Endal

Endal was a pedigree yellow Labrador Retriever. From birth Endal had the lifelong debilitating joint condition osteochondrosis in both of his front legs,{{cite web|url=http://www.k9magazinefree.com/k9_perspective/iss33p5.shtml |title=Canine Partner Endal opens Sussex Canine Rehabilitation Centre |author=K9 Perspective Magazine |work=issue 33, p. 5 |year=2007 |accessdate=19 September 2007 |author-link=K9 Magazine |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214015516/http://www.k9magazinefree.com/k9_perspective/iss33p5.shtml |archive-date=14 December 2007 |df=dmy }}{{cite web|url=http://www.lrsec.org.uk/Endal/endalhp.htm |title=Sussex Canine Center and other topics |work=Labrador Rescue South East and Central |accessdate=20 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210122105/http://www.lrsec.org.uk/Endal/endalhp.htm |archive-date=10 February 2007 |url-status=dead |df=dmy }} - these badges, although issued by a television show, are seen as a significant and notable accolade in the UK. which brought his suitability for assistance dog training into question. However, due to Endal's intelligence and problem-solving abilities he qualified as a fully operational and accredited assistance dog although he was only part trained by the charity Canine Partners for Independence.

He became the service dog for disabled ex-Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer Allen Parton{{cite web|url=http://www.milleniumdog.freeserve.co.uk/page47.html |title=Gulf War veteran Allen Parton |publisher=Milleniumdog.freeserve.co.uk |accessdate=6 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140217010201/http://www.milleniumdog.freeserve.co.uk/page47.html |archive-date=17 February 2014 |df=dmy }} in the late 1990s.{{cite news | url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/08/14/ndog14.xml | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20030903153047/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/08/14/ndog14.xml | url-status= dead | archive-date= 3 September 2003 | title= After 100 years labrador is top dog |author= Sally Pook | work= The Daily Telegraph | date= 14 August 2003 |accessdate= 19 September 2007 |quote= Confirming its reputation as the archetypal man's best friend, a labrador named Endal was voted dog of the millennium by Dogs Today magazine for helping Allen Parton after the Royal Navy sailor was injured during the first Gulf war. Endal can carry out 100 tasks to order, including withdrawing money from a cash machine and switching off lights. | location=London}}{{cite web |url= http://www.disabledpersons-railcard.co.uk/features?action=view&newsID=2 |title= Rail Travel is a Piece of Cake |author= Disabled Persons Railcard |work= The Disabled Person's Railcard website |date= 7 April 2007 |quote= Allen is a regular traveller on South West Trains and Endal ably assists from the word go in his journeys by pushing the button to get on the train. He makes regular trips to London and Leeds for the charity, Canine Partners, and has recently been travelling a lot whilst making a film about his life. The pair then settle back in air conditioned comfort and proceed to make friends up the length and breadth of the country on their travels, which are considerable since the pair's celebrity begun to grow a few years ago. |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071005020635/http://www.disabledpersons-railcard.co.uk/features?action=view&newsID=2 |archive-date= 5 October 2007 |df= dmy-all }}

Endal's fame led to his taking on the role of an animal ambassador for service dog-related training and charities.

On 13 March 2009, age thirteen and days after his last Crufts appearance,[http://www.chichester.co.uk/469/39Wonderdog39-Endal-passes-away.5075757.jp Chichester Observer] 16 March 2009. Endal had to be put down{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/7945664.stm|title= Owner's tribute to 'wonder-dog' | work=BBC News | date=16 March 2009 | accessdate=3 January 2010}} as his age had finally caught up to him. He had a stroke, and his arthritis had become severe over time. Endal is buried at Ilford PDSA Animal Cemetery, which is also the resting place for twelve previous dogs awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal, predecessor to the gold medal.{{cite web|last=Marcus|first=Dawn|title=What's Endal Junior Doing?|url=http://www.fitasfido.com/2009/09/02/whats-endal-junior-doing/|publisher=Fit as Fido|accessdate=17 June 2010|date=2 September 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100316132955/http://www.fitasfido.com/2009/09/02/whats-endal-junior-doing/|archive-date=16 March 2010|df=dmy-all}} A yellow Labrador puppy named EJ (Endal Junior) was in training at the time, whom Endal mentored during his final 9 months.

