Flying high - thanks to support dog Penny

Wendy Martin, from Castle Vale in Birmingham, has been involved with the Air Training Corps for over 40 years, but had to take a back seat due to ill health.

The 59-year-old has limited mobility due to disc degeneration in the base of her spine and neck, as well as osteoarthritis and the pain syndrome fibromyalgia. She uses manual and electric wheelchairs, crutches or a walking frame, depending on how she is feeling that day.

But after discovering two local squadrons were more disability-friendly in recent years, she got back on board.

She recently passed a pilot officers’ course at RAF Cranwell, in Lincolnshire – and she credits her support dog, a beautiful Fox Red Labrador named Penny, with helping her to succeed.

Penny has been trained by the national charity, Support Dogs, to help Wendy with a range of tasks, including getting dressed and undressed, loading and unloading the washing machine, picking up dropped items, opening doors, laying on her to put pressure on her legs and fetching help.

Wendy, who volunteers with 479 Rubery Squadron and Edgbaston-based St Paul’s School for Girls Combined Cadet Force, said: “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Penny.

“She went everywhere with me. We were in lessons throughout the week and she had a reserved seat in the Officers’ Mess, so whenever we went for breakfast or an evening meal, she had her own ‘reserved’ sign on the table. Everybody loved her.

“Considering she hadn’t been on camp with me before, she did really well.”

Penny even had her photograph taken with Air Commodore, Al Lewis.

Wendy, who is mum to four daughters, added: “She helped me get undressed on an evening and she helped to pull me up out of the bed, which is lower than mine at home. She also helped to get my shoes and socks off.”

Wendy also thanked her friend, Carol Downes, for helping her training to run smoothly.

Support Dogs, which provides and trains assistance dogs to help autistic children, and adults with epilepsy or physical disability, to live safer, more independent lives, has been supporting Wendy for 18 years.

Penny is her third support dog, following in the pawprints of Wendy’s previous right-hand pooches, Oscar the golden retriever and yellow Labrador Kevin, a rescue dog.

Not only have they helped her practically – they have also helped Wendy, who regularly fundraises for Support Dogs, to feel more involved in social situations, as she says she had previously felt “invisible” without a support dog by her side.

To find out more about how Support Dogs helps people like Wendy, please visit supportdogs.org.uk or call 0114 261 7800.