Silence shapes bond between 4-year-old and his dog
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Animal shelters are constantly looking to find homeless animals a family. Critters with imperfections are the hardest to adopt, and in some cases, they're even euthanized.
In December, four-year-old JJ and his family adopted a 9-month-old Catahoula mix from the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter.
The little boy had heart surgery at just five days old, and his condition has delayed his speech development.
Therapists suggested JJ and the family learn sign language. Now, the little tot has a best friend who can understand him better than anyone else because 'Blue' the hound happens to be deaf.
"Their interaction was incredible. They were all over each other there was no problem kid-wise,” JJ’s aunt Dena Lange said. “He was signing to her, and even though she didn't know what he was saying, the attention was there."
Experts say the training for a deaf dog is different than for a hearing dog, but not much more difficult. Either way, JJ has plenty to talk about with his pup, in a language no one else may ever really understand.
"I think that now that JJ has a dog that has another problem like he does that he could be friends with the dog and JJ calls Blue his best friend,” JJ's 10-year-old cousin Taylor Lange said. “They play together they jump on the trampoline, they have a lot of fun."
Blue was adopted from the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter. For more information on the center, visit Pets.Wilco.org.