Snoopy the poodle doesn’t care that I am eating a cupcake in front of him. There is no flicker of interest, even as crumbs spill into my napkin. This is because he is an assistance dog – belonging to Ann Blake, 63, who has muscular dystrophy – and has the DogsAid UK certificate to prove it. Snoopy’s official document is renewed annually following a battery of obedience and assistance tests. It enables him to accompany her anywhere she goes – even to places where pet dogs are banned.
And Ann is in good company.
She is one of more than 7,000 people in the UK who rely on help from an assistance dog. Most of us will have heard of guide dogs – typically Labradors or golden retrievers – who help blind and visually impaired people to live independently. But other breeds can also provide support for a wide range of needs, from autism and diabetes to hearing loss and therapy.
Poodles make excellent assistance dogs because of their intelligence and focus. Occasionally, however, that laser-like attention can be impossible to break, as I experience first-hand.
Ann’s polite request for Snoopy to retrieve her slippers produces immediate results and when Snoopy does show an interest in me, it is to start removing my socks without being asked.
He assesses the position of my toes by nibbling lightly on the tip of the sock before gently, but determinedly, tugging it off my foot. “That is one of the problems we have,” laughs Ann, who lives with her husband Kevin, 64, in the New Forest. “He likes to start undressing visitors.”
It’s certainly an endearing quality, in a poodle.
“At night, he helps me undress, and then gives me a very gentle acupuncture with his teeth on my feet before bed, having washed them,” she adds.
And for his next trick? “Find my keys,” Ann instructs Snoopy, a cross between a toy and a standard poodle. He promptly retrieves the jangling bunch from a selection of personal items laid out on the carpet and drops them into Ann’s hand.
His reward is small pieces of cooked sausage, his favourite treat (no dog requires cake when sausages are on the menu). “Snoopy is amazing. He gets me out of bed and into the forest for walks,” continues Ann.
“It is weird, but when you use a wheelchair, no one looks at you, but they interact if you have a dog. The usual question is: ‘What does he do for you?’
“People talk to me because of Snoopy; he’s a great companion, breaks the ice, and has changed my life. He is so willing to help.”
Trained to open doors with push button controls, and stop dead on a vocal command, Snoopy is more than just a loyal companion – he is Ann’s devoted canine carer.
The charity Dogs Aid UK, which has a long waiting list, trains assistance dogs to the unique and individual needs of their owners. When they go to the supermarket, Snoopy shadows Ann’s wheelchair, staying close to her left-hand wheel. He learned the correct position by having a short lead clipped to an extension pole at the correct distance, but now requires neither to take up the position. He is attentive, looking to Ann constantly for commands.
command “When he wears his service jacket he can’t stop working,” she laughs. “I say he’s got OCD in a supermarket. We get to the checkout and there is a little collection of all the rubbish he has found under the cabinets” – apparently rather less in Marks & Spencer than other shops.
And during walks in the forest – unclipped and a few paces ahead of Ann – he even remains under control when a herd of deer breaks cover from a thicket. Upon a vocal command from Ann, Snoopy turns and sits – back to the deer – while she trundles towards him.
And this loyal little dog is determinedly protective, even sounding the alarm if he thinks Ann is in danger.
“Recently we were in the fracture clinic, after I broke my ankle, and Snoopy was barking because I’d been taken away to a private room by a nurse,” she says.
Meeting Ann today, a glamorous and gracious former special needs teacher, who also runs a B&B with her husband Kevin, it is hard to believe that a few months after receiving her muscular dystrophy diagnosis she tried to commit suicide six times before filling in forms for Dignitas, the Swiss euthanasia clinic. Today, she is settled and happy, devoted to her dog and her husband of 44 years, and enjoys offering art therapy classes to small groups on Sundays.
“Frustration and fatigue are the hardest things,” she says. “I can’t hold a kettle, but I do enjoy helping others.”
With this in mind, she has produced a beautiful hardback book full of original artwork, from artists around the world, which includes aphorisms for dealing positively with life’s challenges.
Contributors include her friend Jools Holland OBE – who donated a line drawing of himself at a piano. The sepia horse head drawing that adorns the cover was donated by another friend, the artist and sculptor Nic Fiddian-Green.
