Owner shares the adorable way he wakes up his deaf and blind dog without scaring her
Aiden Mann is a veterinary assistant from Nashville, Tennessee. He is also a certified dog dad when you realize he has two dogs.
Mann has a Staffordshire bull terrier and Great Dane mix he named Lola. Then there’s a miniature Australian shepherd named Plum, a dog he adopted last summer.
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Take a good look at Plum.
The Australian shepherd isn’t a regular dog. Born deaf and partially blind, Aiden had his doubts and was nervous about taking the dog since she had special needs.
Dogs with special needs, like Plum, would need extra attention and care.But Aiden instantly fell in love with her when they first met.
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It was Aiden’s coworkers who were fostering the dog and her brother. They’ve worked with a lot of rescues, and it was thanks to them that Aiden met Plum.
Aiden was working to find homes for all of them but then he met Plum through his colleagues who brought the dog to work. Aiden knew, when he first saw her, that she belonged in his home.
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“I definitely didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but I did know that I loved her and wanted to give her a good life,” he told Insider about his decision to adopt Plum.
The relationship wasn’t smooth sailing at first.
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Both man and dog needed a lot of trial and error, but eventually, they did figure out how to communicate.
Aiden and Plum are working on touch signals which helps Plum understand specific commands better.
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“We have ‘sit’ somewhat down, which is a touch under her chin,” the veterinary assistant said. “And when I want her to follow me or go in a certain direction, I will softly guide her nose in the direction we are going or run my hand along her body in the direction I want her to go.”
Plum enjoys plenty of activities since she came to live with Aiden.
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“People ask me how I wake up my deaf and blind pup without scaring her,” Mann says. “I slightly blow on her. She still gets startled until she feels me. Then she wants all the love.”
Plum would look shocked at first but once she recognizes him, they end up cuddling on the floor.
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The video’s gotten 68k likes and around 2,471,176 views as of writing.
Aiden hopes that the video helps bring awareness to what is called double merle-breeding, a term used in the world of dog breeding.
This is when two merle-patterned dogs mate. The pups born will have a 25% chance of being born as a “double merle.”
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Dogs born with this condition will usually have white coats, lack of pigment, and even hearing and vision issues. Aiden believes that it is this breeding practice that caused his dog’s disabilities.
With that said, the vet hopes that Plum’s popularity will help bring light to this problem. It has been dubbed as a “lethal genetic practice.”
Hit play in the video below and watch how Aiden wakes up Plum.
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Source: My Positive Outlooks, YouTube