Two-year-old convinces mom to adopt deaf stray after falling in love through bedroom window

Editor's note: This article was originally published on July 18, 2022. It has since been updated. 

There's nothing 2-year-old Lillian loves more than watching her neighbor, Thom McCallum, walk his dogs. Every day she waits eagerly by her window to see McCallum walk by with his dogs so she can go and say hello to them. But the day she first saw, Moz, a scrawny little pup, she immediately fell in love. Everyone in the street knows McCallum is a "foster papa" who loves to foster dogs. He has helped find forever homes in his neighborhood for many foster animals. When he found Moz, he says the pup was "a mess" and "in shock." Moz is a deaf pup who McCallum described as "this scrawny, hairless, weird-looking stray,” reported The Dodo.

McCallum recalls Moz slept for the first two days straight when he first got him home. McCallum then gave the puppy a warm bath before comforting him and introducing him to his other foster dogs who helped Moz "come out of his shell" and guided him during walks outside. “The way that my other fosters fostered him was a beautiful thing,” said Thom, who slowly nurtured the dog back to help.

During his walks with the other foster dogs, McCallum often carries Moz in his backpack. Lillian, who often waved at them from her front window, would come rushing outside to greet Moz. She immediately took to him and McCallum realized that Lillian was developing a close bond with Moz. “She was really excited to get to walk Moz. They’re small and kind of similar size, similar pace of life,” said Lillian's Mom, Lauren.

When McCallum had to travel for a business trip, Lillain's family agreed to dog-sit for him. It was pretty evident that Moz and Lillian were made for each other. McCallum describes their relationship aptly. “The girl who can’t stop talking and the guy who can’t hear anything,” said McCallum. Lillian took care of Moz and was by his side all the time during those two weeks his foster dad was away. She taught basic commands to Moz like "stay" by using positive affirmations, often by telling him, “You can do this.”

She sent videos of the pup to his foster papa. "It was a really sweet two weeks because I would get these videos from Lauren and I just knew they were falling in love. She was always by her side. He was a Velcro dog," he said. By the time McCallum returned, the little puppy had found a new home, and a loving and kind one at that.

Lillian is too young to understand that the puppy can't hear her but there's no question that Moz was completely responding to Lillian's energy and excited movements. As for Lillian, she herself couldn't have asked for a better companion. It certainly helped that McCallum lives just two blocks away from them, and they can always call him for any help or tips with regards to giving Moz the best life possible.