| Assistance
Dog wins PDSA Gold Medal |
When Endal, a quiet, unassuming yellow Labrador, won PDSA’s
Gold Medal in 2003, it was another remarkable episode in a remarkable
life. We tell his story here and that of the man whose world he
helped to transform.
On a late autumn day in 2002, a Labrador, smart in a purple jacket,
his intelligence shining through in his bright-eyed alertness, stood
attentively beside a man in a wheelchair. Before them a ceremony
was taking place. The assembled guests were told how, after the
man had been knocked from his wheelchair by a reversing car, the
dog rolled his companion’s unconscious form into the recovery
position, draped a blanket over him, nudged his mobile phone close
to his face and then went to fetch help. Actions that many people
might not have had the composure and the calm sense of purpose to
carry out.
Afterwards, HRH Princess Alexandra presented the Labrador with the
PDSA’s Gold Medal, awarded to animals that have shown outstanding
devotion to their duties in time of peace. For his astonishing response
to the accident, he became one of only three dogs to receive the
Medal since its introduction. The dog’s name was Endal; his
companion was Allen Parton. What had brought them together, and
what had brought them to this ceremony, were a series of events
that were as despairing as, eventually, they were hope-filled.
A lifetime lost
When Allen Parton, a weapons electronics officer in the Royal Navy,
waved goodbye to his wife, Sandra, and their two children, Liam
and Zoe, he was also bidding farewell to life as he had known it.
It was 1991, and Allen was heading out to the Gulf War. He was,
of course, fully aware of the dangers that lay ahead; but he was
equally sure that experience and good fortune would see him return
home untouched and unharmed.
Allen was wrong; Allen got unlucky. A month after he arrived, his
military car was wrecked in an accident and Allen’s body with
it. He woke six weeks later in a British military hospital, his
right hand side devoid of feeling and his mind even number. His
memory had been so horribly obliterated by the injuries he sustained
that he was unable to recognise Sandra and had no recollection of
his marriage or his children. He had to be introduced to his family.
The simplest of words – bed, chair – deserted him. He
spoke, if at all, as he remembered: in disjointed, meaningless fragments.
Imprisoned by his wheelchair, trapped by his fumbling speech, and
dispossessed of his own past, Allen saw no reason to have faith
in the future. Twice he tried to take his own life.
After five years of hospitalisation and rehabilitation, Allen at
last returned to his home in Hampshire, a stranger to the person
he had once been, and raging at his fate. By his own admission,
Allen was all too willing to share his anger and bitterness with
those around him. "I refused to accept I was disabled and I’m
ashamed to say I was pretty much horrible to everyone," he
admitted.
An encounter
Sandra, who gave up her job as a nurse to care for Allen, had volunteered
as a puppy walker for Canine Partners, an organisation that trains
dogs to help disabled people enjoy a greater degree of independence.
One morning, in the summer of 1997, the bus that had been due to
ferry Allen to the day centre he attended failed to turn up. Rather
than leave her husband to brood at home, Sandra took Allen with
her to the Canine Partners training centre.
There Allen sat, his wheelchair parked in a corner, as self-conscious
and withdrawn as he always was in public. Until, that is, his eye
caught a young dog, resting from a training session. The dog wandered
over to the wheelchair, accepted Allen’s offer of a welcoming
pat on the head and promptly dived on to his lap. It was Endal.
Allen’s life was about to emerge from night and into the sun.
A partnership is born
Everyone saw that there was a clear and instant bond between Endal
and Allen, something instinctive and rooted in the way they interpreted
each other’s needs. After a few more meetings between the
two – it was difficult to tell who anticipated Allen’s
visits to the training centre the more – Allen decided to
apply to take Endal as an assistance dog. It was only while the
forms were being completed that Allen understood and accepted the
importance of the psychological step he was taking: "I had
to describe my disabilities and this was the first time I had admitted
there was something wrong with me. It was a cathartic experience.
