Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nikki Engleman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Nikki thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Deaf Dog of MN started when I posted a video of my then 14 year old dog, Zoe, woke up our deaf dog, PeeWee..

Nikki, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Our creative content focuses on our deaf dog, Peewee. Our family learned American Sign Language for him to better communicate with him. Our video content shows how we communicate with him and also how he communicates his needs with us! We lost our dog Zoe last year at the age of 15. Peewee and her grew up together and were only 4 years apart. During that time, I focused on PeeWee and also worked to help others struggling with pet loss and how to support their family pets that also suffered the loss. A few months after losing Zoe, we began fostering a deaf puppy named Faith. Peewee got his spark back with Faith joining our family! They are quite the duo and we love to spotlight dogs with special needs, as Faith is also deaf. We showcase how to train deaf dogs using ASL and how they aren’t different than any other dog, just a bit more special when it comes to communication. We hope to continue to shine light on special needs animals and help to support families who choose to adopt hearing impaired or special needs animals.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Showing others that owning special needs pets can be so rewarding. Learning sign language for PeeWee was super easy and we’ve even come up with some of our own special signs for him. Our goal is to continue to showcase positivity with owning special needs animals. Our focus recently has shifted, as PeeWee was diagnosed with cancer. We are also showcasing what it’s like to support an animal at the end of their life, on palliative care.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My best advice is to stay true to yourself. We post honest, raw, and heartfelt videos. If you’re just starting out, just have fun with it and be yourself. Most of your followers want to see normal day to day content, which is what we focus on at Deaf Dog of MN.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/deafdogofmn?igshid=MTBkYzJ5NnVxdGdjcA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Zoeandpeewee?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@deafdogofmn?si=zkySIzKkZT1EgQIt