ENDAL

The future is bright, the future is a yellow Labrador…

Have you ever questioned and wondered what really happens to all those injured War heroes that return from the world's conflicts. No fanfare or banner waving crowds greets their arrival home, cosseted away in near secrecy, an RAF medical evacuation plane touches down at some obscure military airport. A quick transfer to the back of awaiting ambulances and those that have made the pen-ultimate sacrifice for the defence of the realm come home. Most of these injured personnel, no more than newspaper statistics, today's news yet tomorrow’s fish and chip paper. They melt quietly into obscurity and continue fighting an everyday battle of survival in an attempt to ilk a very basic standard of living on a mega War pension. Often these injured heroes find them selves thrown at the mercy and kindness of the many others, reliant on the many service charities but most though are far to proud to ask for help valiantly struggle on.

For one such war hero who suffered server injuries in the 1991 Gulf war which left him with server physical and mental trauma, help came from a totally unexpected quarter and has transformed the life and that of his family.

A serviceman who’s only wish was to proudly serve Queen and Country. Having recently had a private audience with the Queen at Windsor castle, Allen Parton confessed whilst there that he still has a feeling of guilt about coming home injured, it is his belief that he has let his Queen , his family and his Country down. He was told in no uncertain terms that it was foolish for him to feel this way, but I doubt this burden of guilt will ever leave this very proud man.

Yellow Labrador Endal has captured the world’s imagination for the past eight years with constant revelations of his latest life-transforming talents from being the first dog to be able to work a chip and pin card to putting his beloved ‘partner’ Allen Parton into the recovery position. However it is the combination of Endal’s skills and Allen’s personal journey from the dark to the light that makes their story so unique and awe-inspiring.

At face value Allen, 46, appears a confident and positive man who is accepting of his disabilities and blessed with a loving family and an attentive assistance dog. Yet it was not long ago that his life was just a shadow of what it is now and the future looked bleak and uninviting. Allen seems to have a knack of changing the dubious cards that life has dealt him into a full deck of aces but he would be the first to admit that without having 10 year-old Endal by his side he may never have had the chance to perfect this talent.

The world has been so moved by what Allen terms the “Endal phenomenon” that the pair have been filmed by 299 film crews, flown around the UK courtesy of British Airways, ridden in the London eye and most recently appeared as a real-life Wallace and Grommit at a premiere of the film in Leicester Square. “I can’t think why it didn’t occur to me earlier,” laughs Allen. “Endal is a dead ringer for Grommit and I do bear more than a passing resemblance to the balding Wallace. The kids loved it and seemed more keen on stroking Endal than seeing the famous actors!”

The trophy cabinet at their family home in Hampshire would be the envy of most football club managers and houses an impressive list of awards including Dog of the Millennium and the PDSA’s Gold Medal for Animal Gallantry and Devotion to Duty. It is true to say that Endal, who can even count the Queen as one of his devotees, is probably the most decorated dog in the world.

Looking to the future….

Inevitably the time is now approaching when Endal is to be ‘officially’ retired and this has raised many questions for the Parton household. For most assistance dogs there is a flexible charity policy on retirement (see boxout) but each case is unique. This is certainly true for Allen and Endal who have become the most famous assistance dog partnership in history and in doing so have helped raise the public awareness of the work of the charities that enable these partnerships to come about.

Allen is also confident that Endal’s cute face, as well as his life transforming qualities, have already helped to bring many disability issues to light including improvements in public transport, wheelchair access, grants to help people care for their assistance dogs and the importance of being seen as a “person” rather than just “a person in a wheelchair.”

After almost a decade in the public eye, he is making sure that their finale together is equally inspiring, while putting their combined health and mobility as a high priority. Since stepping down as the public face of the charity Canine Partners who initially brought them together, he is now busy creating a broader role for the pair as ambassadors of the many opportunities of life with an assistance dog.

Their story which is brimming over with incredible courage, resilience and ultimately, happiness, has been written about many times over but it never loses its emotional power.

The early days…

It was back in 1996 that Allen and Endal first met in a training room at Canine Partners, the Sussex-based charity which trains dogs to assist disabled people. He was not there out of choice but reluctantly accompanying his wife Sandra who had become a volunteer puppy parent for the charity.

