Pets don't just make life more worth living; sometimes, they save life itself. From rescuing sleepers in house fires to encouraging their owners to leave toxic relationships, the furry and feathered friends below deserve special mention for their heroic and empathic behavior. No doubt they will live on forever in the hearts of those they've touched.
These are the best stories of pets (and other animals) who saved humans from death, loneliness, despair, or who knows what else.
30. My cat chose my husband
I was living with my emotionally abusive boyfriend and my cat, Buddie. BF was nasty to her, too so she was terrified of any man that came to the apartment.
Or at least she was until a friend of a friend came over to visit. She loved him! She'd follow him all over the place, and it really made me realize... I needed to get out of that relationship. I deserved better, Buddie deserved better. I finally got the nerve to kick out my awful boyfriend, but I soon needed a place to live.
That friend of a friend just happened to have lost his roommates, so I moved in. We eventually got married and have been for 19 years. 14 of those were shared with Buddie. We both have tattoos commemorating her.
So my cat picked husband and we lived happily ever after.
29. They can smell it
Grandma puts her pup in a crate at night to sleep. One night the dog isn't settling down, and grandma gets irritated and gets up to take the dog outside. Dog won't go out. Grandma assumes the dog is just nuts and starts heading back to bed. Grandma starts feeling real weird so she sits down and calls 911. Turns out she had a heart attack.
If the dog hadn't gotten her up she'd have just fallen asleep and died in bed.
28. Don't you do it
I had a severe depressive episode earlier this year and I sat at my couch staring at a glass of water while holding a fistful of pills when my tiny pug puppy crawled into my lap. He just sat there and stared up into my face and began to lick my chin and I just couldn't do it with him looking at me like that.
I put the pills away and just cuddled my puppy on the couch for a while.
27. The moose is loose
Not exactly a pet, but when I was visiting friends up in Nunavut (north of Canada) there was a moose that used to hang around and get sloshed off of fermented apples near their house. It was surprisingly chill with people, probably because it was slammed most of the time.
Anyways, one day my friend and I get back to his place and the moose is standing right on his doorstep blocking the door. Only an idiot messes with a full grown moose so we let it be and get back in the car to wait for it to leave.
After a few minutes a couple of police show up...then a couple more...then more... Up there you don't normally see more than two cops at a time, so it was a bit of a strange response to a moose on the doorstep, especially considering we hadn't called anyone.
It turns out they weren't there for the moose. They were there for a man who had attacked his girlfriend, stolen her shotgun, robbed a store, and was last seen being chased by the moose right into my friends house.
If the moose hadn't been blocking the door, the guy probably would have shot us. It took the cops hours to get him to come out.
26. The fire safety dog
I had an Alaskan timber wolf/husky mix and she was a very tall and large dog. Wicked smart she was. I left the iron on one day, went into another room, and got distracted for at least ten minutes. She came into the room and grabbed my sleeve with her teeth and tugged me back to where the iron was smoldering. Who knows what could have happened had she not gotten me. One very good doggie.
25. The road safety dog
I was walking my dog a couple of months ago. We were about to cross the road when she started pulling back toward the pavement. I thought it was just her being a pain but I took her to the side anyway to be sure. What I hadn't seen was her pulling me away from a van that had mounted the curb and was doing about 60mph in a 20 school zone. It missed me by less than a metre and hit the area where I had been standing about 2 seconds before. Pretty close call.
24. Snow dogs
When I was a kid, we had a huge blizzard. It was 96 and my house in Baltimore had an alley behind it that dipped in the middle. So all of the snow had piled back there, it was at least 4-6 feet in some places thanks to wind. I was a small kid, barely 40 lbs by the time I was 8 and a little over 3 ft tall.
So I went out to play in the snow, thinking going through a big alley would be like swimming through a pool. I learned a hard lesson that day, you can't swim through snow. So I'm stuck about a half block down from my yard, no one in sight. I'm yelling and crying and my tears are freezing to my stupid 8-year-old face. And then I see this awesome dog in a yard, he's barking at me, then barking towards his back door, this goes on for a few minutes and I'm still screaming.
So dog jumps over the fence and I'm not entirely sure how he didn't immediately sink but he's licking my face, tapping me with his nose and starts pulling me by my hood when his owner finally comes out and pulls me out of the snow and takes me to my Mom.
