ASSISTANCE DOG BINDI WORTH HER WEIGHT IN GOLD FOR WELLINGTON WOMAN

Assistance dog Bindi, with her golden fur and gentle eyes, has changed Helen Fletcher’s life.

A Wellington-based author, Helen suffers from multiple auto-immune disorders which affect things like her balance, sight, and ability to sleep.

From picking up her keys and carrying her cane, to leading her to a chair when her vision blacks out and helping her up when she falls, the golden labrador is worth her weight in, well, gold.

Before she had Bindi to sleep heavily on her legs at night, she would get up and move around the house in response to hallucinations she’d suffered since she was a child.

She had injured herself badly on a couple of occasions, once by diving into her cupboard door after hallucinating about a man shooting bullets through her window, and often she would wake with large bruises after nightly wanders around her apartment.

Now, Bindi simply lies on her legs so she doesn’t get out of bed.

“If I’m seeing things and she’s not reacting, it’s okay.”

After learning about assistance dogs from a friend who watched a documentary, Fletcher started the process to get an assistance dog, including fundraising and waiting on their current five-year waiting list.

Applicants must wait to reach the top of the list, but also for a dog that would suit their needs. Bindi was recommended for an adult rather than a child, playful and cheeky, but sometimes lacking confidence, but perfect for Helen.

Two years ago, the pair were introduced, and Bindi became a close companion.

It gave Helen more independence and the ability to live a more normal life, as she writes children’s/young adult books, teaches creative writing and takes Bindi to story time at the local children’s bookshop.

Her new book featured an assistance dog, with the dog on the cover looking coincidentally like Bindi.

“She steadies me if I start to wobble.” She would also sense if Helen’s blood pressure was getting low – something she wasn’t trained to do, but had learned – and would take the lead in her mouth, and tug.

During the Covid-19 lockdown earlier in the year, when Helen spent 12 weeks at home alone because immune-compromised, Bindi rescued Helen from a fall.

Bindi could also guide Helen to a chair when temporary blindness took hold.

She used her cane less these days, and felt safer going out in public, as Bindi would always be by her side to guide her home, or to a chair, or fetch help.

They visited the park several times a day, and one of Helen’s neighbours had commented how much more confident Helen seemed walking by.

“So much of my mind was risk assessing.” But not so much anymore.

Assistance Dogs NZ Trust receive no Government funding, and relies on donations and grants, and with their waiting list now over five years’ long they are growing beyond their current capabilities.

The organisation is running their appeal week from October 1–4, and Helen and Bindi would be taking to the streets with the collection bucket.