Charity founder gives emotional keynote speech
Allen Parton.
Allen Parton, founder of the charity Hounds for Heroes, paid tribute to the veterinary profession today, as he gave an emotional keynote speech at BVNA Congress.
The charity, which has been chosen as BVNA's charity of the year, provides assistance dogs to injured servicemen and women.
Expressing his gratitude to the BVNA, Allen said: "The message you are sending out to someone like me is that you care. And from where I sit that's a pretty powerful message to be reminded of."
He founded Hounds for Heroes after the death of his own assistance dog Endal, who famously learned to use a cash machine and put his owner into the recovery position, in addition to hundreds of sign language commands.
Allen suffered a serious brain injury in 1991 while he was serving with the Royal Navy during the Gulf War. As a result of his accident he was hospitalised for five years, losing his memory and, initially, his ability to read, write, walk and talk. He could no longer remember his wife and two children and, on top of that, could feel no emotion or empathy.
He told delegates that his life changed when his wife took him to a puppy class at Canine Partners, a charity that trains assistance dogs.
Endal, who had failed his assistance dog training and was waiting for a family home, picked something up off the ground and put it in Allen's lap. When Allen failed to react, the dog brought more and more objects from around the room until, finally, Allen smiled and Endal became part of the family for the next 15 years.
"That dog did something to me that was most remarkable," he said. "If there's an animal on the planet that can teach you lost emotions, I genuinely believe it's a dog…
"Someone described my life as like a jigsaw puzzle smashed asunder in the Gulf. And that dog had gone off every single day and found a missing bit of that puzzle."
When Allen was asked to be the face of the British Legion poppy appeal, he discovered that there are over 900,000 injured servicemen and women, yet he knew through Canine Partners that only nine had an assistance dog.
"I realised that couldn't be right," he explained. "How could a dog save my life, my marriage, change it completely and give me a future and only so few servicemen and women had dogs."
Now, Hounds for Heroes covers the whole cost of providing specially trained assistance dogs for servicemen and women, as well as the police, firefighters and paramedics.
This is important to the ethos of the charity, as Allen knows from his own experience the challenges of living on a war pension.
Describing the charity's work, he said: "I don't see problems at Hounds for Heroes, we're about ability not disability… We don't see that 900,000 as a problem, we just see that as a target."
Two independent vets have launched a podcast to help owners strengthen their bond with pets. Dr Maggie Roberts and Dr Vanessa Howie, who have worked in both veterinary practice and major charities, are keen to use their experience to enable people to give pets a better life.
