A dog’s love you can bank on
Meet Coda (above) — the golden retriever who can withdraw cash from an automatic teller machine.
MEET Coda – the dog who can withdraw cash from an automatic teller machine.
This remarkable golden retriever can put a bank card into the machine, enter the PIN and hand over the cash.
Owned by MS sufferer Gail Harbott, the two-year-old assistance dog trained in New Zealand, can also pay in cash, putting notes in his mouth and standing on two legs to pass the money over a counter.
Trained to understand 103 commands, some of Coda’s other duties include opening doors, taking off his owner’s shoes and putting laundry in the washing machine, including sorting coloured clothes from whites.
Ms Harbott, 62, said Coda help keeps her “independent”.
“He gives me that companionship,” the Gold Coast grandmother said.
“It’s unconditional love, but he allows me to go anywhere I want to go and I don’t hesitate with him.”
Ms Harbott has had two other assistance dogs, trained by NZ prisoners as part of a rehabilitation program, since being diagnosed in 1996.
MS Society Queensland chief executive Lincoln Hopper said Ms Harbott was a “role model”.
“I think Gail is a really good example of what it can be like to get the best out of life living with this condition,” he said.