The immense love and unbreakable bond humans can form with their pets is absolutely beautiful, and dogs can truly make your whole life shine with an unlimited supply of joy, happiness, and affection. Aiden Mann is lucky to have such a best four-footer friend, although we’re pretty sure that his dog is one of the lucky ones too.

Aiden takes very good care of his pooch and with the utmost patience because she’s both deaf and blind.

It can be hard enough for canines to be either deaf or blind, but this poor canine is actually both. Aiden’s dog Plum can’t rely on her senses of hearing or sight, and can easily get scared. She rarely knows what’s going on around her, but her owner does everything he can to make Plum’s life as comfortable as possible.

Plum actually has a genetic deformity known as double Merle, which is the reason why she’s blind and deaf.

It’s actually basic genetics, and the disease is the result of breeding two dogs who carry the Merle coat gene. These dogs are known for their spotted and beautiful looking fur, but when two of these pooches breed, there’s a 25% chance of getting a double Merle gene, as illustrated in the image below.

Usually, the genetic condition causes issues with the eyes and the inner ears. If the dominant gene occurs twice (a double Merle), the fur actually turns white, which is why it’s often referred to as “lethal white”.

“These dogs are also sometimes (inaccurately) referred to as lethal whites (this is considered by many to be a derogatory term). Merle is a dominant G gene (technically, it’s “incompletely dominant G“). A dog with one copy of the gene will have partial lightening (a normal merled coat). With two copies, the effect is doubled, resulting in some to most of the coat turning white,” says specialist website Lethalwhites.com.

Because Aiden doesn’t want to scare his dog, he has a special routine to wake her up every day.

You simply have to take a number of precautions when you’re dealing with a special needs dog, and that’s exactly what this loving owner does.

“People ask me how I wake up my deaf and blind pup without scaring her,” he wrote on TikTok with an adorable picture of her pooch sleeping.

Luckily, Plum still has a strong sense that she mainly relies on, and Aiden knows how to use this to wake her up gently and without scaring her. It has actually become a fun and heartwarming morning ritual for both of them, and you can just see the incredibly deep bond these two have.

Putting his hand directly on her fur would scare and frighten her, so he gently blows on her nose fist, just to let her know that he’s there.

She’s still a bit visibly confused, but after a couple of moments, she seems to realize that her owner is right there beside her. Now that’s she’s awake and a bit startled, Aiden starts petting her and gives her a warm hug after.

You can just see the joy on this dog’s face as soon as she realizes her owner is taking care of her!

It’s an absolutely beautiful and gentle moment that can only be described as pure love. Aside from Aiden, there are actually a ton of other owners of double merle dogs who share their stories and videos on TikTok and Instagram using the #doublemerle hashtag.

How adorable!

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@aiden_m365Yes I know I have a hole in my shirt lol ##plum ##deaf ##blind ##doublemerle ##fyp ##fypage ##cute ##dog♬ Surrender – Natalie Taylor

Source: Aiden_m365 (TikTok)