At that time Allen was both severely depressed and still in denial about his disabilities which had occurred while he was serving as a Weapons Electronics Engineering Officer in the Royal Navy during the 1991 Gulf War. Just one month after arrival there he had been involved in a road accident so severe that he was left unable to walk, talk and with no memory of his own life or his family back home.

Even after five years of hospitalisation and rehabilitation when he finally returned home to Hampshire he had to be gradually reintroduced to his former life. “I just refused to accept I was disabled,” recollects Allen, “and I’m ashamed to say that I was pretty much horrible to everyone, especially the very people who loved me the most. I was caught in the grips of a deep depression which isolated me more and made me question my ability to carry on at all.”
In her search to raise family morale, Allen’s wife Sandra, a former nurse, had decided to become a volunteer puppy parent for Canine Partners and they first dog she took on to socialise for this first year was Ferdy. “I hoped that having a young lively dog in the house might help the whole family,” explains Sandra. “It did help, especially with the children, but Allen still remained withdrawn. One summer’s day in 1996 I decided to take Allen to the centre for puppy training as his bus to the day centre had not arrived and I thought it would be good for him to get out of the house.”

“There I was busy sitting in the corner at the Canine Partners training centre trying to avoid communicating with anybody,” he recalls, “when my eyes met with a young gawky Labrador puppy whom the trainers were having reservations about due to health and attitude problems. Like me he was not bonding well with people and following x-rays it was revealed that he had a fault in the elbow joint that could potentially curb his future as an assistance dog.”
“He came over to me, licked my hand and then brought me a can from the ‘mock’ supermarket and dropped it into my lap. It was as though he was trying to get me to react and it worked. As I returned week after week to interact with this dog, I began to see the purpose to life again. When I found out that we even shared the same birthday, I was confident that it was fate for us to be together.” The healing process had finally begun and without Endal this cathartic experience may never have taken place and the future for the Parton family could have been very different.

Allen decided to apply to take on Endal as an assistance dog, even though with his working future still in the balance, he had not yet entered advanced training. The paperwork took some time and Allen, although certain about a future with his new canine soul mate, became increasingly aware of the big step he was taking. “Describing my disabilities on the forms made me finally admit to myself that there was something wrong with me. Yet I also recognised the bond I felt developing with Endal and finally saw a way out of my depths of despair.”

A Partnership Begins

“It was Endal’s uncanny ability to read my attempts at communication that started waking something up inside me,” says Allen, who was still struggling with speech at that point. “If I patted my head he realised that meant to fetch my hat and if I held my hands up he would fetch my gloves. Despite not fully completing his training, he seemed to want to work with me to create a whole new world of meaning and we fixed “tugs” onto doors, cupboards and curtains at home so that Endal could open them on command.”

At the supermarket Allen would point to the items he wanted and his dog would nose them out and place them in the shopping basket. “The wonderful thing about how these dogs work is that they are always keen to learn and it becomes a game for which they get lots of reward,” he explains. “Positive encouragement and enthusiasm seems to make them try even harder and this drew me increasingly out of my lonely world.”

As Allen’s confidence grew, his ability to speak began to re-emerge. Encouraged into trying words with Endal, it was as though the links to his dormant speech memory were awakened by his desire to communicate again. Today, Allen’s main problem in contrast to his marked inability to speak, is letting people get a word in edgeways!

The 24 hour canine nurse

It was Endal’s uncanny ability to go the extra mile that first launched the pair into the public eye. One day Allen was tapping his pin number into the ATM machine and struggling to retrieve the cash. Endal decided to intervene and jumped up to reach for the card, money and receipt with his mouth. “It was amazing, as he had never been taught to do this,” marvels Allen. “There happened to be a journalist there and he wrote about what he saw in the paper and let’s just say a star was born. He even took this all a stage further by learning how to put the card into the machine too.”

Most recently Endal, as observed by some of the biggest national newspapers in 2006, has learned how to put the Chip and Pin card into the machine and remove it after the transaction which Allen is proud to reveal makes him the first dog in the world to achieve this remarkable feat. “Being in a wheelchair can make simple everyday activities next to impossible,” he adds, “but having a thinking and problem solving dog at my side makes anything possible. When we come to a lift door Endal has already positioned himself on the button side and waits for me to direct him to the up or down button.”

