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Therapy Dog To Help Crime Victims Deal With Trauma

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Philadelphia District Attorney has committed to getting a specially trained "therapy dog" to help ease the pain and trauma of crime victims that come in for interviews or testify in court. This inspiration came from a rape victim who got a therapy dog on her own and says it gave her her life back.

The 25-year-old woman was the victim of an unspeakable attack in her apartment. She was devastated, afraid and emotionally damaged, but her therapy dog, Gryffin (photo), who was rescued from a shelter and then trained, has given her life back:

"I wasn't feeling anything. I wasn't feeling joy or sadness or anything like that. I was aware I was having nightmares. I didn't really remember them so much. But I would wake up screaming a lot, according to my parents. And also according to them, all of that kind of stuff stopped once I got my dog, that they didn't hear me as much anymore. And I think just having his little presence on my bed helped me."

She says she is thrilled that the Family Violence and Sexual Assault unit is getting a therapy dog, and that it can provide the comfort no person can.

The DA's dog has yet to be selected and trained.

Listen to extended interview:

Reported By Tony Hanson, KYW Newsradio.

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