Endal's owner was Allen Parton. Parton sustained serious head injuries whilst serving with the Royal Navy in the Gulf in 1991, including 50% memory loss and inability to reliably make new memories for more than around 2 days (for example, not recognising his neighbour of 7 years), physical disability (he was a wheelchair user), speech and word difficulties, inability to perceive materials that are out of his sight, and inability to safely judge speed and distance of traffic.{{cite web |url=http://pedigreedogs.co.uk/k9bytes/endal_millennium_dog.htm

|title='Endal' - The Millennium Dog

|date=March 2001

|accessdate = 28 October 2014

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213205133/http://pedigreedogs.co.uk/k9bytes/endal_millennium_dog.htm

|archive-date = 13 December 2007}} For a considerable time after partnering with Endal, he was unable to speak and was limited to basic sign language. In 2008, commenting on a portrait of Endal, Parton said that one of his greatest fears was that, in 10 years, he would be unable to remember what Endal looked like.{{cite web|url=http://www.loveyourlabrador.co.uk/endal_news_portrait.html |title=Labrador Rescue's Patron Immortalised |accessdate=12 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226175720/http://www.loveyourlabrador.co.uk/endal_news_portrait.html |archive-date=26 February 2011 |df=dmy }} In February 2010, Parton registered a new charity, named Hounds for Heroes, in memory of Endal and to help men and women who have been injured in the UK Armed Forces and Emergency Services.{{cite web |url=http://www.houndsforheroes.com |title=Hounds for Heroes}}

Endal was able to respond to over one hundred instructions{{cite web | url= http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWTrains/_Aboutus/Corporate+information/_CaninePartners.htm | title= Canine Partners |work= South West Trains e-motion magazine | date= September–October 2004 |accessdate= 20 June 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070111064903/http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWTrains/_Aboutus/Corporate+information/_CaninePartners.htm |archive-date= 11 January 2007 |url-status= usurped |df= dmy-all}} as well as a very large number ("hundreds") of signed commands.{{cite web |url= http://www.ablemagazine.com/_colony/module/Issues/type/article/ableIssueArticleID/215 |title= An Unstoppable Partnership |author= Able Magazine |year= 2007 }}{{dead link|date=September 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} He could retrieve items from supermarket shelves,{{cite news | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2459283.stm | title= Owner saved by wonder-dog |work= BBC News | date= 13 November 2002 |accessdate= 21 September 2007}} operate buttons and switches, and load and empty a washing machine.{{cite web|url=http://pedigreedogs.co.uk/k9bytes/endal_millennium_dog.htm |title=Endal: The Millennium Dog |author=Allen Parton |work=pedigreedogs.co.uk |date=March 2001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213205133/http://pedigreedogs.co.uk/k9bytes/endal_millennium_dog.htm |archive-date=13 December 2007 |df=dmy }} He was able to put a card into a cash machine, retrieve the card when the process was complete, and return the card to a wallet.{{cite news | url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1510505/Labrador-has-got-the-technology-licked.html | title= Labrador has got the technology licked |author=Rosie Murray-West |work= The Daily Telegraph | date= 15 February 2006 | location=London}}

{{Blockquote|text=When I couldn't talk, he learned sign language – if I touched my head I wanted my hat, if I touched my face it was for the razor. He learned hundreds of commands in signing. Eventually one day, in this very silent world we lived in, I grunted. That was like an electric shock going through him, he was so excited. They said I'd never speak again, but Endal just dragged the speech out of me.|title=Able Magazine}}

The above Able Magazine article continues on: "Over the years, Endal has learned to pull the plug out of the bath before going for help if Parton falls unconscious whilst bathing, and is able to put Parton in the recovery position, hit the emergency button on the telephone and summon help... Endal has learned how to use both chip and PIN ATMs as well as helping out with shopping, opening train doors, operating lifts, unloading the washing machine and more typical doggie skills like getting the paper."

Parton states that Endal's ability to comprehend his wishes and needs showed when they first met, and this was responsible for helping him recover from the initial deep depression and trauma caused by his disability.

Endal came again to national attention in a 2001 incident, when Parton was knocked out of his wheelchair by a passing car outside a hotel. Endal pulled Parton into the recovery position, retrieved his mobile phone from beneath the car, retrieved a blanket from the upturned wheelchair and covered him, alert barked at a nearby hotel for assistance with no result, and then ran to the hotel to obtain help.{{cite web | url= http://www.petersfield-herald-today.co.uk/today/options/news/newsdetail.cfm?id=27389&hididarch=archive | title= Hero dog to the rescue |work= Petersfield Herald |date= 4 June 2001 |accessdate= 21 September 2007 |quote= The pair have appeared on television all over the country demonstrating how specially trained dogs can help profoundly disabled people. This week, as they recovered from their ordeal at the Steep home of Canine Partners for Independence, the group who trained Endal, Allen praised his four legged companion: "We've given so many demonstrations on how Endal should go into action if I fall out of my wheelchair but last Thursday Endal did it for real." ...Endal was voted Dog of the Millennium by Dogs Today readers and Beta Pet Foods, Dog of the Year by the charities Pro Dogs and Pets As Therapy, and was the first ever winner of the Golden Bonio Award.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929093044/http://www.petersfield-herald-today.co.uk/today/options/news/newsdetail.cfm?id=27389&hididarch=archive|archive-date = 29 September 2007 }}

