Our special HELPERS

Three women share sweet bonds with their support dogs

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My dogs have made a huge difference to my life'

Wendy Martin, 59, lives in Birmingham with Penny, her five-year-old fox-red Labrador.

Penny wakes me at 8am every day, jumping on my bed, throwing toys and begging me to get up to feed her. Her working day starts after breakfast: helping me dress, loading and unloading the washing machine, and picking up anything that I drop on the floor.

Since the age of 18, I've had an increasingly painful spinal condition that makes doing these things difficult. Penny even takes things off supermarket shelves for me if I'm in my wheelchair.

If I fall at home, she can pull an emergency cord to get me assistance, and she can also fetch help when we're out.

She's the fourth dog I've had trained by the charity Support Dogs. The first was our family pet, Dede, a black Labrador, when I was 41 and starting to struggle with daily activities. But just as Dede was due to qualify, she developed cancer in one paw and had to return to life as a much-loved pet, with a new assistance dog joining the family.

Oscar was a golden retriever who'd been a guide dog puppy but disliked the harness that guide dogs have to wear - so needed to be found a new role.

After Oscar retired, I took on Kevin a rescue golden Labrador from Dogs Trust.