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By Alyce Collins
Senior Reporter
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The incredible moment a deaf dog responded to her owner’s sign language has gone viral, leaving internet users stunned with her intelligence.
Myla the blue heeler (also referred to as Australian cattle dogs) mix may be deaf, but she is undoubtedly still on top of her game. A video was shared on her dedicated TikTok account (@mylathefrisbeedog) showing how the dog’s owner used sign language to tell Myla that her dad was about to walk through the door. As soon as the dog saw the hand signals and gestures toward the front door, she leapt up instantly and waited until her human arrived moments later.
Internet users were blown away by Myla’s understanding, and the video has gone viral with over 1.4 million views and more than 84,300 likes on TikTok at the time of writing.
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Newsweek has contacted @mylathefrisbeedog via TikTok for comment. We could not verify the details of the video.
The footage shows just how excited Myla got when she realized her dad was home, and she didn’t waste any time before jumping up and demanding pets as soon as he walked in.
Myla’s hearing loss wasn’t evident when she was initially rescued, but her owners noticed that something didn’t seem right very early on. Myla wouldn’t react when they called her name, or to loud noises, audio cues or any other stimulus. She would simply continue snoozing or playing with her toys, without a care in the world that her owners were trying to get her attention.
Of course, it could have just been selective hearing at first (as any other pet owner will be aware of). But, over time, Myla’s adopters conducted their own tests to see if she would respond, and they gradually deduced that she is in fact deaf. Now at the age of 3 years old, Myla has learned some American Sign Language and even some signals that her owners have created themselves to communicate with her.
Writing on TikTok, Myla’s owner highlighted the importance of repetition and consistency when teaching a dog sign language. "You can teach any dog sign if you’re patient enough," they added.
Myla’s genius may come as no surprise as blue heelers are known for their supreme intelligence. Indeed, the American Kennel Club notes that the breed is even intelligent enough to outsmart their owners at times. They were bred as resilient headers and are related to dingoes, Australia’s wild dogs.
Social media users have been mightily impressed by Myla’s cleverness since the video was posted on January 7. Many people took to the comments to praise the dog and indeed the bond she clearly shares with her owners, leading to more than 550 comments on TikTok already.
One comment on the post reads: "This is the most beautiful thing I've seen."
Another TikTok user wrote: "That’s awesome! You guys are such good people for learning and teaching her."
A third person replied: "Heelers are the best!"
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