This Story About A Woman’s Corgi Leaving To Comfort A Grieving Stranger Will Break Your Heart

Plain and simple, dogs are special in ways no other creatures can be. They love unconditionally; they appreciate the small things in life; and they're always there to be your rock when you need it. That's exactly what happened with Cora, one woman's emotional support corgi, in a story reported by TODAY. Bustle has reached out to her for comment and will update this post upon response.

To be clear, Cora isn't a therapy dog yet, but she's training to be, says Today. Twenty-three-year-old Madison Palm is Cora's mom, and she knows her pup has a special gift. It's one of the reasons she never leaves home without her. While Palm always knew Cora was a giant fur ball of love, even she was surprised by something the pup recently did. The two were at a Seattle airport when Cora took off and approached a man sitting by himself. Natch, the guy took a liking to her and starting giving the corgi some love. Recalling the experience to TODAY, Palm said, "I asked him if she was bothering him." The man's response was a sad but heartwarming one: "No, no. I lost my dog last night."

In a moment of deep sadness, one fluffy corgi was able to make things a little better.

While Palm was understandably moved by Cora's actions, this isn't the first time the pup has shown love to someone who really needed it. "I truly think she has a gift. She knows who is hurting and she knows who needs her," Palm told TODAY.

Cora's capacity for love is especially inspiring considering her upbringing prior to going home with Palm — which was disturbing, to say the least. As TODAY reports, at her previous home, Cora was kept almost entirely outside and underfed. She'd birthed several litters of puppies. She'd never seen a vet and was sick. The previous owners ultimately got rid of her because she was killing their chickens — a perhaps unsurprising behavior coming from an abused and neglected dog. Palm took her home one day, and the rest is history.

It doesn't take an expert to explain how beautiful it is that a dog with an abusive history still has such an enormous capacity to love. This is something people can learn from dogs: how to love with no conditions. When my fiancé and I decided we wanted to adopt another dog, we chose one who we quickly found out had something dark and damaging lurking in his past. It took him a long time to open up and trust us; but once he did, it was life-changing — for all of us. And just look at how happy he is now.

While you might give your pet a safe and loving home, such is not the case for millions of animals in the United States alone. According to The Puppy Mill Project, puppy mills breed more than two million dogs every year. These dogs are bred purely for sale and profit, with complete disregard to their health and wellbeing. (All together now: Dogs. Are. Not. Items. For. Sale. They. Are. Living. Creatures.) Ironically, about 1.2 million are euthanized in shelters each year. The ASPC says around 6.5 million animals go into shelters yearly. Overall, these statistics make for many millions of animals not living in safe and loving environments with awesome humans like Madison Palm.

And as Palm and Cora have shown us, dogs aren't these thoughtless, emotionless things. They feel. They sense. They understand. They contribute to our lives like nothing else can. Cora is the perfect example of how a dog can enhance your life, and be the ultimate companion you never knew you could have. Cheers to you, Madison, for giving this pooch a second chance. She so deserves it.