I gave that dog so many treats until they moved.
23. Sometimes I swear dogs have premonition or something
When I was a kid (teenager) we had two golden retrievers. One lazy fall afternoon I was sitting in my backyard with my mom on my childhood swing set with Zack and Jazzie (dogs) talking when Zack started to get very emphatic about going for a walk or at least leaving the backyard quickly.
We ignored them and continued to chat for awhile but he got more and more agitated so eventually we figured we'd walk down the block with them.
Well, we were about 50 yards away from my house when we heard a massive crack and a huge boom. Turns out one of the large trees in our backyard had died and an a giant branch had snapped and fallen. The branch COMPLETELY destroyed the swing set. It would have crushed us if we hadn't gotten up.
Always thought he must have known something was amiss because it was pretty out of character the way he was acting.
22. The doggie in the window
When I was around 5 years old my brother and I were sent to my Aunt's place for the evening. The parents were going out for date night and my Aunt was to watch us over night.
The only issue was that pets weren't allowed in her apartment and we had a Cocker Spaniel to worry about. My Aunt agreed that we would just sneak her in at night, since my dog was very well behaved.
It was abnormally hot that evening and no AC unit so we all slept in her bedroom with the window open.
Around 2 am we awoke to my dog freaking out. We looked to the window and saw a very large man half way through. My aunt started screaming at him and he ran off.
Can't say for sure that my life was saved, but nothing good could have come from that encounter.
21. He saved me by not killing me
I was standing on a milk crate to mount my very-tall horse when the crate broke. My left foot went through the stirrup, my right foot went through the crate, and the noise of the splintering crate spooked my horse. He started to bolt, and if he'd taken off, I'd have been dragged across concrete under his legs and most likely killed.
At the last second, he turned and made eye contact, and he just seemed to know I was in trouble, and froze. He was shaking like a leaf, but he didn't budge. I was able to pull myself up on his neck and free my right foot from the crate and then my left foot from the stirrup, but things could have ended so much worse.
20. A fall at the waterfall
I don't really remember it happening because I was 4 at the time. My parents told me our dog saved my life when we were on a family trip in the mountains, hiking up to a waterfall. I tripped and started to slide off the side of the path under the hand railing, and our dog, a large Rottweiler, grabbed my by my coat and pulled me back right before I would have fallen down a steep bank into a fast moving river. That dog was my best friend growing up, I miss him.
19. A Buddy indeed!
When I was about 6-7 I lived pretty close to a lake. I was splashing around with my grandma and my German Shepherd (long dead now, unfortunately). There's dozens of little beaches and rarely many people at most of them, so we always picked the one closest to my house.
As I was walking out of the lake, some dude runs up and grabs me, I start wailing while he's running off (still holding me). My grandma and I are both freaking out and she couldn't exactly do much. This is Buddy's cue to mouth tackle the back of this dude's leg. He goes down pretty hard, as do I (have a nice scar on my head from hitting the pavement). I don't remember much, except for my grandma crying, some police, and everyone showering the dog in affection. It was like a cheesy movie (except it all happened really fast).
The guy managed to initially get away after fighting off my dog, but eventually showed up at a hospital for bite wounds and was arrested shortly after.
Who knows what could have been had Buddy not been there. That dog loved children and was immediately at attention if me or my cousins started crying/yelling etc. Best dog I've ever owned.
18. It doesn't matter if you love me; I love you
I was visiting family with my mother and while they were in the house drinking and giggling, I went to the backyard (which had a pool). They had a larger dog and I was afraid of dogs at the time (I was about 7). As I was trying to play keep away around the pool to stay as far away from the dog as possible -- when I fell in!
Mind you, this was the third time I had almost drowned in my life. The dog, who I had avoided and treated like crap, jumped in the water (no one heard my gurgling cries evidently) and pulled me close enough to the edge that I got out. I cried for my mother but she still didn't come out to help. I ended up going inside and I got smacked for going into the pool in my clothes.
That was the day that I learned two things: I needed to learn how to swim and I was not my mother's favorite child.
Oh, and third: dogs are awesome.
17. Saved my life by chasing a squirrel
One day I was walking my dog and on our way back to my house, a squirrel ran into our garage. I let go of the leash thinking, hey, we're home, he won't run away or anything.