Until I met Endal, I was in the depths of despair. Now I suddenly
saw a chink of light."
Life begins anew
With Allen still struggling as much with his word recollection as
his mobility, Endal’s ability to read the sign language with
which Allen was sometimes forced to communicate was central to their
relationship. A pat on Allen’s head meant, and was understood
as, "fetch my cap". A touch on Allen’s cheek and
Endal was off to bring him his razor case. Hands held up? A second
later Allen’s gloves appeared. ‘Tugs’ were added
to everything – doors, cupboards, clothes drawers, the toilet
seat – in the Parton house that needed opening or closing
or lifting so that Endal could help Allen get dressed, wash and
manage the domestic chores.
Endal was soon as adept at shopping as he was around the house.
Allen simply issued the appropriate instructions from his wheelchair
– cereal, soup, tins of tomatoes, bread – and Endal
would unfailingly nose it from the shelf and drop it into the shopping
basket.
He even helped to pay. Once Allen had tapped in his PIN, Endal would
gently retrieve the money and card from the cash dispenser.
The differences that Endal brought to Allen’s everyday world
weren’t just practical, however impressive his abilities to
sniff out a bargain at the supermarket. They were therapeutic too.
Where five years of intensive speech coaching had seen little progress,
Allen’s urge to talk to Endal meant that he was becoming ever
more articulate, his vocabulary as broad as it was before the accident.
Once Allen, embarrassed at his inability to remember words let alone
names, would shy from social contact. Now Endal gave him the confidence
to re-engage with the world that once had felt so alien and intimidating.
"Endal provides a talking point," explained Allen. "People
stroke and chat about him which helps me to socialise."
Perhaps most importantly of all, Endal restored Allen to his family,
allowing him the emotional strength needed to rediscover and renew
the bonds of human love. "Life will never be the same again
but, thanks to Endal, Allen has a second chance," said Sandra.
"As do we. The children lost their old dad but Endal has given
them a new one." Recently, Allen and Sandra took their wedding
vows again with Endal as best man.
Fame
A dog as talented as Endal is a difficult secret to keep. His prowess
at the cash machine was spotted by a journalist from a national
newspaper. After that the media floodgates opened wide. Reporters
and film crews from around the world have queued up to watch and
marvel as Endal, wallet in mouth, picks up Allen’s prescription
at the chemist’s or operates the electronic doors on a train.
What
really threw the spotlight on Endal, however, was the story of the
heroics for which he was awarded the PDSA’s Gold Medal. Invited
to attend a stand at Crufts in 2001, the pair had been exercising
in the car park afterwards when the vehicle, unseen by Allen until
the last second, struck him and threw him from his wheelchair. Endal’s
resolve and quiet control made headline news and won him that most
prestigious of animal awards.
The
future
Endal is now eleven years old. There will come a time when he will
be too old to carry out his duties, however strong and faithful
the urge to do so. When that happens, Allen will be there to look
after him, repaying what he acknowledges to be an unrepayable debt.
The
day in the car park that saw Endal save Allen’s life by grasping
his coat and pulling him, unconscious, into the recovery position
was truly remarkable. What is almost as remarkable is that Endal
has been saving Allen’s life, precious piece by precious piece,
each and every day, before and since.
Allen G Parton and Endal |
About Canine Partners
Officially launched in 1990, Canine Partners enables people with
disabilities to enjoy greater independence and a better quality
of life through the help of specially trained dogs.
Training
assistance dogs to transform the lives of people with disabilities
enriches human life in practical ways such as dressing and undressing,
supermarket shopping and vital emergency response procedures. In
addition it provides physiological, psychological and social benefits
that help keep people healthy and happy.
As a registered charity Canine Partners receives no government funding
and is wholly dependant on public donations and legacies.
For further information on fundraising, donations, volunteering
or applying for a Canine Partner, please call 08456 580480 or visit
www.caninepartners.co.uk.
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