It has been reported that around 40 percent of women who are dealing with domestic violence don’t want to leave their abusive situations because they don’t want to leave their pets behind.
One day, a woman in this situation was able to leave. Her boyfriend assaulted her in their home. He pulled at her clothing and pushed her through a wall, and then he continued to beat her. Her dog, a 110 pound Great Dane named J. Matthew, laid on top of her and absorbed multiple blows with a hammer from her boyfriend. He was taking the beating that was meant for her.
The abuser picked up the dog and took him to a busy intersection, basically leaving him to die. In the meantime, the woman was able to escape. She contacted the authorities, and they arranged for her to stay at the Rose Brooks Center, a local women’s shelter.
Thankfully, the dog survived the brutal beating, although he had a few broken bones.
The only problem was that the Rose Brooks Center did not allow pets. She was not willing to leave her dog behind after the huge sacrifice he had made for her, however, and told them her story.
Once they heard the story, they did something amazing and changed their policy that banned dogs. The woman was then allowed to bring her heroic dog into the center to stay with her. They created a new pet kennel right next to the center, dedicated to these two survivors.