Well, turns out, the squirrel runs out of the garage and my dog runs after him. As a last resort, I step on his leash to keep him from running away. It wraps around my ankle and I fall to the ground. It was a little jarring, but i'm ok.
The next day my leg puffs up to the point where I'm limping very badly. We go to the doctor and find out that because I had twisted and fell (because of my squirrel-hungry dog) it aggravated a blood clot (specifically, a deep vein thrombosis) which caused the swelling. Since I'm only 15, blood clots are not common, so the doctor took more tests and we found out what caused the clot was a malignant tumor near my bladder. The size of a grapefruit.
They also found the cancer had spread (stage 4) so I started treatment immediately. It's been 10 months since my dog caused me to fall. Today I am cancer free, and almost finished with chemo.
He didn't know he helped me, but he saved my life.
16. Foot tickles can fix anything
Not me but my best friend a few years ago had a really bad break up with his girlfriend when she left for college. The relationship was always bad and the distance just made it horrible, constant arguing, and screaming.
One day they're arguing on the phone upstairs while I was in his basement. I hear him yelling, then silence. Then something hits the ground hard. I ran upstairs and he had collapsed, convulsing, having a panic attack, unable to breath. He's just shaking, his dad, mom, and I crying over him begging him to stop, begging him to breathe. it was so scary.
Just then his dog ran in and started licking his feet. And somehow he just started laughing. Coughing and laughing, but able to breathe again. That day, his dog probably saved his life.
15. High steaks
Rock, my pit bull and Dalmatian mix, once scared the crud out of a burglar trying to get into my apartment through the patio. He was foaming at the mouth, and hair raised, the whole nine yards. We had just had our son 2-3 weeks prior and my husband had just left for work.
The police caught the man a couple units down with a loaded gun, one in the chamber. I owe that dog my life; when we have steak he has steak.
14. The emotional intelligence of cats
I'm a college grad who has been looking for work (and getting turned down pretty consistently in favor of people 'with more experience') for over a year now since graduation. A few months back I was getting really, really down about it. Feeling hopeless, sliding into depression. Having worked my butt off to do really well in college and then be consistently turned down was really getting to me.
One day I was over at my mom's, and she was getting upset with me for not having a job yet. After she'd gone upstairs, I just sat in the kitchen with my head on my arms, trying not to cry. All of a sudden, my mom's cat (who is the sort of cat who likes people and enjoys attention, but doesn't put up with being held or set on someone's lap or anything like that) just jumped up out of nowhere and curled up on my legs. He looked up at me and started purring. I'd never felt more comforted than I did right then. He didn't leave until I had to get up again.
I'd almost decided on cancelling a trip I'd planned months earlier to go to a gaming convention, but oddly enough that kitty cheered me up enough to still want to go. I ended up meeting the love of my life there and moving to an entirely different part of the country. Still looking for a job, but things are a lot better than they were.
I love that kitty.
13. Pup in Boots
Not as serious as some of the other stories on here.I met my girlfriend of 2 years because of my dog.
I was out walking Boots (my dog) in the local park when this cute blonde walks over to say hello. Its not unusual for people to come over to talk to other peoples dogs in this park and she asks the usual questions, is it a boy or girl, what's his name and so on.
She's crouching down petting him when he barks once or twice, and I said lamely, "he asked if he can have your number" but she laughed and gave it to me! I still can't believe it worked but my life is much better now because of Boots.
12. Dachshunds to the rescue
When I was in the 6th grade, my mom went out grocery shopping one morning and when she got home, a man was in our house, robbing us (we later found out that he'd been sleeping in the woods behind our house for about a week). When my mom came in the kitchen door from the garage, he was waiting for her with a knife, and he pulled her inside without shutting the door.
We had three dachshunds at the time, and all three ran outside immediately, obviously terrified of this strange scary dude in their house. They never go outside without us, and our next-door neighbor saw them pacing back and forth just outside the garage door, looking worried and crying, so the neighbor came over to our house to see what was up. The guy in our house pulled her inside too, but my mom and the neighbor managed to break and run in separate directions, so the guy cut and run too.
He was caught the next day, sleeping in a tent in someone's backyard (wtf!). If our dogs hadn't gone outside and cried, my mom would probably have been in real trouble. Strudel, Heidi, and Daisy, you are my hero puppies and I love you. RIP, Strudel.