"We recently had the opportunity of trying out South West Trains’ new rolling stock that replaced the ageing slam door train,” he explains. “When the train pulled into the station there was no time to start teaching Endal how to operate the equipment. Without any prompting he just leapt up and operated the train’s push button system to open the door.”

“His ability to learn is absolutely astounding and as well as helping with the everyday tasks of life he gave back to me the independence I thought I had lost forever. For the first time Sandra began to worry less about leaving me on my own as if there was an emergency Endal would be on hand to raise the alarm.”

In 2002, when Allen’s wheelchair was hit by a speeding car, Endal actually put him into the recovery position, then covered him with a blanket dragged from under the buckled wheelchair and finally fetched his mobile phone which had been thrown by the impact. Unable to raise Allen from his stunned state, Endal went to the hotel nearby and barked for help. It was this act of initiative that earned him the animal equivalent of the George Cross presented to him by the PDSA the following year.

“It is not only the everyday help that an assistance dog provides to his partner,” confirms Sandra, “but the round the clock companionship that is so important. I simply cannot be there for Allen every hour of the day, nor would he want me to, so knowing that Endal is there watching his every move has given us both back our independence.”

One of the most important aspects of Endal’s contributions has been the transformation of life at home. With Allen’s zest for living returning on a daily basis, the whole family has benefited. “Endal has not only restored life to Allen but to all of us and the children have finally got their father back again,” admits Sandra. “His old memories however are gone forever and so he has had to rely on photographs and stories to rebuild his past. One of the saddest things for Allen was not being able remember our first wedding in 1983.”
“I really wanted Sandra and the children to know how much I owe to them,” says Allen, “ and so we renewed our vows in 2002 and this time Endal was our best man. It was a brilliant way of uniting the family, recognising Endal’s input and giving us the foundation to create the future.”

“When Mum and Dad got remarried it was such a fantastic day as we finally became a real family again and Liam and I finally got our Dad back,” confirms 19 year old daughter Zoe. “Before Endal arrived Dad never wanted to go out and could hardly talk. He was like a stranger to us and now that has all changed.” The family have also brought more dogs into their home over the past few years including Gracie and Indi who are now fully fledged assistance dogs in the community. Golden retriever puppy Ikea arrived in 2000 and due to health problems that ruled him out becoming a working dog, is still with the family today.

“H e may not be a working assistance dog but he has given immense support to Sandra and he and Endal are the best of friends. They sometimes take turns putting the laundry in and out of the machine. He has also won several awards in his own right including Dogs Today’s Doggie Face 2003 and was a nominee for the Coolest Canine 2004.”

The Future beckons

Today Allen is more positive about life than ever and the path of duo appears to be reaching an even wider orbit. Since stepping down as the face of Canine Partners (although he still remains a trustee) he is now looking to lead a ‘one man and his dog’ crusade into raising public awareness of the importance of dogs and their rights in general.

In true jet-set style Allen and Sandra visited both Phoenix, Arizona and Japan last year to speak on behalf of the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners
and in January this year they had the honour of flying to San Diego to attend the annual IAADP conference. “Although Endal was unable to attend because of the quarantine regulations,” says Allen, “I still managed to get my doggie “fix” from the wonderful assistance dogs over there and when we spend a day at Disneyland and they even arranged for Pluto to accompany us around as my substitute ‘assistance dog’. I’m not sure if Endal would have been too impressed!”

Allen was recently made a patron of the Labrador Rescue South east and central and is also closely involved with dog theft action in association with Kennel Club who have long been supporters of the pair. He also maintains full support for Sailors, Soldiers, Airman and families association , for whom the duo manned a stall at Crufts two years ago.

“My hope is that more injured service personnel hear about the benefits of assistance dogs,” he adds. “The majority of Partnerships have stemmed from word of mouth and personal recommendation and for those that are suffering alone I want them to know that these dogs can make the difference between merely existing and living a real life.”

