I never liked dogs my whole life until this one time

About 10 years ago I was living on the ground floor; my room had a window that looked out onto the street. Back then I was really afraid of dogs and I hated them, but there was a female dog who’d just given birth and she’d lie right under the window. One night I was up late and I heard her making a strange sound… an hour passed and the sound didn’t change. Even though I was scared of her and didn’t like dogs at the time, my heart ached for her. All I could imagine was that she was hungry and thirsty and couldn’t go look for food or water because she was afraid for her puppies. So I decided to fill a bowl with water and go out to put it for her until morning so I could buy them some food. I was carrying the bowl and literally walking out with one foot and then the other, very slowly because I was scared. But when I got out I was shocked by what I saw — she was crying, her eyes were actually shedding tears, and that was the first time I knew dogs could cry and I understood why she was crying. One of her puppies had been hit by a car and died. Without thinking I went closer to her and kept stroking her; she was completely resigned and started to calm down. That was the first time in my life I got close to a dog or touched one, and it was also the first time I felt that mix of sadness for her and sadness at myself for having treated them like harmful creatures with no feelings. That experience changed me a lot — it changed how I look at any creature and its circumstances and made me stop judging everything and everyone so quickly. Since then I’ve been in love with dogs.