Blind And Deaf Dog Meets A Friend Who’s Just Like Her

"He'll help guide her around the house by walking next to her and she always sleeps in his legs as if he's keeping her safe."

For a couple of dogs who can neither see nor hear, Maise and Keller have an uncanny knack for sticking close to each other.

Kathyrn Woodward

"Honestly, they just seem to know they have something in common," Kathryn Woodward, the woman who cares for them both at her South Carolina home, tells The Dodo.

"I know that sounds crazy but they've been best friends since day one."

Kathyrn Woodward

Maybe that's because although they come from different walks of life, they share the same tragedy - both were considered worthless for being born a certain way.

Kathyrn Woodward

The dogs - Maise is an Australian shepherd and Keller is a Great Dane - have a condition called double merle. A genetic abnormality, double merle dogs have two copies of the same gene. It's often the result of being overbred.

It's no surprise then that both of these dogs came from breeders - an industry focused on producing as many puppies as possible for sale.

Maise was just 4 weeks old when the North Carolina family who bought her realized she was deaf and blind - a fact the breeder failed to mention.

"The family quickly realized something was wrong so they put her on a Facebook yard sale site as free to a good home," Woodward explains.

The thing is, when Woodward saw the ad she wasn't so sure Maise would find that "good home."

Besides, unlike Maise's first family, Woodward knew all about deaf and blind dogs. After all, she had one of her own in Keller.

Kathyrn Woodward

A local breeder had deemed Keller "unsellable" - and given him to Woodward.

When Woodward took Maise home in August, Keller stepped up right away as a foster brother.

"He'll help guide her around the house by walking next to her and she always sleeps in his legs as if he's keeping her safe," Woodward says.

The kind of support Maise is getting from her foster brother couldn't have come at a time when she needed it more.

One day, Maise will have to find her own home. But the lessons learned from another blind and deaf dog will last a lifetime.

Kathyrn Woodward

Think you might be the one to give her that home?

Get in touch with Boxer Butts & Other Mutts at boxerbuttsandothermutts@yahoo.com.