Endal is also:

• The first dog to ride on the London Eye, a giant Ferris wheel.{{cite web |url= http://www.k9magazinefree.com/k9_perspective/iss27p10.shtml |title= TV crew making film of partners' year |author= K9 Perspective Magazine |work= Issue 27, p. 10 |year= 2006 |quote= As the filming of the Endal movie now proceeds apace, significant parts of the filming will involve Endal visiting past milestones such as when he was the first ever dog to fly on the British Airways London Eye. |author-link= K9 Magazine |access-date= 21 September 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070927025749/http://www.k9magazinefree.com/k9_perspective/iss27p10.shtml |archive-date= 27 September 2007 |url-status= dead }}
• The first dog known to be able to operate an ATM card, including both card insertion and card removal.{{cite web |url= http://illinoisspringerrescue2.pulse.net/SITETWO/ENDAL.html |title= Endal, December 2006 |work= Illinois Springer Spaniel Rescue |accessdate= 6 September 2007 |quote= Most recently Endal, as observed by some of the biggest national newspapers in 2006, has learned how to put the card into the machine and remove it after the transaction which Allen is proud to reveal makes him the first dog in the world to achieve this remarkable feat. |date= February 2013 |archive-date= 9 October 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071009080421/http://illinoisspringerrescue2.pulse.net/SITETWO/ENDAL.html |url-status= dead }}{{full citation needed|date=February 2022}}

:

Dogs with Jobs, a Canadian TV series and in a book about that series, covered Endal.{{cite book|title= Dogs with Jobs|last1= Kachanoff|first1= Kim|last2= Weisbord|first2= Merrily|year= 2000|publisher= Simon & Schuster|isbn= 0-671-04735-3|url= https://archive.org/details/dogswithjobswork00weis|url-access= registration}} Endal appeared in the Sky real Lives documentary "The Dog that saved our marriage", transmitted on 12 March 2009.{{Cite web|url=http://ourdogs.co.uk/News/2009/Mar2009/News200309/endal.htm|title=Goodbye Endal|website=ourdogs.co.uk|access-date=2019-02-25}} Endal appeared in the ITV documentary "The Secret Life of Dogs" transmitted on British ITV.{{cite web |url=http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week5/secret-life-dogs |title=Secret Life of Dogs Episode 1 |publisher=Itv.com |accessdate=6 August 2014}} He also appeared on National Geographic.{{cite web|url=http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/endal-the-amazing-assistance-dog/#.UrnJRU8zLh4.twitter |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726012011/http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/endal-the-amazing-assistance-dog/#.UrnJRU8zLh4.twitter |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 July 2013 |title=Endal: The Amazing Assistance Dog {{pipe}} National Geographic Channel |publisher=Channel.nationalgeographic.com |accessdate=6 August 2014}}

The Endal awards have been created to honour his loyalty and devotion to duty in the form of a medal, and these are issued at an annual award ceremony held at the London Pet Show.{{cite web |url=http://www.dogstodaymagazine.co.uk/endal/index.html |title=The Endals for Heroes |work=Dogs Today Magazine |accessdate=6 August 2014 |archive-date=27 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127071131/http://www.dogstodaymagazine.co.uk/endal/index.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.londonpetshow.co.uk/page.cfm/Link=20/t=m/goSection=5_19 |title=London Pet Show 2014 - The Endal Awards – meet the remarkable 2013 winners! |publisher=Londonpetshow.co.uk |accessdate=6 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808061401/http://www.londonpetshow.co.uk/page.cfm/Link=20/t=m/goSection=5_19 |archive-date=8 August 2014 |url-status=dead }} A road in Clanfield, Hampshire, in England has been named "Endal Way" in memory of Endal.{{cite web | url = http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/street-named-in-honour-of-wonder-dog-1-4460813| title = Street named in honour of 'wonder dog' | work = The News | location = Portsmouth | accessdate = 12 November 2012 | date = 12 November 2012}}

As a trustee of the charity Canine Partners, Endal's owner and handler Allen Parton{{cite web |url= http://www.caninepartners.co.uk:80/about_us/history.htm |title= History of Canine Partners: Opening Doors to Independence |work= Canine Partners UK, founded in 1988 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070316151756/http://www.caninepartners.co.uk/about_us/history.htm |archive-date= 16 March 2007 |df= dmy-all }} publicised the skilled training which is needed for assistance dogs by using the story of Endal as an example. Parton and Endal were both patrons of Labrador Rescue South East and Central.[http://www.lrsec.org.uk/Endal/endalhp.htm Labrador Rescue South East and Central] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080819202718/http://www.lrsec.org.uk/Endal/endalhp.htm |date=19 August 2008 }}.

