They can carry out an array of tasks for people living with dementia, from retrieving medication to even helping them get dressed.
And now, after completing years of specialist training, two smart canine siblings are ready to transform the lives of people living with the condition in Courier country.
Labradors Webb and Willow are looking to settle down with two families living with dementia in Dundee, Angus, Fife or Perth and Kinross.
The brother and sister have been subject to two years of training through the Dementia Dog Project, which started when they were only eight weeks of age.
They have learned to carry out key tasks to assist people, from opening doors, to helping them remove articles of clothing and even stay hydrated.
Their training has been completed with the help of inmates at HMP Castle Huntly in Longforgan, who have been preparing for life back in the outside world by helping equip the dogs for life with dementia sufferers.
Dementia Dog Project manager Fiona Corner said Webb and Willow reaching this stage is a “really exciting milestone” for the charity, which began life in 2012.
She added: “These dogs have come through two years of specialised training and they are rather special dogs because these are assistance dogs, that are trained specially to help someone who is diagnosed with dementia.
“They are now at the point in their training where they have completed all their tasks and their skills and we are looking for a special home for them in the Dundee or surrounding area.”
She said the project has helped to “really transform the lives” of both dementia patients and their carers, allowing them to “cope day-to-day through the dementia journey”.
Webb and Willow are two of eight dogs that will be placed through the scheme in the next few years.
Ms Corner added: “This is a really exciting time. We’re just a small project.
“The placement of Webb and Willow is going to mark a really exciting milestone.
“The kind of people we are looking to register interest for these dogs would ideally be a couple who are still living at home, where one person may have recently received a diagnosis of dementia or still be in the early stages of dementia and are living full-time with their carer, have a fenced garden and love dogs.
“You don’t need to have previously owned a dog in order to apply and these dogs are provided completely free of charge with all support and training provided through the dementia dog project team.”
To qualify for a dog, a person must have recently received a diagnosis of dementia or be in the early stages. They must also live full-time with their carer.
Anyone who fits this criteria should contact the charity at bark@dementiadog.org or call 07876 848 022.
Destined for greatness
Fiona Corner of the Dementia Dog Project said Webb and Willow had been earmarked for training just weeks after their birth.
She said: “Webb and Willow would have entered their assistance dog training at the young age of eight weeks old, and they spend their first year being socialised by volunteer puppy socialisers down in Oxfordshire.
“Then they come into the Dogs for Good training centre and here they go through their early foundation training.
“So they are learning skills such as how to walk next to a wheelchair, to press light switches on and off and be really well socialised again with the basic training commands.
“This is where the expert team at Dogs for Good start to identify which dogs might be good for which areas based on their different character and personality.”
Ms Corner said that HMP Castle Huntly was “providing us with a fantastic working base”.
