Twelve years ago, Hirotaka Saito was just a guy. Well, not really “just a guy”, since he was a successful businessman and had a Ferrari, but also led a fairly ordinary life. An office, a luxury car, a house… But all this collapsed in an instant when Saito’s company faced an economic crisis and went bankrupt.
The owner of the company was so depressed that at that moment he saw only one decent way out of the situation – to take his own life. He was already preparing to leave the house for the last time, to get into his Ferrari and go on a journey without return – but his dog changed everything. Saving both his human and, as it turns out, the lives of many doggos later.
More info: Instagram
Hirotaka Saito was a businessman in Japan 12 years ago, but everything fell into shambles one day over an economic crisis
Image credits: wansfree / Instagram
The man was so devastated that he saw only one decent way out – to take his own life
Saito was about to leave the house and take his life, but his large, over 150 lb. dog apparently sensed the sad and determined mood of the human. He literally planted himself at the door and refused to budge. Whenever Saito tried to approach the door, the dog met this attempt with a loud bark and simply pushed the man away from the exit.
Image credits: wansfree / Instagram
After several such fruitless attempts, Saito’s determination evaporated, and he wondered if it would be reasonable to do as he wanted. Apparently, common sense prevailed over the emotions in his head, and the man, realizing that he owed his life to his faithful dog, decided to devote his next years to saving other four-legged ones who found themselves in difficult situations.
Image credits: wansfree / Instagram
However, the man’s big dog literally saved his life, not letting him go out – and the man changed his mind
Hirotaka Saito was bankrupt, but he still had his car, and his business acumen as an experienced enterpriser had also not gone anywhere. He sold his Ferrari without any regret, and opened one of the first shelters for dogs with trauma in Japan. Not just for stray dogs – but also for those who, for one reason or another, bit their owner and ended up on the street.
Image credits: wansfree / Instagram
Now Hirotaka Saito is 54 years old and runs a pet shelter with over 40 traumatized dogs from around the whole of Japan
Today, Mr. Saito is 54 years old, and his shelter, called Wansfree, takes care of about 40 dogs. Usually, the founder of the shelter meets all newly arrived animals himself and, despite their obvious aggression, tries to show them right away that their misadventures end here. He usually puts on three pairs of gloves, one on top of the other, to avoid bites – but this doesn’t always help.
Image credits: wansfree / Instagram
Well, no bite, even the strongest, is able to make Saito turn away from the path he once chose. “A dog saved me. Now it’s my turn to devote my life to them,” the man writes on Instagram. The head of the shelter, together with his entire staff, do their best to ensure that the dogs, scared and embittered at the world, at least calm down a little and get a chance at a peaceful life.
Image credits: wansfree / Instagram
Once being saved by a dog, the man has devoted the rest of his life to saving other dogs from various troubles and giving them a chance for a peaceful life
“On top of that, it’s important to make them feel loved. Just believe in them,” Japanese media Sippo Asahi quotes Mr. Saito. “They’ll stop biting one day, so I can wait as long as it takes. Even if they bite me, my attitude and feelings toward them won’t change. If I keep conveying these feelings to them, I think they’ll stop biting.” After all, what are a few bites compared to a life saved?
Image credits: egeardaphotos / Pexels (not the actual photo)
The man now wants to raise funds in order to have over 300 dogs in the shelter by 2028
In his noble cause, Saito is assisted by his own two dogs, Neneji and Torajiro, who are called upon to show other animals by their personal example that no harm will come to them in this place. Well, the founder of the shelter himself is not going to stop – today he’s raising funds to increase the number of pets under his care to 300 in the next few years. Knowing this man, he will definitely succeed!
People in the comments of this story literally admired Saito and his selflessness, as well as the brave dog who saved his owner from an irreparable act. “What a man! He has my deep respect and admiration,” one of the responders wrote sincerely. People are quite sure that nothing in this world, no material values, can compare to the pure joy that comes with saving the life of another being.
Many years ago, the great French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote: “We are responsible for those we have tamed!” And indeed, over the thousands of years that dogs have walked alongside us humans, they’ve repeatedly demonstrated the most striking examples of absolute love and devotion. Why shouldn’t people respond to this nobility and selflessness with an equally broad gesture of gratitude, right?
Most people online were just in awe of the man and his brave doggo, claiming that no material value can be compared to saving a life
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