According to a description of Endal by Parton at makeyourdogahero.co.uk:

: "Another more private role is Endal's work with autistic and terminally ill children. Endal has represented the charity Canine Partners, is a patron of Labrador Rescue,{{cite web|url=http://www.lrsec.org.uk |title=lrsec.org.uk |publisher=lrsec.org.uk |accessdate=6 August 2014}} an advisor to Dog Theft Action.{{cite web|url=http://www.dogtheftaction.com |title=dogtheftaction.com |publisher=dogtheftaction.com |accessdate=6 August 2014}} He has been used to promote many issues to do with animal welfare and has also helped raise funds for many of the service charities such as SSAFA, the Royal Naval Benevolent Trust, British Legion and Seafarers UK."{{cite web |url= http://www.makeyourdogahero.co.uk/FD_image_results.php?region=2 |title= Endal, Yellow Labrador 11 years old |author= Firehouse Dog (film) website |work= makeyourdogahero.co.uk |year= 2007 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071008202657/http://www.makeyourdogahero.co.uk/FD_image_results.php?region=2 |archive-date= 8 October 2007 |df= dmy-all }} organisation.

A book entitled Endal by Allen and Sandra Parton was released on 5 February 2009.{{cite web |title=Endal: How one extraordinary dog brought a family back from the brink |url=https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/endal-how-one-extraordinary-dog-brought-a-family-back-from-the-brink-allen-partonsandra-parton |website=HarperCollins Publishers |access-date=11 June 2025 |language=en}}

A film of Endal's life story, based around the Endal book, was announced on 1 September 2009.{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/8232819.stm | work=BBC News | title=Hero dog's tale to become a film | date=2 September 2009}}{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6124094/Story-of-hero-Gulf-War-dog-to-be-made-into-a-film.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=Lucy | last=Cockcroft | title=Story of 'hero' Gulf War dog to be made into a film | date=2 September 2009}}{{cite web|url=http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/people/Hero-dog-has-his-day.5604683.jp |title=Hero dog has his day as Hollywood comes calling - Portsmouth News |publisher=Portsmouth.co.uk |date=1 September 2009 |accessdate=6 August 2014}}

Parton reports that alongside Endal's working life and training, he retained during his life a number of the mischievous traits that Labradors are known for. As examples he cites that Endal would still decide at times to chase squirrels in the park, or might take waste paper out of the rubbish bin to Parton, in order to gain a reward for "picking it up from the floor".{{cite web|url=http://www.dogpage.ision.co.uk/endal.html |title=Endal |publisher=Dogpage.ision.co.uk |accessdate=6 August 2014}}

• Assistance dog
• List of Labradors
• List of individual dogs

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070609192017/http://www.milleniumdog.freeserve.co.uk/ Millennium Dog: Endal's home page.]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071214015516/http://www.k9magazinefree.com/k9_perspective/iss33p5.shtml assistance dog Endal helps open new state-of-the-art facility "The West Sussex Canine Hydrotherapy centre"] - an example of Endal's work as an ambassador for assistance dogs and training facilities.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090618151043/http://tv.sky.com/the-dog-saved-our-marriage BskyB documentary and introduction to EJ]
• [http://coldwetnose.blogspot.com/2009/03/did-endal-touch-your-life.html Endal obituary, memories and condolences page at Dogs Today magazine]
• [http://www.ourdogs.co.uk/News/2009/Mar2009/News200309/endal.htm Endal obituary, memories and condolences page at Ourdogs.co.uk]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110226175720/http://www.loveyourlabrador.co.uk/endal_news_portrait.html Endal portrait unveiled] - portrait by Nigel Hemming, a renowned UK animal artist.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110412033348/http://www.lostandfond.co.uk/pet-tribute/endal/208 Tribute to Endal at Lost & Found online pet memorials website]

Category:1995 animal births

Category:2009 animal deaths

Category:Assistance dogs

Category:Individual working dogs

Category:Labrador Retriever