Puppy named Finn assists owner Belinda Simpson who suffers from seizures.
By Lee Umbers
He was plucked to safety as a puppy after littermates were drowned in a river.
Now Finn, the rescue dog who melted hearts on Purina Pound Pups to Dog Stars, is a lifesaver himself - and may be about to do part of a marathon.
The huntaway-cross has qualified as a disability assist dog, and is a constant companion and protector for owner Belinda Simpson, who suffers from epilepsy and a traumatic brain injury.
"He's my best friend, he's my lifeline - he gives me hope for life, he's my reason to get out of bed in the morning, he's everything to me," Simpson said of Finn, who she met in "miraculous" circumstance.
And the brighter path he has allowed Simpson to take may include across the Harbour Bridge in the Auckland Marathon.
Race organisers were awaiting a decision from NZTA on whether the pair can compete in the 12Km Traverse in the October 29 event. Organisers are not aware of any other dogs running the race.
It would be a big step up for Simpson, 44, who said she walked with a frame and then crutches after being injured when she was struck by a car in an accident four years ago.
Taking Finn for walks from her Papakura home had improved her fitness to where they were regularly doing 5km and building up the distance. "We couldn't walk a kilometre without (walking aids)... probably three or four months ago."
Finn's care of Simpson includes alerting her to when she was about to have a seizure, sensing its oncoming about 30 minutes beforehand, and stopping her being injured from falling.
"He'll glue into my leg," she said. "And he almost like pushes me around to the couch.
"It's very clear that he's telling me that I need to go and lie down, and that he's quite concerned for me."
Finn stays with her through the seizures, which last around two minutes, and for a further 30-45 minutes recovery during which she is unable to speak or move her right side.
"He licks my face and helps me with that coming around. He does little things to clown around and make me laugh because I can be quite stressed and quite scared as I come out of the seizure."
He will also fetch her phone, and open the fridge with a specially-attached rope, pull out a bottle of drink and take it to her hand. And if further assistance is needed - "If I tell him the word button, he'll go and push the button for the medic alert alarm - he taps that with his nose."
Belinda Simpson with her assistance dog Finn. Photo Nick Reed.
Finn began training as a disability assist dog when he was filmed for Episode 10 of Season 2 of popular TV show Purina Pound Pups to Dog Stars, in which animal behavior expert Mark Vette helped prepare rescue dogs for loving new homes.
Finn was one of a litter of 13 puppies. Seven were drowned in a river before someone stepped in and saved the remaining six.
He was about to be partnered with a family but that fell through, at the same time Simpson "thought my world was over" after the death from a severe infection of her previous disability assist dog Tana.
She got the golden retriever from Montana Women's Prison in 2008. Tana had been trained by inmates there as part of a life skills programme. Simpson, a qualified occupational therapist, had helped prisoners with the course when she was living in the United States earlier on.
She and Tana visited children's hospitals and special needs facilities, and in 2012 were awarded a Queens Diamond Jubilee Medallion for volunteer services for animals in New Zealand.
Six days after Tana died, Simpson received a phone call saying Finn was available.
She took the then six-month-old pup home for a night to see if they bonded.
"We just clicked instantly. He speaks so much through his eyes, and between us we knew that we were going to be able to help each other...
"I think that the meeting between Finn and I was absolutely miraculous... He was... saved ... and then he's come and saved me."
Finn accompanies Simpson to medical appointments, supermarkets, on trains and has been beside her on flights to Wellington. Simpson plans to take him with her on a holiday to Perth next year.
"A very deep thinker" as well as "a very deeply caring dog", Finn was also bringing comfort and joy through regular visits to patients at a brain injury rehabilitation therapy unit, Middlemore Hospital, and working in a programme with youth-at-risk.
"It's a really nice way of being able to work with Finn and give back to the community," Simpson said. "The community's given so much to us."
Finn qualified as a disability assist dog through Perfect Partners Assistance Dogs Trust at the end of last year, she said. "The dream from the Purina Pound Pups came true."
