I rescued and took in a stray dog, but after a few days it began to behave strangely: then I discovered the terrible truth and bitterly regretted my good deed 

I had always heard that you should help others – whether people or animals. All my life I tried to follow that rule. But one day, everything changed.

One evening on my way home, I saw a dog on the side of the road. A large German Shepherd sat curled up, and his helpless gaze made my heart ache. He looked hungry and frozen. Without hesitation, I stopped and called him. The dog came almost immediately and obediently sat down at my feet. I thought: “Well, now I have a friend.”

The first day everything was fine. He ate greedily, then curled up on the mat by the door and fell asleep. I even felt a sense of peace, knowing I had done a good deed.

But just a couple of days later, I began to notice strange things.

At first, he seemed to avoid water. I filled his bowl, but he hardly drank. I thought – maybe stress, maybe the change of environment.

The next day the dog became restless: he ran around the apartment for no reason, scratched at the doors with his claws, and froze suddenly as if listening to the silence.

Sometimes he would sit for a long time staring at me with a strange, tense look. And at night, he seemed tormented – suddenly jumping up, growling into the emptiness, or pacing nervously around the room.

I tried to find an explanation: “Maybe he’s scared in the new home? Maybe he’s looking for his owner?” I reassured myself that it would all pass.

But one morning something happened that turned my life upside down.  Continuation in the first comment 

I bent down to pet him, and at that moment he sank his teeth into my arm. It happened so quickly that I didn’t realize right away – he had bitten me.

When I went to the doctor, I heard the dreadful diagnosis: the dog was rabid. And the worst part – he could have been rabid from the very beginning.

Now I face a long, almost year-long treatment. And all that time I will remember that look, that night, and that fatal bite.

I have always loved dogs, but after this incident, the fear has settled so deeply inside me that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to trust them again.