Rescue dogs often come to shelters with little to no information about their past, and it’s up to shelter workers to try and fill in the gaps. Often, homeless dogs might be sick or injured, or have a more chronic condition like being deaf.
This was the case for Reggie the rescue dog. Her family believes that she was born deaf- but she’s determined to be like any other dog.
When a dog is born deaf, it’s often purely down to genetics, with certain breeds more at risk than others. The Kennel Club explain:
“Deafness at birth (known as congenital deafness) is often inherited in some breeds. How this condition is inherited is not fully understood, but is believed to be controlled by many different genes, possibly with additional breed-specific risk factors.”
In fact, if anything, it just makes her all the more loveable.
Because of Reggie’s hearing situation, she’s likely to have never heard a dog barking before. However, since she can see perfectly, she’s probably spotted other dogs barking while out on a walk.
As the sweet dog will have only seen the other dogs’ mouths moving with no sound coming out, it seems that she’s come to her own conclusions about what makes a good bark.
An adorable video posted on TikTok clearly shows what Reggie’s idea of barking is.
Shared by Reggie’s owner, the video shows the sweet dog going through the exact motions that any other dog would do to bark- but the difference is that no sound comes out.
The most adorable thing about the video is that she thinks she’s doing it perfectly!
Reggie clearly just wants to be like the other dogs, and since she’s seen them barking plenty of times, she thinks that it’s something that she should be doing as well. Every time she lets out a whisper woof, she grins proudly at her owner as if to say, “I did a good job, right mom?”
@lind_saymynameSound on or off. Doesn’t really matter. 🐶 🗣 ##dogsoftiktok ##doggo♬ original sound – Lindsay Kelly
Naturally, people fell in love with Reggie’s ‘bark’, and Lindsey’s video has now received over 600k likes from people all over the world. Apparently, Reggie has only recently started barking like this, and it was a surprise for her whole family!
“It definitely took me a moment to realize what she was doing,” Lindsay Kelly, Reggie’s owner, told The Dodo. “I thought it was a sneeze or cough at first. But when she continued doing it and looking at me as she did, I realized she was trying to communicate.”
Since Reggie’s attempts at barking were so adorable, she soon noticed that her family would give her more love and attention each time she barked.
This led to her doing it a whole lot more.
“She’s so proud of herself when she does it,” Kelly said. “Now, she usually does this bark when she’s trying to [get] our attention somehow. Sometimes, she’ll do it at the pantry door if she wants a treat.”
“She’s usually able to get whatever she wants even with her fake barks,” she added.
This video is bound to put a smile on your face today.
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