When a dog saves his or her fur parent, sometimes it’s not from physical harm, but from depression. Emotional therapy is one of the many ways dogs can save human lives, and we just love reading about these kinds of stories. Back in 2009, a Canadian man who just went through a divorce rescued a dog, who eventually rescued him back.
Toronto-native Colin Campbell was living the high life. He has a successful career as a Marketing Executive in a multinational company, and it seemed like all was going well. Until his wife decided to have a divorce, it broke Colin down, and he started going into a deep depression.
Then one of his close friends told him to get a dog to help him heal his emotional wounds, and he obliged. On a dog shelter’s website, he came across George, a two-year-old Newfoundland dog who weighed over 140 pounds. George had spent a lot of time in the shelter as potential adopters were afraid if a dog of his size would have behavior issues. But luckily, Colin was drawn to him.
He drove for two hours just to adopt the gigantic sweetheart, and at first, George was a little shy. Even after Colin paid for dog trainers to help him train George, it’s as if the pooch was still afraid of people. Not long after, Colin had to be transferred to Los Angeles. Naturally, he took his dog with him, and this is where George started to open up.
Colin and George lived two blocks away from the beach, and this meant that they spent a lot of time on the shore. Colin even learned how to surf. Newfoundland dogs were bred to save fishermen from drowning, and the first time that they went to the beach, George swam to a surfer and tried to “save” him. It took a while for him to understand that not all humans in the water needed saving.
But as they spent more time surfing and playing on the beach, George transformed into another dog. He was more playful and active, and he even learned how to surf, too. Because of all of the fun that they were having, Colin had forgotten about his emotional wounds from his divorce. It’s one of those cases where the rescued dog becomes the rescuer of his human, and Colin wrote a book about their beautiful story.
Credits: Free Days With George
