seven trainers at the organisation's centre in Sheffield, northern England, before moving into the home to be taught specific residential skills tailored to their owner's requirements.
The dogs' various household tasks enable their owners to lead fuller and more independent lives. All the dogs are visited regularly by their trainer, receive a six-month health check from a vet and can be instructed to carry out new assignments if required. Once the indoctrination programme is complete the animal is registered as an assistance dog, accompanying its mistress or master at all times.
Gemma, for example, can help with dressing, retrieve the phone when it rings, pick up any dropped objects, collect the mail, open doors, switch lights on and off, and sound the alarm if Heather has a fall.
"She is a tremendous help around the house but wash days are fun for Gemma," said Heather. "She is very good at loading and unloading the machine, pulling all the washed clothes out and giving them to me. I have no fear any longer of dropping things, large or small, because Gemma carefully retrieves them, whatever their size. She has changed my life, given me a new confidence and made living possible. Our lives are closely intertwined. It's just wonderful."
Support Dogs trains three specific categories of canine assistant. Apart from the assistance dog for the physically disabled there is the "seizure alert" category for those with epilepsy and agoraphobia, and "medical assistance" dogs that can take care of diabetics and those suffering from Meniere's disease (a middle-ear problem causing dizziness, vomiting and eventual deafness). Samy and Star both take care of epileptics. Samy, a five-year-old Schnauzer, has enabled Jacqueline Evans, aged 45 and a chronic epileptic, to take control of her life again. The dog detects the microscopic twitches of Jacqueline's eyes and nervous movements of hands and arms 20 minutes prior to a blackout. Samy warns his mistress by howling, barking, getting her medication and creating a fuss until she takes it.
Another long-term epileptic, Sally Burton, claims that her life has been changed 100 per cent since she got Star, a one-year-old crossbreed. "I don't have to worry about getting a seizure," she said. "I don't know what Star picks up on but she begins barking, pulling my clothes and makes me take action. I really couldn't be without her now and I love her to bits." Val Strong founded Support Dogs in 1992. She had always enjoyed tutoring pets at her dog club, advising owners on obedience training. Asked to teach two dogs to carry out domestic tasks for their disabled owners led to the establishment of the charity.
When an epileptic asked if an animal could be trained to fetch blankets when she was having a seizure, Ms Strong realised during the indoctrination period that the dog was intuitive about a potential attack long before it occurred.
"I did work in medical science before I became interested in dogs and horses," said Ms Strong. "Certain dogs appear to be aware of neurological changes in their owners up to 40 minutes before any seizure or ailment occurs. Since I trained dogs to help epileptics we have extended our training scheme to include dogs for diabetics and more recently one for a patient suffering from Meniere's disease. We now train 25 dogs a year to respond to patients suffering from a range of disabilities. And, of course, the owner of each animal has to undergo a training period of around three to four months," she added.
One client, a man in his 30s, has severe problems with diabetes. He has suffered the amputation of a lower limb, has eyesight problems and suspected renal failure.
His dog Perry senses when his master is in danger of going into insulin reaction. He barks a warning, retrieves a bag containing sugar, chocolate and biscuits and encourages him to eat. If the attack continues to a comatose state, Perry presses an alarm button to call medical aid.
Since Support Dog Chloe moved in with her new owner, the charity's first Meniere's patient, social services personnel have been able to cut their visits down from 30 to four hours a week.
It takes 5000 pounds sterling to train each dog and Support Dogs maintains a policy of not charging owners for the initial cost or the follow-up veterinary monitoring and retraining service. The charity has a small professional staff and a number of volunteers and depends entirely on public donations for its work. The charity is collaborating with neuro-psychiatrist Professor Stephen Brown of Plymouth University, south-west England, on a three-year dog-behavioural research project. The academic is analysing the intelligence of man's best friend in a bid to discover the full potential of dogs in serving their owners' specific needs.
"I have had numerous requests from all over the world to launch similar schemes but, much as we would like to assist, we do not have the funding to provide such help," said Ms Strong. "Our pioneer service does show that certain dogs have remarkable intelligence which has never been exploited. At the moment, Support Dogs exists only in the United Kingdom but with the relaxation of quarantine laws it may be possible to extend our service to Europe or even further afield in the future. Of course, there is still the problem of working with the owners which is essential. I think we can do a lot more to cultivate the dog's natural intelligence and its potential as capable helpmate for the disadvantaged."
