Adopting this special needs pup saved my life!

When Annah Hill and her family rescued Flynn, a deaf, hard-to-place dog from the animal shelter, she felt they were the perfect match because of Annah's own hearing impairment and the family's knowledge of sign language...but what she didn't know was that Flynn was going to unexpectedly rescue her right back!

- By Diane Nichols

Annah Hill and her husband, Greg, couldn't help but chuckle watching Flynn-the pup their three daughters had fallen in love with online-run excitedly around the Four Footed Friends animal shelter's play area. It was a few weeks before Thanksgiving of 2016, and after enduring the painful loss of their 102-year-old dog, Wyatt, to cancer two months prior, it was time to bring joy back into their Indiana, Pennsylvania, household. Judging by the wide smiles Annah's family was wearing, the 7-month-old beagle/rat terrier mix was just what they needed.

And Annah believed they were perfect for Flynn. Born deaf, Flynn had been returned by three other families. His deafness had made it difficult for them to communicate and train him, but Annah understood him all too well, as she had lost hearing in her right ear 11 years earlier. Her whole family had learned sign language. Not only that, Annah was also an Associate Professor in the Department of Communications Disorders at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and is Program Director for Disability Services, where she taught sign language.

God brought us together, her spirit whispered as they took Flynn home.

Four-legged guardian angel