PHOENIX — A video of a dog comforting an autistic Arizona woman during a breakdown has gone viral.
The video was posted to YouTube by 24-year-old Tempe resident Danielle Jacobs. She has Asperger’s syndrome, a developmental disorder that makes it difficult for her to socialize and communicate, which can lead to breakdowns. It is part of the autism spectrum.
Jacobs trained her dog, Samson, to comfort her after she has various types of episodes, including the one shown in the video. People with autism sometimes self-harm during meltdowns, which is why Jacobs is hitting herself.
The video had been viewed more than five million times as of Monday afternoon.
YoutTube description: “This is what having aspergers is like. Please no negative comments this really happened and it’s not easy to open myself and share what it’s like on a daily basis. This is what’s considered a meltdown. Yes Samson is alerting. I trained him to alert to depressive episodes and self harm not both but he alerted. It appears the response is late but it’s actually supposed to be as I’m coming out of the meltdown as I tend to have a panic attack after.”
WARNING: Video contains content that may disturb some viewers.
