Devoted golden retriever is a great friend When our precious pooch Oscar arrived he changed our lives

with Frank, died a month after the couple’s 49th wedding anniversary. She was only 72.

Oscar was with her for the final two years of her life and made a big difference.

The four dogs in the pilot scheme were being trained in Forfar and the project team were keen to home them in Angus.

“Oscar came to us for a sixweek trial and in March 2014 we were told we had been selected,” Frank said. “As well as the social impact he had, he was trained to do various things to help.

“Fo r example, when Maureen’s alarm went off in the morning he would go through to the bedroom, put his feet on the bed and shake it to get her up.

“We also had a buzzer go off for her medication and he would go through to the kitchen and pick the medicine up, which reminded me.

“A nd wh e n we went shopping I could sit Maureen down and I knew he would anchor himself there and not move, allowing me to take my time going round the supermarket without having to worry.

“It only works if the dog goes into a home where there is a partner.

“The person with dementia wouldn’t remember to feed the dog or to take them out.”

Dementia Dogs began as a project at Glasgow School of Art and developed into a collaboration between the college, Alzheimer Scotland, Dogs for the Disabled and Guide Dogs UK.

The pilot scheme showed that dogs can help people living with dementia maintain a waking, sleeping and eating routine, as well as to remind them to take medication, improve confidence and keep them active and engaged, as well as providing constant companionship.

The project has recently received a funding boost that will allow them to proceed to the second phase and allow them to train a further eight dogs.