In a viral TikTok video, a woman from Massachusetts, affected by a chronic heart condition, revealed how her service dog changed her life, leaving internet users shocked by all the things the Labrador retriever can do for her.
In a post shared on Monday under the username @hayleeand.herdogs, 31-year-old Haylee Graves shares a heartwarming conversation with a couple of clients at her workplace, who asked how her service dog, Jake, helps her every day.
“Do you wear a monitor that beeps or something?” the client asks Graves, after she shares details of her chronic illness. She says that she doesn’t need a monitor, because Jake is able to smell changes in her hormones.
Graves adds: “He can smell it. There is like a chemical imbalance in your body that happens … We can’t smell it but they can, so he alerts me to that, and then he basically tells me ‘you need to sit down.’ [Then] he lays on top of me; it’s called deep pressure therapy. It actually helps restore the blood flow in my body faster!”
Graves told Newsweek that, due to her condition, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), her body cannot regulate blood flow, which makes most every day activities harder for her.
“[It] causes a verity of symptoms such as, tachycardia, dizziness, fainting, nausea, vomiting, GI problems, headaches, shortness of breath, fatigue, anxiety, pain and more. Things that are simple for other people are hard for me,” Graves said.
“Going from sitting to standing raises my heart rate and makes me dizzy; doing any type of cleaning, house chores, laundry, dishes, making the bed; even sitting with my feet down for prolonged periods of time. My heart rate can spike anywhere from 120 to 220s [beats per minute] while doing small activities. It’s exhausting and makes day-to-day life hard at times,” Graves said.
But, since getting her service dog back in 2018, when Jake was 2, things have changed drastically for Graves.
“He is a medical/cardiac alert service dog, who also helps with mobility. He’s amazing at his job, and always such a happy loving boy. [He] does tasks like cardiac alert, item/medication retrieval, mobility, DPT (deep pressure therapy), crowd control, and more.
“Jake has 100 percent changed my life. From the moment I got him, my life has turned around, and he has helped me take back my independence and freedom. He has saved me so many times,” Graves said.
Pet MD says that service dogs aren’t just regular pets; they are very skilled canines who are considered working animals, and, before going to a new owner, they undergo extensive training.
The most-popular service dog breeds include Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, German shepherds, poodles, Border collies, and Australian shepherds.
There are all sorts of different service dogs, each with a different specific training. Some are trained to help with allergies; some are guide dogs; and others may help with autism, hearing, mobility, psychiatric service, medical alerts, or therapy.
Graves added that it is very important to avoid distracting service dogs at work, because not all disabilities are visible; these pups’ role in their owners’ life is to keep them safe.
The video quickly went viral on social media and has so far received over 788,300 views and more than 92,300 likes on the platform.
One user, Stephanette, commented: “So nice to see a pleasant interaction versus the usual jerks who question the legitimacy of service animals.”
Okthen posted: “We really don’t deserve animals.”
Lucasmorenx wrote: “I always see service dogs as superheroes.”
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our “Pet of the Week” lineup.
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