First Crufts and now Support Dogs success for Megan and Lyra

2026 has been a particularly paw-some year so far for Megan Green and her super-smart Labrador, Lyra – and there’s plenty to look forward to with renewed optimism.

Just weeks after competing and showing together at Crufts, the pair have qualified as a successful Support Dogs partnership.

This means Lyra is a fully-fledged disability assistance dog – and she is giving Megan lots of confidence to be more independent, having already inspired her to go back to university last year and earn a degree.

Wheelchair user Megan has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder, and POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) which can lead to fainting.

The Support Dogs charity has trained Lyra to ease the strain for Megan with tasks tailored to her needs, including picking up and fetching items, pushing access buttons, loading and emptying the washing machine, helping her to undress and pulling her wheelchair to Megan if it’s out of reach.

Megan, who is studying for a PhD in Molecular Dynamics and Molecular Modelling at the University of Northampton, having completed a degree in Biochemistry last year, said: “I’m more proud of Lyra than I can put into words – she’s just picked up anything I’ve thrown at her. She just loves being busy.

“She very much likes to learn and likes to do things.

“It’s more than being an assistance dog – she’s helping to give me my confidence back to get out and just go and have fun with things.

“Before I had her, I didn’t socialise much and spent a lot of time in the house. I wasn’t very independent.”

Megan, of Crick, Northamptonshire, says she probably wouldn’t be studying for her PhD if it wasn’t for having Lyra trained.

She had originally started her degree in 2020, but had to give up due to changes in her health, when she lost the use of her legs.

Prior to this, she enjoyed horse-riding, and had missed animal interaction.

“I always found animals easier than people,” said Megan.

With this in mind, in 2022, Megan got in touch with a breeder and found Lyra.

In a strange twist of fate, it turned out that it was the same breeder of Lyra’s sisters, Skye, an autism assistance dog trained by Support Dogs, and Meadow who is also training with the charity.

“On hearing that the breeder had success in breeding assistance dogs, the hope was always that Lyra would be able to help me,” said Megan.

“She started to show the want to learn from Day 1. She absolutely loved her obedience class, to the point where she started to compete in it.

“I found that I could turn that need to do something, to keep her busy, into helping me.

“I feel a bit more optimistic. I don’t like to use the word ‘normal’, but it feels like I can be a bit more ‘normal’, closer to how ‘normal’ people live their lives. Support Dogs has been fantastic.”

To find out more about Support Dogs, which also trains and provides specialist assistance dogs to help autistic children and those living with epilepsy, please call 0114 2617800 or visit www.supportdogs.org.uk