AMAZING MAZEY

NICOLA FERGUSON LIVES WITH MAZEY AND MINA, TWO ROTTWEILERS ON THE WIRRAL PENINSULA AND HAS TRAINED THEM BOTH TO BE ASSISTANCE DETECTION DOGS.

It’s a bright spring day, and I’m preparing to leave the house to go shopping with my dog Mazey. Best leather collar on - check. White teeth sparklingcheck. On fleek brows - check. Well, it is Merseyside; what do you expect from a self-respecting Rottweiler? Lastly, Assistance Dog Jacket snugly fitted - check. Mazey is no ordinary dog; she is my working Assistance Dog, performing a whole host of tasks for me, including light guiding, opening doors, switching on lights, reminding me it’s time to take my medication and, most importantly, medical alerts. Mazey, along with my other dog Mina, is trained in cortisol alert, and they are amongst the first dogs in the UK to perform gluten alerts.

Even in these days of modern technology, a dog’s sense of smell is astounding and can still beat the very best of artificial noses. Gluten alert is one of the newer medical alerts Assistance Dogs in the UK can be trained for. It’s invaluable for those people like me who have a gluten intolerance or who suffer from coeliac disease, a condition which, if left untreated, can be life-threatening. Mazey’s nose is so sensitive that she can sniff through plastic packaging to tell me if a foodstuff does or does not contain gluten, though most commonly, she checks food for cross-contamination when I’m eating out.

I trained Mazey for gluten alert during the lockdown when I was bored and looking for a new Assistance Dog training project. Only one dog had thus far been trained in Europe, with help from trainers in the US, but undeterred, I gave it a go on my own, succeeding in training both of my dogs. Gluten alert is unusual, as it requires the dog to give a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer when offered an article to sniff, unlike other medical alerts where the dog lets the owner know when they detect a change in their owner’s blood chemistry, often via the smell of their breath. The dog gives an alert, which may be very subtle, such as laying its head against its owner’s leg or nudging them. This is Mazey’s stage one alert. If I ignore her, stage two is a loud bark, which I simply cannot ignore, and which can also act to alert other people that I may be having a medical problem.

In addition to gluten alert, Mazey and Mina both perform cortisol alert, waking me from nightmares and sleep paralysis, though only Mazey has been trained to perform cortisol alert in public. Mina has her tough Rottweiler image to maintain and keeps her paws crossed that there will be a reboot of The Omen. As part of her cortisol alert, Mazey is able to give me prior warning that I may be about to faint or to suffer from an episode of dissociation, which tends to manifest as sensory overload, meaning I suffer from tunnel vision, with noises distorted, a bit like when swimming underwater. This is a condition quite common for those of us on the autistic spectrum, and for me, it tends to happen when I become overwhelmed in busy places. When Mazey gives me an alert, more often than not, it’s in a crowded shop. I can then ask her to take me to the checkout if I think I can quickly pay for my goods and go, or if she is persistent and strong in her alert, I can ask her to take me to the exit of the shop, then ask her to locate a bench for me to sit down on if one is available.

Before Mazey came to live with me, at the suggestion of my therapist, I was socially isolated and at one point, had not been able to leave the house in almost two years. Mazey has given me my freedom back and is my best friend as well as my working partner. I trained Mazey myself, since the waiting list for charity provided Assistance Dogs was many years long, and my medical conditions were too complex for any one charity to train a dog for me. Plus, I was a Rottweiler addict and could not see myself with any other breed. I had always enjoyed training dogs, so it seemed the only logical solution, and indeed there are now many charities that will help people train suitable pets as Assistance Dogs, as well as private dog trainers specialising in Assistance Dogs.

Training your own Assistance Dog is not an easy option, and not every pet dog is suitable for working in public, like my own dog Mina. She is confident and friendly but over excitable and would struggle to concentrate in busy public places, a little bit like me. Dogs are supposed to resemble their owners and vice versa, but I have not lucked out on Mina’s good looks. I love her just as much as Mazey, but I’m realistic about what she wants to do in life and where her talents lie. For example, Mina constantly insists that there has been some sort of terrible mistake and that she was quite clearly born to be a lap dog. My heart agrees with her, but my bladder not so much.

Assistance Dog work can be both physically and mentally stressful for dogs, and it’s important that a dog is confident in temperament and is neutral, if not friendly, towards both people and other dogs. There are many fake Assistance Dogs around these days, which harms dogs like Mazey, who are viewed with suspicion due to her breed, when really it’s the super cute small dog carried in a shopping basket, wearing a lovingly hand-knitted jumper and obligatory bow tie, which is the greater bite risk. Mazey would be more inclined to lick someone to death.

I owe Mazey so much and am extremely proud that she and Mina are amongst the UK’s first gluten alert dogs, a task I hope more and more Assistance Dogs will be trained to perform in future. Enjoy and love your dogs, and where appropriate, give them a big smoochy kiss from me.