Toddler Has Adorable Friendship With Deaf Great Dane Who Escaped From Heartless Family

Sep 18, 2020 by apost team

Children and animals form some of the closest bonds ever known to mankind. We often see families introduce newborns into a household with a beloved family pet in hopes that the two of them will grow close. This story from 2017 of a little girl from Niagara Falls, New York and her deaf Great Dane is a prime example of one of these bonds.

Echo the Great Dane would have not survived past her youth if she had not been rescued. Echo was born deaf, most likely a result of poor breeding. If her situation was not bad enough, her former owner was neglectful and even threatened to put Echo down because she thought that the poor pup was useless

Her previous owner could not deal with the added level of responsibility that an owner needed to properly care for Echo, according to Caters News Agency.

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When the Louisiana Great Dane Rescue heard about Echo's situation, Marion Dwyer led the team to rescue her. It was evident that Echo had been mistreated. She was spayed at too young of an age and her stomach was full of rocks, meaning that she was starved. Marion speaks further about Echo, as reported by Animal Channel:

"She was 12 weeks old and was 15 pounds underweight and had a belly full of rocks. We took her to the vet and he said this is very common in dogs that don't get fed, that are neglected and they develop pica and she was literally trying to eat everything."

In the care of Marion Dwyer, the poor pup became healthy as can be and loved her new home. In the two years that Echo was living with her, Marion became pregnant and was expecting a baby girl. Echo grew very protective as if she knew that a new member would soon join the family. When the baby, Jennie, was born, Echo devoted her entire existence to caring for and loving her.

The two have formed a close bond over activities such as going for a walk. Neither of them can speak, but somehow, they both understand each other. Of course, Jennie always wants to be the one to hold Echo's leash, however, it is actually Echo who looks out for her. "I can't separate the two when she's eating, Echo is always peeking around the corner waiting for her to come back into the living room," Marion told WAFF 48.

Recently, a picture of Echo and Jennie went viral on the internet. In the same interview with WAFF 48, Marion elaborated on what made her post it:

"Well, it was funny because the first picture I posted on Facebook and with our family, we had a shared album—they said you have to—we should like send it to the news and I thought, no it's just the two of them being cute together."

The picture was noticed by a prominent publication who swooped in and published it. With a whopping two million views, the story gained mass publicity and soon other news outlets were trying to pick up the story as well.

Have you ever seen such a close friendship between a toddler and a dog? Let us know in the comments and be sure to pass this article along to other dog-lovers in your life!