Every home needs a helping paw

The labrador/retriever cross can unload a washing machine, do the shopping, pick up the phone - and has even inspired her disabled owner to head for the top of Ben Nevis.

She is the real-life equivalent of Harvey, who was famously seen in the "Every home needs a Harvey" TV ad for marketing firm Thinkbox driving a car, cooking and playing chess.

While Harmony has not quite developed those skills yet, the assistance dog has transformed the lives of Sally Hyder and family since arriving at their Blackhall home.

When Sally, 48, was first told she had multiple sclerosis, the news seemed surreal, but the condition was soon to turn her life upside down.

She was a busy health visitor and had always been active - she and now-husband Andrew had trekked around China, India and Tibet, and Andrew proposed at Everest base camp.

But as the MS worsened, Sally became less able to indulge her love of the outdoors, and by 2004 was using a wheelchair.

She was still able to take care of her children, Peter, now 18, Clara, 15, and Melissa, 11, but by 2008, life had become a struggle. Melissa was diagnosed with autism, and both her and Sally's symptoms seemed to be worsening.

Sally recalls: "The MS was spiralling down, whilst that summer Melissa's behaviour just became completely bizarre. I call it the summer of screaming, because from the moment she woke up until she went to bed, she screamed. I was getting worse and worse, I was getting up, doing everything that the children needed doing, but it was very difficult with Melissa."

Searching for help online, Sally found the charity Canine Partners, which trains dogs to help the disabled.

She went to try working with several dogs, and in Harmony found a kindred spirit who shared her love of the outdoors. "Harmony has two personalities. She has her 'coat on, working, focused, quiet' dog and then there's the dog that I just totally fell in love with. They brought Harmony over to me and she was bowled over to see me. We started charging around the field and I thought 'Oh I want this one'. She loves running around and around, sniffing and exploring."

Since joining the Hyders, Harmony pulls washing from the machine, and passes it to her to hang out. She can help Sally undress, pulling off her socks and the sleeves of her clothes, and picks up the phone when it rings. She will even take shopping off the shelves, pass it to a checkout operator, and then hand over Sally's purse.

But as well as the practical freedoms she has offered, Harmony has lifted Sally's spirits beyond measure. "There's a massive emotional impact and effect on your well being. The fact I'm looking after her, I'm grooming her and exercising her - if I'm having a grump, the children will say 'Have you walked your dog today?' and I get sent out.

"I'm never alone, I've always got company, I'm always cuddled. I'd say 40 per cent of it is what she gives to me emotionally - and also all the family."

Clara, who used to come home from school and start picking up all the things her mum had dropped, has been relieved of many of her caring duties, and the effect on Melissa has been even more profound.

Sally said: "Two days after we'd come back from the training centre, Melissa started screaming and Harmony, instead of running in the opposite direction, came straight over, picked up one of her soft fluffy toys and then leant against Melissa so Melissa plonked on to the floor and put her face into Harmony's fur - and stopped screaming." Sally has now written a book, Finding Harmony, about the way the dog has transformed the family's lives, due to be published on Thursday. She hopes that, as well as being an enjoyable read, it will highlight the work of Canine Partners.

Spokeswoman for the charity, Jenny Moir, said: "The dogs make a massive difference. Obviously the practical work is incredibly important, but it's also the emotional support and the fact that a lot of disabled people don't want to have to rely on another human being.

"It's different to rely on a dog - somehow it's not as demeaning as having to rely on someone else to pick up your keys."

Harmony has boosted Sally's confidence so much that last year she decided to make an attempt on Ben Nevis using a specially-designed wheelchair. Frustratingly, the wheelchair's power failed just halfway up - but Sally and her friends still raised 6000 for Canine Partners. "It had been the four walls of my house, and now it was the mountains, and I just say - that is the difference she's made."

Find out more at www.caninepartners.co.uk.