A DISABLED mother-of-two now has an extra two pairs of paws to help her cope day-to-day, thanks to Burnley Dog training Centre.

Denise Berry's field spaniel Marble, helps her get dressed and undressed, fetch the washing from the machine and can even activate a lifeline touch tone telephone to summon help if needed.

Denise, 48, of Burnley Road, Clowbridge, said: "When we had to have our dog put to sleep I wasn't going to get another, but my sons, Adam, 14, and Alex, 13, wanted another, so we got Marble from the East Lancashire Animal Sanctuary at Leigh.

"We put him through his basic training at Burnley Dog Training Centre at St Luke's Church, Brierfield, and they part-sponsored him to be specially trained for me by Support Dogs of Sheffield."

Denise suffers from arthritis and fibromyalgia, which causes her widespread chronic pain and fatigue and memory loss. Her husband, David, also suffers from arthritis in his knees, spine and shoulder .

She said: "The trainer comes once a week and sees how Marble carries out tasks in the home and takes us around town to shops and markets and watches us to see that I correct the dog at the right time.

"Marble is brilliant. He doesn't find it a chore and he had given me more freedom than I had."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.