We know that dogs do some pretty amazing things — and then there’s Marley. This amazing autism assistance dog detects and helps his person Hayley deal with severe panic attacks. And it’s life-changing.
In a video originally posted in August 2019, Marley can be seen intervening during one of Hayley’s more extreme episodes, which can include hitting herself, shortness of breath, and uncontrollable sobbing. Then in comes Marley to the rescue!
Marley jumps up and paws at Hayley to block her hands and stop her from harming herself. Marley is persistent and continues to distract his owner until she stops, begins to calm down, and then hugs and pets her dog.
DO NOT SHARE WITHOUT PERMISSIONHere's a video on my service dog doing a Attack alert (Can be aniexty , sensory , ect)Generally I start crying , hitting myself , breathing hard Marley is trained to jump up at me and try and get my arms down And not stop until I listen to him and cuddle him Notice how his leg gets between my arm and my body and he slowly pulls it away from my face do I can't hurt myself He's my heroPs yes I’m watching Jenna marbles in the background ?marley is a autism service dog and this is just one of many things he does to help change my life everyday ❤️Edit : thank you so much for all the love and the shares !Just want to get my messsage across that service dogs are just more than a dog in a vest ❤️ they are actual hero’sEDIT Can't believe I have to say this But please ask before stealing my video and uploading else where It's not nice to go on a different social media and seeing me having an episode and my service dog helping me uploading and being shared without my permissionAsk first please this is not just a cute video this is my life and such a raw video Ask for permission and I will most likely give it to you
Posted by Hayley Martin on Thursday, August 29, 2019
The video made its debut in the Dogspotting Society group on Facebook, where it garnered 17,000 likes and more than 1,000 comments and shares.
Hayley has high-functioning autism, which is an informal term for a person with autism who can do most basic life skills, read, write and live alone but finds social interaction difficult and may become extremely stressed by certain situations.
A Difficult Childhood
Because of Hayley’s condition, she was often bullied as a child and felt like an outcast.
Having Marley has helped turn around Hayley’s life. She has been training the 1-year-old rescued border collie-kelpie mix to intervene during her debilitating episodes. Marley has been taught to detect the start of an attack and get the situation under control before it becomes dangerous. Marley has kept Hayley out of harm’s way on numerous occasions.
The Good Word on a Good Dog
Hayley has been posting more videos over the months to spread awareness about Marley and autism assistance dogs in general. Marley literally provides Hayley with a sense of security and independence. So, she wants to spread the word how dogs like Marley can be lifesavers for others, too.
Wanted to share another video of Marley my autism service dog doing his jobThis is how he helps me through a crying episode / aniexty ectYou can see him trying to distract me but also performing deep pressure therapy to help ground me ❤️
Posted by Marleytheservicecollie on Friday, November 8, 2019
It’s no wonder that Hayley refers to her dog as her hero.
Marley is proof that heroes don’t always wear capes. Sometimes they are cuddly, furry dogs.
Thank you, Marley, for watching out for Hayley.
