 | Dogs for the Disabled |
| This page is part of the archive of community profiles and was written in July 2003. |
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| “It was unbelievable the difference she made to me,” said Sarah. “I had no confidence when I first found out about the charity because my illness had forced me to give up work.
“With Jade, my independence came back and we became like one unit, each knowing what the other was thinking. She retrieved articles I dropped, like the phone or my walking stick, and she would help me get on my stairlift by pulling the foot-plate down.
“She even took the washing out of the machine and dropped it in the basket, before dragging it out to the garden. Then she would take each item out and wait for me to hang it on the line. She was a bit of a local celebrity – people would stop to talk to her in the street.”
Sarah concedes that many people she met wrongly assumed her Retriever must be a guide dog, which led to some bemused looks when she got out of her car with Jade as the sole passenger. |  |
|  Sadly, Jade, who was sponsored throughout her career by snooker star Steve Davis, recently retired at the age of seven as she became afraid of traffic, and Sarah is now waiting for a replacement dog.
Training a dog takes between six and nine months but the owners don’t escape either! Prospective owners are matched to a dog and the pair are put through a mutual training scheme, designed to build up a strong common bond and teach each how to care for the other.
Anyone interested in finding out more about Dogs for the Disabled can call Sarah Carr on 01926 774407 or visit the website at http://warkcom.net/dfdgroup
 More information about the national charity can be found at their website http://www.dogsforthedisabled.org |
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