Deaf dog left at shelter finds forever home with deaf man

• Champ is a deaf dog who was left by his family at a shelter.
• The family couldn’t take care of him.
• When a deaf man visited the shelter and learned that Champ is deaf, he knew right away that he was the perfect dog. 

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A deaf dog left by his family at a Tampa animal shelter has found a new home with a Tampa man who also has hearing loss.

Davelis “D.C.” Goutoufas recently went to the Humane Society of Tampa Bay and fell in love with Champ, a 14-month-old Labahoula.

“As I went into his cage, he was super friendly to me. I pet him and then as I was walking out, he was going forward to me and barked softly, like he was trying to communicate to me, ‘please pick me’, Goutoufas recounted. “I turned around then walked back to his cage and pet him again. He was excited. Then I was walking out again he went forward again and barked softly.”

Goutoufas added that he stopped at the shelter at random to see what canines were there and fell in love with Champ. He’d had Labradors since college, and when an employee informed him that Champ was deaf, he knew he’d found the perfect dog because he is also deaf.

Goutoufas formally adopted Champ after emailing his daughter and sending her videos of him.

Because Goutoufas is Greek, he named his dog Apollo.

Apollo, he claims, knows plenty of sign language orders. Before being adopted, the dog understood some sign language and learned a lot from Goutoufas, an American Sign Language adjunct professor, and his daughter, who attended ASL in college.

Apollo appears to be having the time of his life. Apollo has spent his post-adoption days swimming, hanging out with friends, riding in golf carts, and boating.

Goutoufas claims his family has embraced Apollo with open arms and adores him.

Source: Fox 13