Endal (Dog)
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In 1991, Allen Parton was a Chief Petty Officer serving in the Royal Navy during the Gulf War. He had a very promising military career ahead of him and a wife and two children at home in Portsmouth. Then a tragic road accident changed his life completely.
Allen suffered a severe head injury which left him with considerable physical and emotional trauma. It wiped out his memories and left him unable to walk, speak or write. He couldn’t even remember getting married or the birth of his children. He spent the next five years in hospital, struggling to come to terms with his disabilities. He had lost the ability to feel any emotions, not knowing how to love, laugh or even cry. He became very introverted, his confidence was shattered and he could not see any future. He was so miserable and depressed that he even tried to commit suicide. As a result, his relationship with his wife Sandra and his children became strained
Then ten years ago Allen was partnered with Endal, a yellow Labrador Retriever part trained by Canine Partners. Since then, Allen’s confidence has returned to such an extent that he cannot stop talking about how much Endal has transformed his life. Endal has helped to save Allen’s marriage and to rebuild a relationship with his children. He has become independent and Sandra no longer has to be on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, allowing her the freedom and peace of mind to live her own life again.
Not only can Endal respond to over one hundred commands but he can also problem solve. One day when Allen was struggling to reach up to withdraw money from a cashpoint machine, Endal instinctively jumped up, took the money and card in his mouth and passed it to Allen. On another occasion, Endal demonstrated his ability to react in an emergency. When visiting Crufts in 2001, Allen was knocked out of his wheelchair by a speeding car and left unconscious in a car park. The driver was in a deep state of shock, so Endal took charge and pulled Allen into the recovery position, covered him with a blanket and fetched his mobile phone. Getting no response Endal then left Allen’s side and went to a near by hotel and raised the alarm.
Endal can also respond to sign language – when Allen cannot remember the word for items such as hat, gloves and razor, he makes signs with his hands, such as patting his head. Endal instinctively knows that he needs his hat and promptly fetches it!
Allen is now an incredible ambassador for Canine Partners. He is also a Trustee of the charity, working tirelessly to encourage publicity about Endal’s skill and the tremendous amount of work and dedication that goes into training other Canine Partners like him. Over two hundred and eighty camera crews from all over the world have filmed Allen and Endal, articles about the duo too numerous to count up. Not being content with being the first dog to fly the London eye, Endal was also the first dog to fly in the cabin of a British Airways plane from Heathrow to Manchester which was filmed for the BBC’s Airport programme.
This amazing dog has unsurprisingly won several major awards for his amazing talents and devotion to duty. He was voted “Dog of the Millennium” by readers of Dogs Today, he was the overall winner of the Golden Bonio award 2002, voted assistance dog of the year 2001, 2002, 2003 and he has been uniquely given two human life saving awards. He also claims the “UK’s Coolest Canine” amongst his titles and a prestigious Golden Bone award. He was awarded BBC Blue Peter’s highest honour, a Gold Blue Peter Badge and in August 2004, at the Wag and Bone show, he was presented with a unique “life time achievement award” previously only given to humans. Though his award of the PDSA Gold Medal, the peace time version of Dicken Medal, for his bravery and devotion to duty( the equivalent of the animal George Cross) has to be is his most significant award and recognition of his working career. Endal was one of five Hero Dogs presented to the world’s media at Crufts 2005.
Allen could barely say “hello” a few years ago but now he is an eloquent speaker. His words express just how much Endal has turned his life around. “Endal never judges me or turns away because of my condition. His love is un-conditional and he is helping me become more tolerant in life. Every day we learn another way in which we can work together as a team. There seems to be no limits to what we can achieve together!”
