Volunteer Andrea is helped by the dog training charity she worked for
WHEN SHE began volunteering for Sheffield-based charity Support Dogs seven years ago, Andrea Jack had no idea that one day she would need her own assistance dog.
But Miss Jack, who has a severe form of arthritis, says her life has been changed since training up assistance dog Ruby. The charity, based in Brightside, was the focus of The Yorkshire
Post’s Christmas Appeal in 2015 and is celebrating its 25th anniversary
Miss Jack’s connection with the charity began in 2010, when she started as a volunteer foster carer, looking after dogs while they were completing their training. But in 2014, she moved to another part of the city, further away from the centre, and decided to get her own dog, with a view of training it up as a fundraising demonstration dog.
However, just three months after getting Ruby, she suffered a painful flare up of ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory form of arthritis she had lived with for 20 years.
She was later diagnosed with a related condition called psoriatic arthritis, a severe, chronic condition which affects the joints and skin. Miss Jack, 45, applied to Support Dogs for Ruby to be trained as her assistance dog, and after a “challenging” six months, she passed.
She said: “All my joints are affected but my back, hands and knees are the worst and I often drop things and find it hard to bend over and pick them up. Ruby helps me with those kinds of everyday tasks – she pulls off my socks and trousers, opens doors, picks up the post, or anything I’ve dropped. But she’s also helped me with confidence.
“Ruby has changed my life and without Support Dogs that would never have happened.”
Ruby helps me with those kinds of everyday tasks. Andrea Jack on how her assistance dog has changed her life.