Dog comforts autistic woman, captures Internet's heart (VIDEO)



Tempe, AZ (KTVK) -- A video showing a Tempe woman being comforted by her service dog during a meltdown has gone viral.

The video was posted by Danielle Jacobs, 24, on June 1. It has since been viewed more than 3 million times.

In it, Jacobs is having what she describes as a self-harm meltdown while her Rottweiler Samson attempts to help her out of it.

The 24-year-old says these meltdowns are due to Asperger's syndrome. She was diagnosed with it in 2013. It is a disorder on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum.

"Have the social deficits, the behavioral deficits but not necessarily the language deficits that you see with others who are on the spectrum," said Daniel Openden, president of The Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center.

In a post along with the video, Jacobs says she shared the raw moment to show what it is like to live with Asperger's and raise awareness about the disorder.

But it's Samson's ability to help calm her down that is melting hearts. It turns out, Jacobs rescued Samson from HALO in Phoenix.

"Danielle was volunteering through HALO at the time and she fell in love and played with Samson and the bond couldn't be broken so she decided to adopt Samson," said HALO Outreach Coordinator Erin Denmark.

After adopting him she began working with him. Her efforts are also documented on her YouTube page. She trained him regularly, transforming the 4-year-old stray shelter dog into a service dog.

"She was rescued by Samson, really," Denmark said.

SARRC says they have a lot of families who also utilize service animals and swear by them, but Openden says there's still not a lot of scientific data yet to show their value for those on the spectrum.

So while it may be an option, Openden suggests it should not be the only one and adds that SARRC has a lot of resources available.

"This is a lack of a skill and the most important thing we can do is teach the skills people with autism and Asperger's need to be able to integrate and fit in with their peers," he said.

It's not clear what, if any, other steps Jacobs is taking, but she says her work with Samson is helping and her videos are doing what she intended.

We did reach out to Jacobs for our story and are still waiting to hear back.