Hearing-impaired man adopts deaf puppy and teaches him sign language

Truly man's best friend.

A man's adorable adoption story involving his hearing-impaired pet has gone viral and set us off into floods of tears. Emerson, a black Labrador mix, had trouble finding an owner when he was a pup. Rescued along with the rest of his litter by a shelter in Maine in the US, his brothers and sisters were all re-homed straight away. Because of health issues including seizures and a parvovirus infection, the shelter struggled to find someone to take him. Local man Nick Abbott saw a post about the dog on Facebook and decided he wanted to help. Nick had been born deaf and told the shelter he wanted to meet Emerson because they would understand each other. "When I saw [the] post online, my heart went out for him," he told Pretty52. "We connected instantly when we met and I took him home that night." Since then, the pair have been inseparable and the now four-month-old Emerson has beaten his health issues. He's also been learning commands in sign language from foster dad Nick. The pup already knows the commands for sit, lay down, stay, come "and we are currently working on shake." "He is super smart and fits right in with other dogs. He loves adventure and is well behaved during family outings. "Great with all kids and seems to be a very happy puppy!" The NFR Maine animal shelter where Emerson came from shared the pup's gorgeous story on Facebook, describing his re-homing as a "fairy tale". "This boy deserved nothing short of a fairy tale ending and that is EXACTLY what he got!!" Anyone else feel like adopting a whole litter of puppies right now?