Golden Retriever Waking Up Deaf Aussie Brother To Play Will Melt Anyone's Heart

One of the benefits of having more than one dog in the house is they get a chance to play together. Dogs are extremely social animals, and can form intense bonds with each other, whether that’s in their home or on daily walks or excursions to the local dog park.

But when one of the dogs in your household pack has a disability, it requires not only the humans around them to make concessions, but the other animals too. Fortunately, dogs are quick learners, and—as this Golden Retriever shows—more than willing to adjust to disabilities if it means there’s playtime in the future.

In this sweet clip, a young Golden Retriever named Maisy rushes to wake up her brother Levi, a deaf Australia Shepherd by the name of Levi. Levi has been deaf all his life, and Maisy seems to know exactly what will get him up, she taps him with her paw and snout and when he starts to rise, she’s ready to tackle him, as if playtime has already begun.

Related: Deaf and Blind Dog's Sweet Way of Asking Dad for Help Is Melting Hearts

“The gentle nose boop but then the bite and slap!” exclaims one person in comments.

“She said hurry up and get excited,” her mom replies, amused.

Deafness and Blindness in “Double Merle” Dogs

In some breeds of dogs, such as Australian Shepherds, there is a coloration pattern called “merle” which gives a dog large white patches. Problems, however, arise when the dog inherits the merle gene from both parents, a condition known as “double merle,” which often comes along with congenital malformation in both the ears and eyes of the animal. In the case of Levi, it’s possible that his white patches coloration led to being born deaf.

Many dogs with white areas around their ears are deaf. This is because the same cells that cause pigment in the skin also help translate sounds in the inner ear. If they do not exist, the dog can’t hear.

For Levi, discovery that he was deaf happened only a few short weeks after he was brought home as a puppy. At first, they thought he was just “extra calm” and sleepy, and weirdly uninterested in squeaky toys. They were also surprised when he didn’t seem to be afraid of things that scared his puppy siblings. Soon, they realized that he was not getting the same level of stimulation as his littermates, and he was calm because he lived in a silent world of his own.

Still, Levi had a great personality, and they soon learned to love their differently-abled pup. Maisy, the Golden Retriever, knows that it takes a different kind of signal to get her brothers attention, which is why she taps him and even jumps on him whenever she wants to play.

Training a Deaf Dog

Luckily, deaf dogs are not necessarily harder to train than their hearing counterparts. Many trainers, in fact, advise people to train their dogs using hand motions anyway, so that the dog will be able to obey over far distances, if there are distracting sounds around, or if silence is important (as in hunting or security situations). Using these hand signals are long-established method that makes it far easier to work with a dog who cannot hear.

Looking for more PetHelpful updates? Follow us on YouTube for more entertaining videos.

Or, share your own adorable pet by submitting a video, and sign up for our newsletter for the latest pet updates and tips.