Endal the Service Dog

This is the amazing story of Endal, a collegue of mine. I admire him greatly!

“Endal (b. 13 December 1995) is a male Labrador retriever in England whose abilities as a service dog and as an ambassador for service dog charitable work have had considerable news media coverage.

Among other distinctions, Endal has been described as “the most decorated dog in the world” (including “Dog of the Millennium” and the PDSA’s Gold Medal for Animal Gallantry and Devotion to Duty, the highest award available to an animal) and the most famous dog in the UK has been filmed by over 300 film crews from around the world and has a number of world “firsts” as an assistance dog to his credit.

Endal is a pedigree yellow Labrador retriever. Unusually, Endal suffered from birth from the lifelong debilitating joint condition osteochondrosis in both of his front legs, which brought his suitability for assistance dog training into question. However, with the help of a specialized diet and controlled exercise, Endal qualified as a fully operational assistance dog. He became the service dog for disabled ex-Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer Allen Parton in the late 1990s.

Endal’s fame has led to his taking on the role of an animal ambassador for service dog related training and charities.

Allen Parton

Allen’s head injuries from the Gulf War are serious. They include 50% memory loss and inability to reliably make new memories for more than around 2 days (for example, not recognising his neighbour of 7 years duration), physical disability - he is wheelchair-bound - speech and word difficulties, inability to perceive items that cannot be seen, and inability to safely judge speed and distance of traffic. For a considerable time after partnering Endal, he was unable to speak and was limited to basic sign language.

Work as a service dog

Endal is able to respond to over one hundred instructions as well as a very large number (”hundreds”) of signed commands. He can retrieve items from supermarket shelves, operate buttons and switches and load and empty a washing machine. He is able to put a card into an automated teller machine, retrieve the card when the process is complete and return the card to a wallet.

“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’d never speak again, but Endal just dragged the speech out of me.” Able Magazine.

The above Able Magazine article continues by noting that “Over the years, Endal has learned to pull the plug out of the bath before going for help if Allen falls unconscious whilst bathing, and is able to put Allen in the recovery position, hit the emergency button on the telephone and summon help … Endal has learned how to use cash and chip and pin machines, as well as helping out with the shopping, opening train doors, operating lifts, unloading the washing machine and more typical doggie skills like getting the paper.”

Parton states that Endal’s ability to intuit his wishes and needs showed when they first met, and was responsible for helping him recover from the initial deep depression and trauma caused by his disability. As well as intuiting the operation of a cashpoint (ATM), Endal came again to national attention in a 2001 incident, when Allen was knocked out of his wheelchair by a passing car.

In this incident, Endal pulled Parton, who was unconscious, into the recovery position, retrieved his mobile phone from beneath the car, fetched a blanket and covered him, barked at nearby dwellings for assistance, and then ran to a nearby hotel to obtain help.”