Couple take on challenge to help physically disabled

LESLIE ANN HORGAN/ID 121232

Arrowtown couple Grant and Judy Reid with 11-week-old golden retriever Emmit. The Reids, who are experienced trainers of guide dogs for the blind, have taken on the new challenge of training the pup as a mobility dog to help people with physical disabilities.

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Arrowtown recently became home to New Zealand's youngest L-plate owner — an 11-week-old puppy called Emmit.

When he gets his full licence in two and a half years' time Emmit will be a mobility dog, trained to help people with physical disabilities.

Mobility Assistance Dogs Trust services co-ordinator Helen Spence said Emmit would be able to help people with all types of physical challenges from muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy to those paralysed in accidents.

Emmit will be taught to do a selection of everyday tasks including picking up dropped wallets, opening fridge doors by pulling on a special rope and even pushing the right button on an elevator by following a laser pointer.

"They may seem like simple tasks but they can make a big difference to disabled people's lives," Ms Spence said.

The charitable trust, which was set up in 2003, currently has six dogs working across the country. Training each dog costs $25,000 and the trust is reliant on sponsorship and donations for funding. Emmit is the first puppy to be trained in the south island. Arrowtown volunteers Grant and Judy Reid are experienced guide dog trainers for the blind, but have never trained a mobility dog before.

Mrs Reid said they were excited about taking on a new challenge.

"We'll be taking him to the Queenstown Mall, up the gondola and on buses in the coming months," Mrs Reid said.

"The idea is to expose him to as many different environments as possible." Mr Reid said that he and his wife have been contacting organisations across Otago and Southland to try and estimate the need for mobility dogs in the district but had no concrete statistics yet.

For more information or to make a donation to the trust visit www.mobilitydogs.co.nz.

- © Fairfax NZ News