Success story

Following the news that Canine Partners paired Cosmo, the charity’s first trained dog, with his Scottish owner in December, 2007, Donna Ross finds out how Labrador Gem is getting on with her training as an assistance dog for the charity in Angus

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WHEN we met Gem, an adorable Labrador puppy, for the first time last year, she had just moved in with her puppy parent, Isobel Steel, at Stracathro, Angus, to start her training for Canine Partners.

Gem has now been joined by eight-month-old Homer. Homer is also a black Labrador and is catching up on Gem with his skills and is managing most of the tasks that Gem can do.

For people with severe disabilities, everyday tasks become impossible obstacles, and becoming increasingly dependent on carers for support can lead to a loss of independence and self-esteem. Canine Partners aims to assist people with disabilities to recover their self-confidence through partnering them with an assistance dog that can help with everyday tasks.

Once they have completed their advanced training, Canine Partners dogs can respond to numerous commands, such as dressing, operating a pedestrian crossing, picking up dropped items, supermarket shopping, loading a washing machine and retrieving a wide variety of items such as keys, an inhaler, crutches or a phone, as well as emergency-response procedures.

During her time with puppy parent Isobel, Gem has mastered a number of skills.

Senga Thorpe, Canine Partners’ Scottish co-ordinator and a well known dog trainer in Angus, has been working closely with the duo from day one.

“Gem is almost a year old now and is progressing with her training really well,” she said.

“She is a very good learner.”

She added that she is very good at her basic obedience skills and can do a variety of tasks, such as taking things out of the washing machine and fetching Isobel’s mobile phone and keys, and she can pick up her food bowl so that Isobel can wash it – a skill all Canine Partners dogs are trained to do.

“She can also take off my jacket for me. By the end of her training, she’ll probably have learned over 100 commands.”

It is hoped that when Gem is finished her training she will be able to follow in the footsteps of Cosmo – who graduated at the end of 2007 and is the charity’s first dog to be paired with a Scottish owner.

Cosmo lives in Dumfries with his owner, Vivien Mullett, who has spinal muscular atrophy and cauda equina syndrome.

Talking about her new life with Cosmo, Vivien said: “Prior to having Cosmo, life was somewhat frustrating as I had very little personal space and lacked the confidence to go far in my chair. Cosmo has given me the ability to get out of the house and enjoy the outdoors. He provides me with unconditional love.”

James Barr, from Canine Partners in Scotland, added: “There are in excess of 8,000 people with severe physical disabilities in Scotland and a large percentage of them could benefit from a Canine Partner. Expanding into Scotland seemed a natural progression in the charity’s growth plans, enabling us to provide our amazing dogs for Scottish people.

“It’s hard to believe the impact a Canine Partner can make on the life of someone with disabilities, as well as potentially saving £65,000 on the cost of carers during a dog’s working lifetime.”

The charity’s satellite office in Angus is still going strong and, in response to demand, Canine Partners aims to set up a further six new partnerships in Scotland this year, along with a new satellite office in Glasgow.

Senga said: “The news about the first Scottish partnership is very exciting, but we still need to find more volunteers and create more awareness about the charity. Some people still point at the dogs in training and say they are guide dogs, but they’re not. Our dogs wear completely different coloured jackets.

“We have been at the Mobility Scotland roadshow and have been invited to Angus to do demonstrations for a number of groups, including the Brownies.”

Puppy parent Isobel won’t be too sad when it comes to saying goodbye to Gem soon.

“She’s actually getting quite excited,” Senga said.

“She says she can take on another puppy after Gem.”

Anyone who can help Senga build on Canine Partners’ success in Scotland – as a puppy parent, by recommending a dog which might be suitable for training or by getting involved with fundraising or volunteering – should phone 07504 229514.