Before the arrival of Dave the dog in his life, Walker lived very badly his deafness and the fact of having to wear a hearing aid. The autism he suffers from worsened his isolation. The presence of the canine by his side changed everything for the young man.
Dave is a deaf dog who had been abandoned by his first family and had stayed at the Humane Society of Midland County shelter in Michigan. He had run away several times in the past, some of which had gone horribly wrong; he had notably been injured by porcupines, reported Newsweek.
At the shelter, this American Bully mix was the darling of the volunteers, who hoped to see him find a loving family. The wish was granted during an open house. That day, the parents of Walker, a young autistic boy with deafness, had specially come to see Dave, whose story shared on Facebook had touched them.
“The connection was instant” with Walker, says Brittany Schlacter of the BISSELL Pet Foundation, which organized the event. “They became inseparable and clearly saved each other,” she adds. For Mindy Cousineau, the young man’s mother, “it was as if they had been together forever.”
Dave had already learned to obey gesture commands. Communication with Walker was quickly established. The latter, who had a hard time with his hearing loss and the fact of having to wear a hearing aid, began to better manage these difficulties. He no longer has any problems with his device and is gradually coming out of his isolation thanks to the quadruped.
“Dave knows when Walker gets angry and calms him down. Walker is learning more signs for himself and also to be able to ‘talk’ to Dave,” his mother says. The dog is truly a lifeline for his young human friend. He himself has never been happier than since joining this close-knit and caring family.