Shelter dog helps girl having anxiety attack and then she adopts him
The love inside of a pup named Picaso is pretty powerful. So, much so that it saved a girl’s life.
Picaso absolutely LOVES to give hugs.
So, it only made sense that his love for sharing love and warmth was how he helped a girl from falling unconscious due to an anxiety attack.
The Plott hound mix was brought to the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association after being picked up by a Good Samaritan. They spotted him running through the streets of Charleston, West Virginia.
He was supposed to be named after the painter Picasso, but there was a typo in the shelter’s computer system.
So, he ended up as Picaso. He didn’t have a collar or microchip, so the shelter wasn’t able to locate his owners. But Picaso had a very sweet demeanor.
His plucky nature landed him a spot in the shelter’s local holiday parade.
“When I first met him, he immediately hugged me,” Kim Vigneau, who walked with Picaso in the parade, told The Dodo. “He loves to give hugs. He was so sweet. My goal that night was to get him adopted.”
But Vigneau didn’t have to make any effort at all. It just kind of happened. Picaso spotted a teen sitting on the curb who looked like she was in distress.
Picaso pulled Vigneau straight over to the girl.
“Picasso, one of the KCHA dogs, went straight for her like he knew she needed help. He stood nose to nose with her, not licking or jumping around…just holding her up,” the shelter wrote on their Facebook page.
He put his head against her and nuzzled her. The girl instantly perked up from the dog’s show of affection.
Abby Ellis has postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, which can cause her to faint and become nervous.
Picaso, apparently, stopped her from having a panic attack. The 16-year-old says she felt the dog’s cold, wet nose on hers and began petting him.
In that moment, she says she felt safe.
“Abby’s head was down on her legs, and she was falling forward,” Smoot said. “He managed to get his body underneath her and pushed her back. Then she started to come around. All I could think was Abby would have face-planted into the ground if that dog had not been there.”
The teen and her mom learned that the dog’s name was Picaso before Ellis was rushed home.
Smoot said she couldn’t stop thinking about Picaso after she got home.
The teen and her mom went back to the shelter the next day, and Picaso ran right up and hugged them. The teen said she was “really excited” so see him again.
Ellis had been asking for a dog for about a year. This was the sign her mom needed to let her know that she was ready to get a dog.
Picaso left the shelter with Ellis after being there for about 20 days.
Smoot insists that meeting Picaso was fate. Ellis doesn’t like crowds but, for some reason, insisted on going to the parade.
“It was meant to be,” Smoot said.
Ellis couldn’t be happier to have her dream finally come true.
“I’m just really happy he chose me,” she said.
Picaso is very happy in his new forever home doing what he does best. Loving.
Watch Picaso soothe Ellis in the video below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.