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A deaf dog in Minnesota has stolen the Internet's heart after a video of him understanding commands in American Sign Language (ASL) went viral.
The 11-year-old mixed terrier bull named PeeWee was rescued by 35-year-old Nikki Engleman when he was seven months old. He was found wandering the streets with a number of health problems, including a large burn on his back and a skin infection that lead to rashes. However, Engleman assumes PeeWee was born deaf.
Engleman bought PeeWee a book on using sign language with babies. They started with the basics, like the signs for food, going to the bathroom, and getting picked up. Now, PeeWee knows 15 signs in total. "He learns super fast, I taught him roll over in a day and he knows other words such as baby... He's very smart, he's one of the smartest dogs I've ever had," Engleman said (via the Daily Mail).
She posted about PeeWee on her TikTok account to educate others about ASL for dogs, and now her pet has 172,400 followers on the social media platform.
"At first he struggled. It took a long time for him to be okay being left alone. Now, he's a part of our family and he's very good at communicating with us," she said (via the Daily Mail). Check PeeWee out below.