11. And people say fish are stupid
10. 'Bird brain' should mean 'genius'
When I was younger I was severely depressed. I had told my mother about it and she took me to the doctor and got me on medication. The doctor also gave me sleeping pills because I wasn't sleeping. The medication increased my depression to the point of wanting to take my life.
After my mother left for work I decided that life was not worth living anymore. I was laying on my bed playing with my bird for the last time and writing a note explaining why I wanted my life to be over. I started writing and my little bird ran up and tugged the pen out of my hand. After retrieving it, I began writing again.
He grabbed the pen and ran to the end of my bed and dropped it on the floor. Then looked at me. Right at me, and then I just couldn't do it. I started sobbing and he hobbled up to me and began licking my tears off my face. In that moment it all changed. I decided to live no matter what because as insignificant as my life was, someone loved me and needed me. Every time my depression gets the worst of me I remember that little bird.
9. "I wish everyone could have a pet like him, but he's all mine"
I was playing a video game and my dog was whining, which at that point was pretty normal considering he was only 6 months old. He would bark or whine at everything. This goes on for a couple minutes.
So I just ignore him and keep playing. My little dude starts getting really persistent and I was getting irritated. I brushed him to the side.
Probably 45 seconds later, he puts his paw on the controller (located in my hands) and begins trying to take it. At this point I hear a commotion in the bathroom.
I go in to find my fiance in the bathtub. My fiancee has reactive hypoglycemia where her sugar will fall with no warning and she will have a seizure. She was about 1/4th of an inch from downing when I found her and was beginning to seize.
He is an unbelievably smart animal who can "fetch" other humans and animals on command. I wish everyone could have a pet like him, but he's all mine.
8. Un bearable
I was walking my dogs in upstate New York on a hiking trail that basically runs parallel to a road. I took my dogs off of their leashes because they're very well trained (shoutout Dad) and I knew they would stay close. Anywho, I turn a corner with my dogs at my side and BAM a black bear is standing in the middle of the trail staring right at me and my pups.
I wasn't really scared, I've seen black bears before but never this close (within 20 yards), I was more trying to plan how to scoop up my dogs and get us out of danger. Neither the bear nor I was moving at this point. On the contrary, my nutcase dogs decide to take off after the bear barking their heads off. My dogs are labs and the bear could have easily ripped them to shreds but he just turned and started to run away. I called my dogs back and they had freaking smiles on their faces which was awesome. I leashed them up and we walked home.
7. Digbie defends her human
I was 13 years old and taking my pet dog Digbie for a walk. During the walk on the nearby field I notice this very large German Shepard by itself wandering the field. The dog started to run my way and I could tell this was not a friendly dog. I proceeded to try and run back to the house but just as I got to the front door I found out it was locked (my mum was trying to get me to bring the dog through the back door) I realized that I only had seconds before the dog would be on me so I tried to run to the back gate.
Not a second after I managed to get to the back gate I hear this growl. I turn round and there is the massive German Shepard growling and baring its teeth. Everything seemed to go so slow. I just remembered looking at my dog who was right next to me and looking into her eyes. I could see her kind of look back and she pinned her ears back and then all of a sudden rushed the other dog. The German Shepard reared up and Digbie managed to tackle the dog and the shock of this blitz attack by my dog made it beat a quick retreat.
I managed to open the back door and Digbie followed close behind. As soon as I shut it the German Shepard was attacking the gate trying to get at us.
It was a very close call and I know Digbie saved me as there was no way I could take on this dog. I am 27 now and Digbie is long gone but I remember that moment vividly.
On a side note Digbie was a German Shepard cross and I love the German Shepard breed.
6. A snake in the grass
I went out for a run around my family's land one morning, as usual, at around 8:00 am. My Doberman, Bonnie, runs along with me all the time.
I ran with my music on and was completely oblivious to the venomous Copperhead snake that was headed straight for me. It struck out at me and missed only narrowly. When I realized what it was, I panicked and (like my usually clumsy self) fell. It came back and Bonnie jumped in front of it and took the bite herself in her hind right leg. Her cry was absolutely horrible.
She managed to turn around and rip the snake off, proceeding to tear it apart. Afterwards she fell to the ground and her breathing was getting quicker. I picked her up, as heavy as she was, and ran her to my truck. I drove as fast as I could to the vet.
