Kate and Roxie.
Kate Hendra’s 5-year-old golden retriever, Roxie, had a rough start to life, coming to the trust through the SPCA. She was 14 months old when Kate got her, and they have been constant companions ever since.
Five days a week, the pair walk to the Wellington tobacconist shop where Kate works. Once, when Kate had a seizure in the middle of the road, Roxie raced to the nearby public pool for help. “She made such a fuss that the people came out and called an ambulance, then she squished her body under my head as she is trained to do,” says Kate.
Roxie has also been trained to remove Kate’s glasses, which were forever getting broken. “As soon as I fall to the ground, she carefully takes my glasses off and puts them somewhere safe.” Then she positions herself under Kate’s head and waits until the seizure is over.
Roxie takes her spectacle security job seriously. “Sometimes she puts my glasses in such a safe place that I can’t find them. Once she hid them behind the toilet and it took me a couple of days to find them.”
The devoted duo now have another love in their lives. Roxie was ring-bearer when Kate married Tyson “She loves my husband too,” says Kate. “She sleeps between us in the bed with one paw over him.” Kate & Tyson now have a son.
