@aiden_m365 Yes I know I have a hole in my shirt lol #plum #deaf #blind #doublemerle #fyp #fypage #cute #dog
This blind and deaf dog is melting the internet with her human
Cute dude with a cute dog alert!
Aiden Mann, from Nashville, Tennessee, is showing the internet how to be the best dog dad.
In a TikTok post that’s going wildly viral, the 25-year-old veterinary assistant showed viewers how he wakes up his dog Plum, a mini Australian shepherd. The tricky bit is that Plum is deaf and blind, so it’s easy for her to become startled — and he doesn’t want to give his dog a fright every morning.
“People ask me how I wake up my deaf and blind pup without scaring her,” Mann captioned his TikTok video, which has already racked-up 52 million views and 12.6 million likes.
As he approaches Plum, who is sleeping soundly on the hardwood floor, he crouches down near her and purses his lips. Then a tuft of hair wisps off Plum’s back as she quickly rises — and rushes to nuzzle her human.
“I slightly blow on her,” he continued. “She still gets startled until she feels me. Then she wants all the love.”
And fans on TikTok are definitely feeling that love.
“Why am I crying?” wrote YouTube makeup tutorial pro Manuel “Manny MUA” Gutierrez. Electro pop duo The Chainsmokers said the video gave them “the feels.”
Added another fan, “Not being dramatic, but I would die for that dog.”
The now viral hit-maker told Insider that he knew “the second after meeting Plum” last summer that she would come home with him.
Despite the fact that Mann knew a lot about animal care — and had a Staffordshire bull terrier and Great Dane mix, named Lola, for five years already, he was nervous about taking care of a dog like Plum.
“But I did know that I loved her and wanted to give her a good life,” he said.
“I definitely didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” Mann added. It took a lot of “trial and error” to learn the best way to communicate with a dog without vocal commands, sounds or gestures. Eventually, they developed a method using touch signals.
“We have ‘sit’ somewhat down which is a touch under her chin,” he explained. “And when I want her to follow me or go in a certain direction, I will softly guide her nose in the direction we are going or run my hand along her body in the direction I want her to go.”
Inseparable now, they love long walks, swimming in a nearby creek and updating Lola and Plum’s Instagram account with adorable doggo content.
Mann said he hopes Plum and Lola’s internet fame might serve a greater good: namely, bringing awareness to the type of dog-breeding that may have led to Plum’s condition, called double merle breeding.
Merle refers to a genetic coloring that imbues dappled patches of colors in the coat, and blue-gray eyes. When two merle-colored dogs mate, each pup they produce has a 25% chance of being born “double merle” — resulting in an overall lack of pigment throughout the body, which can impair vision and hearing.
View this post on InstagramDad took us for a day outside 😊❤️🐶☀️
A post shared by Lola and Plum (@lola_plum365) on
According to Mann, double merle breeding is considered a “lethal genetic practice.”
Mann, who is transgender, also hopes to be a positive inspiration to others in his community.
“With myself being trans and Plum also being ‘different,’ I hope it shows that no matter how different beings are, everyone deserves love and a chance at a happy life,” he said.