ATM dogs

UK charity Canine Partners is training dogs to use ATM machines in a bid to help disabled consumers withdraw cash, according to reports. The charity is said to be teaching the dogs to insert and withdraw cards at the machines, as well as to give the receipt, money and card to their disabled owners at the end of the transaction.

Finextra reports Karen O'Donoghue, a spokesperson for the charity, as saying that, while some disabled consumers can stretch up to the unit to insert their card and enter their PIN, many are unable to remain in this position for the duration of the transaction. The dogs are therefore being trained to rest their front legs on the machine and finish the transaction if the owner is unable to do so.

Although Metro has speculated that the system may only work if the ATM machine is standardized across all banks, it does offer an alternative when disabled ATMs, a lowered version of the standard machines, are not available.

A total of 30 of the so called 'assistance dogs' are trained each year, although, according to Metro, Canine Partners hopes to double that figure in 2008.