In 1989 I suffered severe brain and neck injuries in a sports accident, resulting in a period of unconsciousness and 11 months in hospital and countless years of rehabilitation.

The lasting effects were poor:-

speech, balance, memory, mobility, organisation, loss of confidence and self worth and so on... It was impossible to establish a daily routine, or indeed have any purpose to get up in the morning.

2 ½ years ago Caesar came along from Dogs for the Disabled, and things started to look up.

Some of the tasks Caesar does wittingly are:-

retrieval of forgotten or low items, including, keys, purse, fetching in the milk, the phone, the papers, and post, fetching anything I drop, and any number of named items from around the house, emptying the washing machine, switching on and off pull cord lights and alarms,

and unwittingly:-

he has prevented me from falling out of bed for past 2 1/12 years when previously it happened 2-3 times a month.. Quite simply, he does this by retrieving dropped items, so I don't have to lean out of bed and risk overbalancing, clearly preventing further injury.

Inevitable positive gains are:-

speech, confidence, organisation, and establishing and maintaining a daily routine, and involvement within the community.

Couple of quotes.....

Doctor....."This dog has done more for your speech in 12 months than we have managed in years of speech therapy".

Neighbour......"During the first 18 months you lived in our street, I often wondered if you were agoraphobic, I saw you so little, and when I did see you, having a conversation with you was like walking through thick treacle....slow, sticky and awkward. Nowadays, I see you three or four times a day most days, and on days when I don't see you, I KNOW it is because you are off doing something exciting with Caesar".

Of course, having Caesar as my assistant does NOT mean that problems don't arise, but in many situations Caesar is a practical part of the solution, and in those where he isn't I find I tend to tackle problems in a calmer CAN DO sense because of the confidence he has given me, and not treat everything as if it were the final straw.

I know is sounds corny and twee, but quite literally Caesar has changed my life tremendously, and I shall always be grateful to him and Dogs for the Disabled for giving me such direction, and allowing me to retake charge of my own life.

I have developed my interest in photography, made countless friends among the dog community locally and online, joined and now run various groups for assistance dog partnerships online, learned how to write and produce my own website about living with an assistance dog, now have the confidence to travel by train and taxi just with Caesar as my escort, stayed away from home with just him to help............and so on, I would be here all day if I told you everything.....but just an example is, this isn't our only engagement of the day today, we have come direct from the Championships at Wimbledon, and hopefully will return there to catch some tennis this evening. Come tomorrow lunchtime we shall be at a family wedding back at home.

This level of activity was unthinkable to me just three years ago.