Leah Wyman never expected to come home with a dog when she left her house in November 2012. She was simply going to the store to pick up a few items, but the tiny whimper of a black Lab/hound mix calling to her from a cage outside of a Petco in Greenville, SC was too much for her to resist.
According to GreenvilleOnline.com, that day, Wyman returned home to her husband and her Yorkie named Annie with a brand new puppy that they decided to call Marvin. Little did she know, however, that Marvin would soon change her life.
For months, Marvin was the perfect dog. He would play with kids and other dogs and run around their Greenville yard like it was a small patch of Heaven on Earth.
But when Marvin was around six months old, Marvin snapped at one of Wyman's neighbors for the very first time. Soon after, Marvin couldn't even see the veterinarian without trying to take a chunk out of the doctor. He had become a scared, angry, extremely aggressive dog, seemingly out of nowhere. He even attacked Wyman's tiny Yorkie.
Unsure of what Wyman could do, her vet sent her to Sharon Crowe-Davis, a veterinarian at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine Behavioral Medicine Service. An expert in the field of animal behavior for three decades, Crowe-Davis diagnosed Marvin with a case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Wyman had found many marks on Marvin's tiny puppy body and face that she now imagines are burn marks, but both she and Crowe-Davis cannot pinpoint what exactly happened to Marvin before Leah adopted him.
"Our best guess is he had a traumatic experience and they had a honeymoon period because he was out of a bad situation,” Crowe-Davis told GreenvilleOnline.com. “As he matured his early experiences came back."
But having an extremely aggressive dog with PTSD was never what Leah Wyman had imagined when she adopted Marvin in 2012. Most owners in her position would likely relinquish the dog to a shelter (where it would, unfortunately, be euthanized) or simply abandon it.
Leah, however, has no plans to do any such thing. She's sticking it out with Marvin through thick and thin.
"I can't imagine life without Marvin," she told GreenvilleOnline.com. "Marvin rescued me."
Wyman has decided to go the extra mile to ensure that Marvin (and anyone around him) is safe. She and her husband separated in August, which caused the dog to have a setback, and she was forced to move in with her parents where Marvin and Annie would be joined by a third dog (another Yorkie) named Emma.
Wyman has not only put her own life on hold to accommodate Marvin, but she's also had to put restrictions on his life as well. Marvin wears a muzzle anytime he's around the two Yorkies, and they must eat in separate rooms. She can't leave him with her parents for extended periods of time, so any trips — including those for work — are out of the question.
"Marvin is never going to be the dog you take to the 4th of July parade," Wyman told GreenvilleOnline.com.
And, yet, Wyman soldiers on because she knows she needs Marvin and, more importantly, Marvin needs her. They are the constant in each other's lives and the ones who know just how to make the other feel better.
Wyman continues to work with The University of Georgia and veterinarian Sharon Crowe-Davis, but she and Marvin have a very long road ahead.
Having a dog with PTSD requires a lot of work, a ton of patience, and a whole lot of faith and hope that Marvin will come around. Maybe he never will.
All the while, Leah Wyman will be there holding Marvin's leash, petting him softly, and reminding him that she's never going anywhere.
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