Thankfully I got her there quick enough for them to save her. My dog saved me from that Copperhead, and she's still alive and well today.
Photo by Annari du Plessis from Pexels
5. Sunny days, sweeping the wolves away
4. You rescue Tyler, Tyler rescues you
In the late 90's, my roommate and I were roaming campus late one night and come across a white German shepherd puppy. No tags. We couldn't find any owners nearby so we took him home for the night. The next morning we called all the shelters and vets in the area, put a notice in the paper... it still took over a month before we found his owner.
Meanwhile, my roommate was walking the puppy (who we were now calling "Sugarfoot" for reasons that now escape me) one evening after a really massive thunderstorm and he kept pawing at a dumpster near an abandoned apartment complex. He absolutely refused to leave it alone, so she finally worked up the nerve to look inside...to find a tiny, shivering kitten in the one dry corner. He had been fussing so long he had screamed himself hoarse.
The kitten became known as Tyler, and Sugarfoot was extremely protective of him until we found his true owners.
Fast forward a few years and I'm now living on my own elsewhere in town, but Tyler is still with me. There is a serial predator on the loose, but the supposed descriptions seem to change daily.
One night I was lying in bed with the window open and reading a book before going to sleep. Tyler usually curls up with me or sits in the window. Tonight however, he was growling at something outside. He'd growl, jump into bed, stare at me intensely, then jump back to the window to repeat the process.
The first few times I just kinda shooed him away. When I couldn't get him to stop, I decided to close the window...only to look right into the face of the peeping Tom that was causing my cat to go nuts. I screamed, slammed the window shut, and called apartment security (I figured they could get help to me faster than a 911 call could). They never found anyone.
However...a few months later they caught the guy. His parents happened to live less than a quarter mile from me and he had been living with them at the time.
It was dark outside the night I encountered my peeping Tom, so I will never be entirely positive, but I believe that is who I saw that night, and that my cat possibly saved me from becoming one of his victims.
Tyler passed away at the ripe old age of 15 last year due to kidney failure. I miss him every day.
3. A Pirate who fights criminals
When I was around 16 my older brother brought home this awesome pit whose owners were getting divorced and moving away. We'd never had a dog before since my mom was pretty nervous around them from bad experiences as a child. He was about 8 months old, just really handsome with a patch of color over his eye, so the former owners had dubbed him Pirate. My younger brother and I were super jazzed and we buy him all the requisite dog stuff so we could take him out.
We'd usually walk him around our neighborhood together, but on this one particular day my brother had gone to a friend's house so I took him out by myself. It was summer, high noon, and getting super hot, so I decided to cut the walk short and go through an alley that would take me back to my side of the block. I turn to go down the alley and Pirate won't move. He just looks at me. I coax and tug on his leash, and it's like dragging a boulder. He seriously does NOT want to go down the alley, but me being new to dogs, and having been a cat person for many years, I just think he's being difficult.
Finally, he sees my insistence and just up and bolts, me flying behind yelling at him to stop, but he keeps going, mad dash road-runner style.
As we near the end of the alley, I see this older guy just standing there like a statue, staring at me with his pants all the way down. I'm in complete shock and don't even believe what i'm seeing. Pirate doesn't pause for a second and by then I'm all for running, so we run all the way back to my house where I immediately start yelling my head off about the guy by the alley.
My mom calls the cops.
I never thought I'd be a dog person until i met Pirate, I can't even imagine what would have happened if he hadn't been with me. I miss that dog so, so much.
2. "She may not remember what she did for me, but I won't forget"
My dog, Camie, defended me and my friend from her (my friend's) crazy boyfriend.
We both knew he was an abusive sociopath, but of course being his girlfriend, this was something that she was in denial about for a long time. Finally, she couldn't deny it anymore and tried to leave him.
He tried to attack. She managed to get away from him, and drove the short distance to my house to be safe. My house wasn't safe, though. He followed her, kicked through the glass on the french doors, and unlocked the bolt from the inside.
I wish I could say that either of us made a valorous stand against him, but we didn't. She had already gone a few rounds with him and neither of us had any kind of self-defense training. He cornered us quickly. He told us what he was going to do to us both (not going to repeat it) and I had pretty much resigned myself to it, too scared to fight and for whatever reason, it wasn't in me to beg, either. I just went cold and numb. I couldn't even feel the physical hurt. Mentally, I just...left.
