Many people are now acknowledging the significance of adopting dogs from shelters rather than buying them from stores and breeders. Many people are instinctively drawn to giving homeless or abandoned animals a new forever home where they’ll get the love and care that they deserve.

However, here, too are hang-ups. Older dogs and dogs that are sick or disabled are often left out as they do not seem ‘adoptable’ enough. Not many are willing to take up the responsibility of looking after them. This makes it all the more heartwarming when one of them gets a new home.

Nick Abbott is a 31-year-old from Maine that was born deaf. He recently brought home a new best friend in the form of Emerson, his dog that is also deaf. The good people at the NFR Maine that rescues and fosters animals freed Emerson from a Florida shelter when he was only a month and a half old. Then he was sent further north. A cute black Labrador mix, Emerson was suffering from canine parvovirus as well as seizures. However, he was a plucky little chap, and as soon as he fought off these issues, he was on the adoption list.


Speaking to ‘Good Morning America’, Lindsay Powers, that works at NFR Maine, said that they found that his hearing was impaired after he came back from the vet. They were not sure whether he had been born with a disability or something had happened to his hearing when he was younger. But Emerson does not let that get in his way at all and he loves living just like any other puppy out there. Fortunately for him, even though his life till recently had been quite challenging, he got the happily ever after he deserved.

Powers posted about Emerson on social media in March 2019 hoping he’d get a good family. Within some weeks, Abbott reached out to them asking about Emerson. He immediately told them he was also deaf, and he felt that he could bond with the puppy. Powers herself was pleased, and she finished all the adoption procedures in less than 24 hours.


When the human and the puppy finally met, their connection was instant. According to Richelle Abbott, Nick’s mom, the two were meant to be together. Watching the way Emerson trusts Nick and leans on him is fantastic. Nick also began teaching Emerson sign language starting with simple commands like sit, come here, and lie down. Richelle finds it adorable that Emerson barks every time Nick touches his ear lobe.

Dogs indeed are man’s best friend, and Nick is lucky to have found his. Even luckier is Emerson that has found a human who’ll love him and care for him, as he should’ve been from the very beginning.





Credit of images: Richelle and Nick Abbott