Incredible footage shows dog doing laundry, opening doors and picking up rubbish

A traumatic brain injury survivor has shared incredible videos of how her service dog assists her in every day life.

Janaye Kearns, 26, was in a coma for two weeks after a boating accident in 2012 and was told by doctors that she would likely never recover.

But after spending a year in inpatient rehab, she had beaten the odds and could walk, talk, read and write again.

Janaye – who had another brain injury in 2014 and a third in 2016 – says her accident has left her brain with right side numbness and weakness, meaning she suffers from seizures, chronic neck and head pain and low blood sugar, among many other things.
But her health issues are helped by service dog Colt, who has become an online hit with his many talents. Janaye, who used to train police and military dogs, trained the Weimaraner/English Labrador with an orthopaedic vet to protect her head if she fell having a seizure and went viral in 2017 with a simulation video.

Colt naturally alerts her to seizures 30 minutes to two hours before they happen, meaning that he stops 50% of them completely.

However, the six-year-old dog helps Janaye, who lives in Colorado with her husband Garrett and step-son Kayden, 8, in many more ways.

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Incredible footage shows the pup opening doors for her, putting her laundry in the washing machine and picking up things for her, among other helpful tasks.

Colt – who was just eight weeks old when Janaye picked him out of a litter – has saved her life many times and made her feel less lonely in her health battles.

She told metro.co.uk: ‘I’m grateful for him. I had no idea how much independence he would actually give me, and to be able to prevent about 50% of my seizures altogether just by him alerting in advance, that gives me some more independence to feel better throughout the day.

‘To be able to do things safely, like ride horses and swim in a pool, things that I would never be able to do without him.

‘He’s a blessing and he’s helped me so much. Thankfully, he was there for my other brain injuries because it’s not as lonely.’

Service dog helps brain injury survivor in incredible video. Service dog Colt.
Janaye was told she’d never walk or talk again after her first brain injury (Picture: @servicedogcolt)
Service dog helps brain injury survivor in incredible video. Service dog Colt.
Colt can naturally detect when a seizure is about to happen (Picture: @servicedogcolt)

Speaking about Colt’s help in her everyday life, Janaye says she often gets people on social media call her ‘lazy’.

However, the brain injury survivor says she has good days and bad days and people should know the full facts before targeting those with invisible illnesses.

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She said: ‘I get people say ‘if you can go horseback riding, why are you making him pick up that piece of trash?’ Well, the fact is, even though I’m doing good, it doesn’t mean that I don’t need his help – and you can always change.

‘I’ve had people say it’s because I’m lazy. It makes me laugh at some points, because if they just really knew.

‘Some days, I’m doing great and I can go horseback riding and lift a bale of hay. Then some days, I can’t even walk and I’m wheelchair bound.

Service dog helps brain injury survivor in incredible video. Service dog Colt.
Janaye says having Colt with her for her two other brain injuries has made her feel less lonely (Picture: @servicedogcolt)
Service dog helps brain injury survivor in incredible video. Service dog Colt.
The 26-year-old says that just because someone doesn’t look ill, it doesn’t mean they don’t need their service dog (Picture: @servicedogcolt)

‘So he [Colt] has to know a wide variety of things and basically he has overall commands that he can do anything that I ask him to do.

‘He helps with laundry. He does pick stuff up for me because even on a good day, I can be out enjoying everything and if I drop something and go to pick it up, I could completely black out and pass out.’

Janaye has to train Colt consistently to ensure he can help in an emergency and says a service dog is a medical device and should never be distracted.

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She says each brain injury has set her back a little further and she will ‘never be back to the full me’.

But she’s unendingly grateful for Colt, who continues to make her life better every day.

She said: ‘He’s saved my life many times. He’s in a book about the story about him saving my life. He’s been on the news. He’s gone viral so many times, and I’m just grateful to be able to share with people.

‘Service dogs really can save lives. It may not look like the person’s disabled in that moment, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need a service dog.’