After you’ve experienced something traumatic in your life, regular every day tasks can feel daunting. It’s normal that you would maybe feel unsafe, or a sense of uneasiness, and find it hard to sleep and/or trust certain things.
Because you find it hard to feel safe, you might learn how to numb yourself. You might shut yourself off to external factors because in actuality, you are feeling so many emotions.
This woman is named Asha and she is a sexual assault survivor. She could barely sleep at night and didn’t have time for much… Until she accidentally fell in love with the sweetest rescue dog, Pirate.
“I was very overwhelmed when I brought him home. He’s my first dog,” she told The Dodo. “In his early days, he was a velcro dog, so Pirate had to have eyeline with me. Anywhere I went, even if it meant just moving forward 2 inches, he had to see me.”
It got to a point where even when she was taking a shower, he would pop his head in to check on her.
“That was sweet thought because I think he was just understanding. Like, ‘Oh you’re my person and I don’t want to lose you,” Asha explained.
He had a sweet nature from the moment that Asha accidentally met him.
“I saw signs for a local neighborhood block party, there was an adoption event. I spotted Pirate and there was just something about him that made me feel compelled to go over and look at him,” she said.
When Asha came around to say hi to Pirate, a rescue worker explained that he had been in his crate all day, so he asked Asha if she could take him for a quick walk around the block.
To Asha’s surprise, she ended up falling absolutely head-over-heels in love with Pirate in just those few short minutes.
She was not mentally prepared for a dog — she was busy in her life and had not been thinking about it at all. But none of that mattered. She adopted him right on the spot and took Pirate home that same day.
Asha wasn’t looking for a dog but she fell in love fast. The feeling was mutual.
“Our first night together, I was lying on the sofa and he was crawled up next to me. Passed out, snoring so loudly in my ear and I just looked at him like, ‘You’re comfortable here. You know this is your home now,'” Asha said with a laugh.
The best part is that Pirate makes Asha feel protected. A feeling that she hasn’t been able to feel on her own in a while.
“He aids my life in the fact that he makes me feel protected,” she said. “I learned to subconsciously numb myself. When I have Pirate with me, he alerts me if there’s any danger.”
“And that feeling of peace, knowing that I can sleep soundly and not have that high level of stress and anxiety… I can’t thank him enough for being with me in those situations.”
“He’s almost renewed my faith in humanity,” Asha said.
Asha and Pirate have become best friends. He makes sure she gets outside and sees people, he makes her laugh every day, and he dramatically improves her life. Some people even say they look alike!
The survivor added that Pirate doesn’t even try — he just shows up every day and that’s enough to make her feel completely happy and at ease.
It’s basically like having a best friend live with her. They do everything together and she constantly talks about him to other people.
“I have this gift in my life and it’s because I rescued a dog,” she said.
Watch more of their beautiful story below.
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