Anxious dog who’s deaf finds comfort with new family

Learning to navigate the world as a young pup can be challenging enough. And the Best Friends team knew Taz, an adorable black-and-white dog who is deaf, would require special support to help him navigate his silent world. Lucky for Taz, Andrew Lanfear and his wife, Jean, came along — but more on that shortly.

An overwhelming start

Best Friends Animal Society’s goal is for every shelter and every community to reach no-kill by 2025, and one of the many ways shelters get to no-kill is by working together to place their pets in homes. Taz came to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary from a city animal shelter in Utah. Life was off to an overwhelming start for the young pup. Constantly barking, panting, or drooling unless accompanied by someone, Taz was nearly inconsolable. He even had an anxiety-induced seizure, though thankfully it ended up being an isolated incident.

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Around the same time, Andrew and Jean, who reside in Las Vegas, were hosting a family friend who was interested in adopting a dog. After searching the local shelters but failing to find that special connection, they decided to make the three-hour drive to the Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, where Andrew and Jean had previously adopted their 4-year-old dog Gresham.

An immediate connection

Andrew and Jean already had two dogs and weren’t looking to adopt. But all of that changed instantly when they saw Taz. “We just saw this gorgeous, frosted dog sitting in the back, looking at us like, ‘You want me. In fact, I'm already yours,’” recalls Andrew. “... And my wife looked at me, and she said, ‘Oh, I love (him); I want him.’ I'm like, ‘I want him, too.’”

The fact that Taz is deaf didn’t deter Andrew or Jean in the slightest. “It was kind of a collective shrug between us, and we're like, ‘Whatever, we'll deal with it,’” Andrew says.

Though their friend didn’t adopt that day, Andrew and Jean had an undeniable connection with this special boy. They headed back to Las Vegas with Taz in tow to begin settling into his new life and family.

Life with Taz

As Taz settled in at the Lanfear residence, the family worked with him to make him comfortable. “You could tell he had kind of a separation issue,” Andrew says.  “... [Taz] got really anxious, even when we were just upstairs.” But since Andrew and Jean have been working with him, Taz’s anxiety has diminished.

Taz picked up early on that he could look to Andrew and Jean’s older dog Gresham for cues on how to behave. Andrew and Jean also have a toddler, and Gresham has been great at helping Taz understand when to calm down. To stay on top of Taz’s energy requirements, Andrew has been taking the pups to a nearby park to let them race around off leash. He and Jean even have thought about exploring dog sports with Taz once he is a bit more mature.

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Andrew also says Taz’s deafness hasn’t been much of an issue when communicating cues to him — and it even has some advantages both for the young pup and his new family. While fireworks can cause anxiety in many dogs, the Fourth of July was a breeze for Taz, who slept through the fireworks completely unaware. Andrew and Jean are also able to eat without Taz’s big puppy-dog eyes begging for a tasty treat. “When we're snacking and opening packages of food and he's napping, he has no idea,” Andrew says.

Taz’s resilience has been admirable, and his story just goes to show that with some structure, support, and regular homemade meals by Jean (which Taz is sure never to sleep through), a rocky start didn’t stop one dog’s chance to thrive.

Andrew also says Taz’s deafness hasn’t been much of an issue when communicating cues to him — and it even has some advantages both for the young pup and his new family. While fireworks can cause anxiety in many dogs, the Fourth of July was a breeze for Taz, who slept through the fireworks completely unaware. Andrew and Jean are also able to eat without Taz’s big puppy-dog eyes begging for a tasty treat. “When we're snacking and opening packages of food and he's napping, he has no idea,” Andrew says.

Taz’s resilience has been admirable, and his story just goes to show that with some structure, support, and regular homemade meals by Jean (which Taz is sure never to sleep through), a rocky start didn’t stop one dog’s chance to thrive.