Ann was assisted by Vanessa Kidby, the wife of Paul Kidby, who is the artist for the Terry Pratchett books, while Harry Hall, the publisher, gave his time for free on the project – described by one recipient as “a hug in a book”. Says Ann: “I want the book, which is raising money for charity, to bring joy and love. To act as a reminder that strength can be found in gratitude and beauty around you. A book of hope and wisdom that inspires you to carry on.”
This commitment to positivity and her determination to help others was underscored when her son Peter, 40, was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy – which has a genetic component – shortly after her own diagnosis.
“When I was diagnosed, I dealt with the news badly. But when Peter was diagnosed, this was the spur I needed to begin to change my life. I knew I needed to be a positive example of how to deal with this disease with grace and dignity,” she explains.
Ann and Kevin, who also have a daughter, Michelle, 42, were on holiday in the United States in 2018, when they went for a walk and Ann realised she was struggling. “I didn’t have any energy, couldn’t stand easily and wasn’t able to lift things,” she recalls. “But I was fit, with a very active lifestyle and went to the gym four times a week, so this was a huge shock.”
Back in the UK, she discussed her underpowered muscles with her GP who suggested she had Repetitive Strain Injury and referred her to a private cardiologist. He in turn sent her to a rheumatologist who shared the terrifying news that Ann’s muscles “were dying”.
Shortly afterwards she was diagnosed with a variant of muscular dystrophy called FSHD (facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy).
Says Ann: “Everything happened in such a short space of time. I felt like my world had fallen apart.
“I was in a lot of pain and couldn’t sleep, so the doctors put me on several different medications. They gave me no warning that two of the drugs carried a risk of suicidal thoughts.
“My mental health went downhill quickly and within a few months I’d attempted suicide several times.”
While sectioned, she read a leaflet in her tablet packet which mentioned suicidal thoughts could be a side-effect.
“That was the moment I chose to stop taking all my pain-reducing medications and focus instead on finding joy in my loved ones and in creativity.”
At the end of 2018, a local addiction centre asked if Ann and Kevin would consider opening their B&B to patients undergoing treatment.
“I decided that the best way to not think about what was going on for me, would be to focus on someone else,” says Ann.
“Since then, we have had over 55 people come to stay with us from the centre. When they arrive, most people are in a very dark place and don’t want to be here, but by the end they don’t want to leave.”
Her B&B guests included the American recording artist Hilary Roberts, who had stopped performing following her own battle with addiction.
Hilary credits Ann with saving her life, so when she heard that Ann had been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, she wrote the song Fight To The Other Side in her honour, flew the couple first class to Los Angeles and held a benefit concert for the cause.
She also popped one of her lap dogs into Ann’s arms and encouraged her to think about finding support from a canine companion, urging her to consider a poodle for their high intelligence.
This planted the seed of an idea in Ann and once she was back in the UK she began searching for a suitable dog. Snoopy was the result. Today, Ann is devotedly cared for by Kevin, who took early retirement from his job as a corporate surveyor at their local council shortly after her diagnosis.
“That year was so difficult,” recalls Ann. “I felt like such a burden.”
Since then, Kevin has also encouraged her to see things differently, and they have fun singing silly songs as he cares for her. When we meet, a home-made rice pudding is bubbling in the oven.
In his letter to his manager, requesting compassionate retirement, Kevin explained, movingly, why devoting himself to Ann was his primary concern.
He wrote: “Over 30 years ago, my wife stood by me when I was in the depths of addiction and here I am 30 years later knowing this is my turn to step up and be there for her as she battles muscular dystrophy. There’s currently no cure or treatment.”
But Kevin was wrong. There is a treatment – and it is called love.
Visit alegacyoflove.co.uk to order a signed copy of Legacy of Love for £31, including P&P. All profits are split between the charities Muscular Dystrophy UK and Dogs Aid UK to help continue their work
Helping tackle this cruel disease
Muscular dystrophies are a group of more than 60 rare conditions that gradually lead muscles to weaken and waste. Usually inherited, they are caused by mutations in genes guiding muscular structure and function.
It is estimated that more than 110,000 people in the UK are living with a muscle-wasting condition.
Currently there is no cure, but advances are being made in the search for effective treatments. Ann Blake’s variant, facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, is a more common form.
“Assistance dogs, like Ann’s dog Snoopy, can be a great way to enhance and improve the lives of people living with MD,” says Neeru Naik of the charity Muscular Dystrophy UK. “They bring comfort, help with anxiety, and encourage regular gentle exercise which is important in managing pain.”
