WATCH: Support dog calms down its owner suffering from panic attack
Those who have experienced panic attacks would know just how quickly they can catch sufferers off guard, but a heartwarming video shows how one support dog helps to calm its owner down.
The five-year-old dog named Oakley has been taught to recognise when his owner, Amber Oliver, who is a certified professional dog trainer from Massachusetts, begins to experience symptoms and to de-escalate them.
He can notice changes to her breathing, heart rate and body temperature and acts on his instincts to alert her about what might be about to happen.
A short clip, taken at Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky International Airport, was shared on Instagram and appears to show Amber taking a deep breath and placing her hands over her mouth.
Almost immediately Oakley sits up and turns his attention to his owner, nuzzling into her hands and rubbing against her legs.
Ms Oliver clutches onto her dog and continues to pat him, as he remains seated between her legs.
“He has been taught to break my hands apart and away from my face and is supposed to encourage me to put my hands and even face on him – which calms me down,” she wrote on Instagram.
“I think he did an excellent job!”
She told Caters her beloved pooch is “always watching and paying attention”, and wrote online that she shared the video to show just how much Oakley has changed her life.
