{"id":45,"date":"2016-07-08T04:54:32","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T04:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=45"},"modified":"2026-07-17T13:26:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T13:26:27","slug":"friendship-day-labrador-diasibility-angel-assist-dogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=45","title":{"rendered":"Fetch Me a Life, Angel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

K<\/span>aran Shah\u2019s helper Mukeshbhai leaves at 8 am after giving him a bath. Then, Angel takes over. The golden-haired, brown-eyed Labrador fetches Karan his shoes, grabs his phone from the cabinet, picks up a basket, and stands by the door, ready for a morning walk. Just as they are about to leave, Karan straps on the halti collar that helps him control her. Angel holds the little basket in her mouth; in it is a short stick.<\/p>\n\n

All set, the duo leaves for a stroll at Worli seaface. Along the way, at an Aarey stall, a milkman plops a bag in Angel\u2019s basket, placing it right next to the stick. Bidding him goodbye, Karan and Angel begin their walk back. If they spot a stray, Angel stops. She gently plonks the basket on Karan\u2019s lap, grabs the stick with her teeth and hands it over to him. It\u2019s her way of saying, \u201cDo your job now. Save my ass!\u201d<\/p>\n\n

As they are back home, Karan kicks off his shoes and Angel pulls off his socks. If he wants a change of shirt, he points to the cupboard and she pulls it open with a rope tied to the handle. He then points at a shirt and she gently grabs and brings it to him. The socks and dirty tee are dutifully taken to the laundry basket. She gets him his phone and then settles in for a well-earned breakfast. Karan pets Angel\u2019s head as she eats. Her morning shift is done.<\/p>\n\n

In the afternoon, Angel is going to help Karan with a training class for dyslexic children. But before that, it\u2019s time for a cuddle.<\/p>\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n

When I go to meet the famous Angel, she is being a total goofball. She\u2019s pressing her nose against a training switch, trying half-heartedly to flip it but it seems so damn hard. She jumps at me and begins to gnaw my wrist, slobbering all over my hands.<\/p>\n\n

The 24-year-old Karan grins sheepishly from his wheelchair. He has just spent the last 45 minutes explaining to me with a straight face that Angel is his super-smart, super-efficient helper. He has shown me videos of her pulling his socks off, listening earnestly to commands, and generally being so deeply angelic that I half-expected a Labrador with a halo around her head. But Angel adamantly refuses to be typecast.<\/p>\n\n

Karan has Type 3 spinal muscular atrophy. He\u2019s been in a wheelchair all his life, but you wouldn\u2019t be able to tell that. A bright and articulate youth, he doesn\u2019t have a speck of self-pity. Angel (when she\u2019s behaving herself) is his loyal sidekick and an eternally helpful dog.<\/p>\n\n

The idea of an assist dog was as far-fetched as a service cyborg to Karan and his traditional Gujarati family. \u201cIt was my brother\u2019s idea,\u201d says Karan, when I ask him how he picked Angel as a help.<\/p>\n\n

His brother Mihir, also born with spinal muscular atrophy (Type 2 in his case), was attending a dog show one fine morning at Bal Vidya Mandir, a school in Mumbai, when Magic caught his attention. A sleek black Labrador, Magic, was India\u2019s first assist dog and she dazzled Mihir with her intelligence. He returned home tremendously excited after he learnt about renowned canine behaviourist Shirin Merchant, who trained dogs to be helpers for the disabled. He tried to convince his mother, but had no luck \u2013he might as well have proposed a pet lion. Animals were a strict no-no in the house, and besides, she didn\u2019t really need the added responsibility.<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

When Karan talks about Angel, his face lights up. If I ask him now if Angel can split the atom, I\u2019m sure his answer will be an emphatic yes.<\/p>\n

Abhinav Sharma<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n\n

Mihir suddenly passed away one morning in 2011, while his parents were bathing him. The shattered household plunged into a dark silence and the subject of a dog was never brought up for eight long years. The aftermath of his brother\u2019s death was an emotional rollercoaster for Karan, with irrational upsurges of anger. He would pick up fights with people twice his size and abuse torrentially at the slightest provocation. His mother was at her wit\u2019s end, until one morning, a close family friend came home with a surprise gift. Out of the basket popped a frisky one-month-old pup, a beige ball of belligerence, barking her little head off. Enter, Angel.<\/p>\n\n

Angel came and lifted the mood of the house that was still reeling from the loss of a child. His non-dog-loving mother was floored by Angel\u2019s sheer goofiness and the change she saw in her depressed son. But above and beyond the infectious happiness the pup was spreading, she was also showing signs of extreme intelligence. Mihir\u2019s words began to come true. \u201cWhen she was barely three months old, I pointed to my mobile phone one night and she immediately grabbed it for me. I knew then that I have a shot at an independent life,\u201d recalls Karan.<\/p>\n\n

Now, after a year of training with Shirin Merchant, Angel has taken charge of Karan\u2019s day. When he talks about Angel and her intellect, his face is alight with conviction. If I ask him now if Angel can split the atom, I\u2019m sure his answer will be an emphatic yes. He tells me how she helped a dyslexic child. Whenever the child would start murmuring during the course of reading, Karan would give the \u201cKiss command\u201d and Angel would begin to lick him. The slobbering encouragement worked and the child began reading with more confidence.<\/p>\n\n