After her early retirement from the police force 20 years ago, Amanda Davidson, 48, has slowly lost her mobility and now relies on her support dog, Jupiter, to help her in everyday life. But how has she really coped with the transition from independent, active police officer to now relying on her pet dog to even get out the house?
Sitting on her brown suede sofa, with a cup of tea and Jupiter sleeping at her side, it’s clear to see that Amanda adores her support dog. Since he was eight weeks old, Jupiter has been a beloved member of this family, but when he turned three he qualified to become an official assistance dog on the Support Dogs program. As she lovingly strokes Jupiter on the head, she says: “I’ve had him since he was a baby, he’s always been with us and that means he always will be with us.”
However, Amanda hasn’t always needed the help of a support dog. Once upon a time she was a fighting fit police officer in South East London, with a wealth of independence and the world at her fingertips. She explains: “I joined in 1988, and was forced to retire in 1997. I had a bit of an adventurous career!” As she reveals her past to me, I can see that Amanda truly loved her job, but things went downhill after she became victim to two violent attacks at work.
Early retirement
“My health problems were caused by two incidents. One was an armed robbery where 20 shots were fired at police. I tackled one of the men myself, he was about 6’6, and built like Mike Tyson! We ended up wrestling over a gun while someone else was in the bushes trying to shoot me, and I ended up dislocating my shoulder.”
Despite this, she carried on working until a year later, when she was called out to a domestic incident involving a psychiatric patient. She says: “It all went pear shaped and we ended up in a fight which resulted in me having a shelf thrown at me, as well as being bent double over a kitchen cabinet as he tried to strangle me. I ended up getting multiple injuries to my back which ended up in me having to retire from duty.”
Today, Amanda can often struggle with even the most basic tasks such as picking things up off the floor and completing chores around the house. As she greeted me into her family home, and as we chatted over a cup of tea, she relied heavily on her walking stick to support herself, and she tells me that when she goes out she must be in her wheelchair the majority of the time. After hearing how bright and exciting her former career was, to now seeing how Amanda copes with her limited mobility, it’s easy to understand why her emotional health was affected as well as her physical health.
“Disability is isolating” she reveals. “It takes you so much energy to do things, that you’re so concentrated on just getting from A to B. You don’t just go for a wander, you tend to get quite internal and you’re not interacting with many people. You don’t even make as much eye contact, people don’t come up to talk to you when you’re in a wheelchair, it’s kind of like you’re invisible.”
Puppy training
But her loneliness and insular lifestyle was soon to be dispelled by the arrival of an eight-week-old black Labrador, whose bounding energy and loving cuddles could brighten the heart of anyone who met him. As she laughs at the thought, Amanda confirms my thoughts that training a puppy when you’re in a wheelchair is an interesting and difficult trial. Up until he joined the Support Dogs program at the age of three, Jupiter was trained solely by Amanda and her family. She explains: “I didn’t teach him to do anything task-wise, I just taught him to be calm, well behaved and well socialised. I thought the best thing I could do was provide Support Dogs with an even balanced dog that can handle anything they throw at him.”
And handle everything they threw at him was exactly what Jupiter did. He can now open and close doors in the house, drag Amanda’s laundry basket through the house and find her walking stick wherever she has left it. Along with this, I had the privilege of seeing first-hand how Jupiter is putting his latest trick into practice: he can now find the landline phone anywhere in the house and bring it to Amanda. “My legs totally went on Christmas Day with no warning, and it gave us an idea of what the future could be like and what I’d need to do if it happened and I was alone” she says. So in their session with Jupiter’s trainer in Sheffield the next week, he was taught this vital new skill, which he now cleverly demonstrates to me.
I watch as Jupiter is repeatedly asked to pick up the phone using the rope that’s attached to the back of it, each time being rewarded with a treat. She says: “It’s basically about teaching him what the phone is.” As I leave the room to hide the phone in the hallway, I find it hard to believe that he’ll find it on the floor, hidden by my coat and scarf. But as Amanda repeatedly tells him “Jupiter, find phone” I’m amazed to see him return to the living room with the phone in his mouth. It’s truly heart-warming to see how devoted Jupiter is to his owner, and how invaluable his help is to her.
So after seeing for myself how Jupiter supports Amanda and the strength of the bond between them, I’m intrigued to know; could Amanda live without Jupiter? She replies: “I could, but I definitely wouldn’t have the quality of life that I do. Before him, I’d lost physical contact with the world. He really is an unmeasurable quantity of improvement on my life, he’s my boy.”