One of the most most difficult aspects of being in an abusive relationship is coming to terms with the stark reality.
In countless cases domestic violence is prolonged because of the victim’s denial that it’s even taking place. People don’t want to believe their partner is controlling or abusing them, often even in the face of overwhelming evidence.
Such was the case for the friend of one woman, who explained their harrowing story on Love What Matters. Her friend was in a relationship with an abusive sociopath, but had refused to come to terms with it. When she finally summoned courage enough to leave him, things turned violent.
“While he was beating her,” the friend explained on Love What Matters, “she managed to get away from him, and drove the short distance to my house to be safe. My house wasn’t safe, though. He followed her, kicked through the glass on the french doors, and unlocked the bolt from the inside.
I wish I could say that either of us made a valorous stand against him, but we didn’t. She had already gone a few rounds with him and neither of us had any kind of self-defense training. He cornered us quickly and used his fists and my scarves to subdue us.
He told us what he was going to do to us both (not going to repeat it) and I had pretty much resigned myself to it, too beaten to fight and for whatever reason. It wasn’t in me to beg, either. I just went cold and numb. I couldn’t even feel the physical hurt. Mentally, I just…left.“
Then, just as all hope seemed lost, a somewhat unlikely hero appeared. Camie, the friend’s pit/lab mix, was able to break through the remainder of the french doors. Needless to say, the situation flipped on a dime.
“Now, Camie is a sweet, loving, goofy dog. She was as gentle as can be with all of the neighborhood kids and had never so much as snarled. She was even kinda dumb…a silly, sweet girl. But when Camie got a hold of this guy, she was a different animal.
She was wild-eyed and foaming at the mouth, bleeding from all of the cuts she’d gotten from the glass and not giving a single f**k. She was on top of him in the blink of an eye, and I can’t even describe the sound coming out of her. I counted down in my head until the moment when she ripped that f***er’s face off.“
As she went on to explain, that never happened. Instead, the sound of the garage opening broke through the chaos. Her father had returned home.
“The guy tried to take advantage of the moment and get away from her but Camie backed him into a corner and barked and snarled her head off. My dad must have understood something about that sound because he was in that room in no time flat, with a gun in hand.“
As per the story on Love What Matters, the police were quickly called. The offender was arrested, tried and put in prison, as he deserves. It transpired this wasn’t even his first assault.
“Camie’s cuts healed, and so did ours,” the woman explained. “We no longer have french doors.
“She’s an old girl now. An old, sweet, loving girl. Her mind is starting to go, and so are her hind legs. She may not remember what she did for me (and my friend), but I won’t forget.
She may be nearing the end of her days, but I will never see a weak, useless old dog. She’s my dog. I don’t know what all my friend’s crazy boyfriend might have done. I don’t even know what I owe her, and that’s the beauty of it.“
Dogs really are heroes, and we could not be more thankful that Camie was in the right place at the right time to save these two women.
Share this article to pay tribute to Camie!
