My wife and I had our Australian Shepherd Adrian for 12 years. She was born deaf and abandoned at a pound. We adopted her from an Australian Shepherd rescue when she was 4 months old. We were wary of adopting a deaf dog. We quickly found out her lack of hearing was no handicap for her. An extremely smart dog, we talked to her just as if she could hear and she needed very few signs to know what we wanted. It got to a point where we would forget she was deaf. We had to put her down at 12 years due to cancer. We were with her to her last breath of life. It was a difficult day. For those who adopt dogs don’t let a handicap such as lack of hearing scare you. Their other senses take up for it.

— Craig from Athens, GA