Allen and his wife spent years living a miserable existence as Allen became more depressed, withdrawn and morose, promoting Sandra to visit solicitors as she considered the consequences of divorce. Ironically, it was Sandra who discovered service dogs, and it was Allen who had to be convinced that there were benefits to having such a dog.
For a service dog trained to respond to verbal commands, no speech and only gestures are a massive hurdle to overcome. However, this massive hurdle was overcome by one of the most remarkable service dogs of all time, the inimitable Endal. He was actually considered unsuitable for a career as a service dog as he suffered from osteochondrosis in both front legs.
A service dog has to be able to adjust to the patient’s needs, which will go way beyond its basic training. In the case of Allen Parton, Endal had to learn how to pull the plug out of the bath. If Allen fell asleep, pull him into the recovery position, hit the emergency button on the mobile phone and summon help.
All of this is just a day’s work for a service dog, and many thousands of these dogs worldwide carry out these tasks every day without accolades or even recognition.
In the case of Endal, his fame came from one incident in 2001 when Allen was knocked out of his wheelchair by a passing car.
Kendal put him in the recovery position, retrieved his mobile phone from under the car, dragged the blanket from the wheelchair and covered Allen, barked for assistance and when it failed to arrive went to a nearby hotel to summon help. When the story became common knowledge, it went viral as news agencies worldwide chased the story.
If we judge our military heroes by their medals and awards, then Endal was one of the elite, as in his time, he was the most highly decorated service dog worldwide.
There are those who wonder if service dogs, who are required to be available to help 24 hours a day, have a poor quality of life. On the contrary, they have a great life; the average family pet lives a rather mundane existence. However, a service dog never gets bored, is learning all the time and usually retains their mischievous streak. In the case of Endal, his naughty behaviour manifested itself in chasing squirrels in the park and removing rubbish from the wastepaper basket in order to receive a reward for “picking up the rubbish.”
Finally, on a personal level, for me, the exploits of Endal and his fellow service dogs are a tribute to the ability of the trainers of these remarkable canines. For the most part, they are anonymous, despite their work changing the lives of so many people for the better.
“When I couldn’t talk he learned sign language – if I touched my head I wanted my hat, if I touched my face it was for the razor. He learned hundreds of commands in signing. Eventually, one day, in this very silent world we lived in, I grunted. That was like an electric shock going through him. He was so excited. They said I would never speak again but he dragged the speech out of me”
Allen Parton
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