There are heartwarming tales and then there's Endal, a pedigree Labrador who virtually single-pawedly cared for a disabled Gulf War veteran, saving his marriage, and, on one occasion, his life.
It's the stuff movies are made of, and thanks to producer Simon Brooks (White Noise), it's now the stuff a movie *will *be made of. Brooks acquired the rights to the story after watching a TV documentary about Chief Petty Officer Allen Parton who, after suffering head injuries in combat, was assigned a charity-trained pup Endal to help with his day-to-day chores.
Endal's resourcefulness went much further though: when Parton was hit by a car, the canine put him into the recovery position, covered him in a blanket and went for help. He could also use a cash machine, fetch items from supermarket shelves and load and empty a washing machine. Oh, and Endal himself had a lifelong disability causing him trouble with his joints (not even kidding). Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Lassie.
Brooks, who's hired Calendar Girls' scribe Juliette Towhidi to write the screenplay, was inspired by the doggy derring-do: “I was immediately attracted to this uplifting story of a man and his family who'd been dragged through hell before an extraordinary dog called Endal ‘adopted’ them and changed their lives forever."
**Endal **is being adapted from Allen Parton and his wife's co-authored book, Endal: How One Extraordinary Dog Brought A Family Back From The Brink. Filming will start next summer.
UPDATE: The very nice Mr Parton himself just called us and asked if we could add some more dashing pictures of Endal in action, the answer to which was, "Of course." Honestly, we weren't dog people before seeing these pictures, but now...
Thanks to Allen Parton for these.