Deaf shelter dog finds new home with deaf owner

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KGO) -- Staff at an animal shelter in Nebraska says it can be hard for older or disabled dogs to get adopted.

But they say a 3-year-old deaf pit bull named Rosie is headed to her forever home with a very special family who can relate.

Staff at the animal shelter taught Rosie basic commands in sign language.

It took a while to find an owner who could communicate with her. But that all changed on Saturday.

Rosie's new owner, Cindy Koch, is also deaf.

"Because I'm deaf and we want to relate to her, and understand how she feels," Koch said. "We want to communicate with her through signing, teach her signing."

The Koch family already knows sign language. So they say learning Rosie's signs is easy. And they plan to teach her more.