That's when Camie, my pit/lab mix finally broke through the remainder of the french doors and came barreling into the room.
Now, Camie is a sweet, loving, goofy dog. She was as gentle as can be with all of the neighborhood kids and had never so much as snarled. She was even kinda dumb...a silly, sweet girl.
But when Camie got a hold of this guy, she was a different animal. She was wild-eyed and foaming at the mouth, bleeding from all of the cuts she'd gotten from the glass and not giving a care in the world. She was on top of him in the blink of an eye, and I can't even describe the sound coming out of her.
Then the sound of the garage door opening froze us all in place. My father was home. The guy tried to take advantage of the moment and get away from her but Camie backed him into a corner and barked and snarled her head off. My dad must have understood something about that sound because he was in that room in no time flat, gun in hand.
The police came. Reports were filed. The trial was held, and he went away. Apparently this wasn't even his first assault.
Camie's cuts healed, and so did ours. We no longer have french doors.
She's an old girl now. An old, sweet, loving girl. Her mind is starting to go, and so are her hind legs. She may not remember what she did for me (and my friend), but I won't forget. She may be nearing the end of her days, but I will never see a weak, useless old dog. She's my dog. I don't know what all my friend's crazy boyfriend might have done. I don't even know what I owe her, and that's the beauty of it.
1. Try not to cry at this one; we freaking dare you!
My best friend, Dan, had adopted a shelter dog, Blox. Blox was a wackjob, boundless energy, very hard to housebreak, a challenging dog altogether. Nevertheless, Dan wasn't the kind of guy to give up on a dog, so he kept trying to get Blox to listen. Her name (Blox was a she) was coined because she was dumb as blocks... or so we thought.
Blox would consistently break out of the fenced-in yard by either jumping over a six-foot fence or digging holes underneath it. We filled the holes, added boards pointed in at the top of the fence to keep her in the yard, nothing helped. Blox was not going to be kept in a yard. Dan eventually gave up on training her without a leash (in the yard) and put a stake in the ground for when he'd let Blox outside. Blox hated the leash, dug the stake up and would drag it around the yard, destroying Dan's grass.
Dan still didn't give up, because he's a resilient dude who loves animals more than people. And it's a good thing he didn't give up, or he'd be dead.
One night, Dan's little brother was at Dan's house with a bunch of other people, myself included, for a party. Blox was chilling; as long as people were around she was fine, she only really got anxious when she was alone. We partied well into the wee hours of the morning, I left around 3am to go home. Dan's brother stayed and crashed out in the basement.
Dan's brother is a nice guy, but he's a moron in the truest sense of the word. This moron lit a candle next to a bottle of shower cleaner (propellant) and a shower curtain (wick) and fell asleep with it lit. You see where this is going? Yeah.
As his house was beginning to be swallowed in the roaring flames of the fire, Blox ran into Dan's room, jumped on the bed, and started barking in his face, over and over and over and over until Dan woke up from his slumber. Dan actually pushed Blox off the bed twice from his recollection, but Blox was undeterred. She kept jumping back up on the bed (wasn't allowed on the bed) and barking in Dan's face. Finally, Dan's sloppy butt got up and couldn't see his hand in front of his face.
"Holy crap" thought Dan "my freaking house on on fire!!!" He ran outside, with Blox chasing him.
But Blox wasn't done. Dan's moron brother was trapped in the basement, and remember how I said Blox was only calm if people were around? Well, Blox had some kind of doggie-sixth-sense, and she knew he was in trouble. She stood at the top of those stairs, flames singing her fur, smoke filling her lungs, barking nonstop so Dan's brother knew where the exit was.
Every single person made it out alive.
When the Fire Department came, one of the firemen took a liking to Blox. Since Dan was now effectively homeless, he agreed to let the guy look after Blox. Once Dan got back on his feet, he found the fireman to see about getting Blox back. So we headed over to the fireman's house and of course there was Blox, happy, wagging, and sitting in a yard, unrestrained.
Blox was now Bella, and she had three human kids who adored her. The fireman told Dan he could have his dog back, but Dan really is the kind of guy who loves animals more than people, even himself. He was crying when he got back in my truck that day.
"For the first time ever I can say one of my rescues is in a better place, and actually mean it."