The list of charities and fund raising events that Allen and Endal support is extensive and yet he has a never ending enthusiasm for attending these in person and sharing his experiences in the hope that others may be inspired to take a deeper look at their own lives and challenges.
“People with disabilities often think they are either to well or too ill to have an assistance dog and I just say go for it. The physiological benefits of pet ownership are only starting to be understood and I think I am testament to the fact of how powerful the effect can be.”

At last year’s Crufts, where the pair came runners up in the Hero Dog Award in front of an audience of 17 million, Allen says he felt prouder of Endal then ever before. “We were both their under that spotlight against all odds and I felt tears welling that this could be our last Crufts together as a working team. There may come a time when Endal “himself” decides to hang up his working jacket, but that does not stop his enabling me from the moment I wake until my head hits the pillow at night.”.

The twilight years

Allen is very aware that their public outings may have to be reduced over the next few years, however Endal is still very much a capable working assistance dog and he will continue to assist Allen just as long as he is happy and willing to do so.

“The term ‘retirement’ for an assistance dog, is still quite vague,” he admits, “partly because the assistance dog charities are young and this is new territory. Of course our dogs will have more physical limitations as they get older and we have to watch their health carefully, but for many people they have formed such a psychological bond with their canine companion, that it would be more detrimental to break up the pair. It is at this stage that a new dog may be introduced to take up the more physical work while the older dog takes a more supporting role. This is something that Sandra and I may be thinking about over the next few years.”

“Each year the vet says to me that Endal may suddenly have to retire completely or he could stay fit for years to come. He certainly intends to keep us all on our toes and be a law unto himself,” laughs Allen. “His early diagnosis of osteochondrosis (OCD) has actually never presented any problems for him, which is really encouraging, but I am always aware that he does have this condition. Little touches such as his quilted jacket helps to keep his bones warm after a day playing in puddles and chasing rabbits and squirrels.”

The ageing process of our dogs is never easy for any owner, but Allen is philosophical. “Endal and I are as one and I like to think we will be like a pair of old crocks helping each other in old age,” he smiles while stroking Endal’s smooth ears. “There is still so much out there for us to do and while he, and I for that matter, are capable we will keep on doing what we can for canine rights and all the charities that have helped us get to where we are today.”

And finally…..

“Of course the day will come when I lower my hand down by my side and Endal won’t be there physically,” say Allen, “but in spirit he will always be beside me and his legacy will outlive all of us. When I finally arrive at the pearly gates myself I know in my heart of hearts that Endal will be there waiting faithfully for me with his otter-like tail in full swing.”

Spending time with the pair you become very aware of the positive energy and optimism that surrounds them and it seems unlikely that Endal’s ‘retirement’ will involve lying in his basket all day. What with flights to catch, trains to ride on and many more people to inspire, you can rest assured that, as ambassadors of the importance of the canine bond in our lives, Allen and Endal are about to start a whole new chapter.

“He has taught me so much about living life,” adds Allen, while Endal’s brown eyes focus firmly on his master’s every word, “but one of the one greatest lessons is that one should never say never.”

Endals achievements to date

2005- Runner hope Hero Dog of the Year (Crufts 2005)
2004 lifetime Achievement Award (Wag and Bone Show)
2002-PDSA Gold Medal – equivalent of The George Cross awarded to animals who have shown outstanding devotion to their duties in peace time.
2002-Endal became the first Assistance dog to be awarded the Kennel Club's Gold Good Citizen award, presented to him at Crufts 2002
2002 presented with the first ever "Lifetime Achievement" Award at the Golden Bone Awards
2001/2Assistance Dog of the Year Award
2001 Local Hero Award
2000 Dog of the Millennium (named by Dogs Today)
2000 Prodog “Dog of the Year” Award

What is Osteochondrosis

OCD is a bone disease in which normal cartilage development fails. It is usually seen in puppies, often in the elbow and shoulder joints. It can lead to osteoarthritis as the dog ages and is most common in large and giant breeds.

The condition may cause lameness on the affected leg and the dog may have abnormal posture or gait. Treatment can involve surgery, painkillers and anti-inflammatories. The dog’s weight and exercise should be controlled to keep the condition stable.