A golden retriever is very protective of her younger brother, a miniature Australian shepherd. And their bond is just the most adorable thing. It may be the cutest thing you see today.
Meet Maisy the golden retriever and Levi the Australian shepherd. Levi is deaf so has its own separate challenges. But Maisy is always looking out for her older brother.
"We used to joke that even though she was younger, Levi was her baby. She was a mama bear to Levi, and that's when she was a puppy," Sierra Justus tells PEOPLE. "And she's still like that."
One way the golden retriever does this is by alerting Levi when their owners arrive home. She jumps up where Levi is and manages to get his attention through visual cues.
"I hope she never stops doing this for him," they captioned the clip on TikTok.
@leviandmaisy I hope she never stops doing this for him ???? #deafdogsoftiktok #deafdogsrock #dogsoftiktok #dogsbeingdogs #cutedogs #aussie #goldenretriever #australianshepherd #goldenretrieverlife #fypage #dogsvideo #dogstory #dogsbestfriend #homevideos
Golden Retriever Looks Out For Brother
It's something that the golden retriever has done since 2022.
"My heart just melted," Josh Justus says. "It was so cute."
"We're always paying attention now because that day just opened up our eyes like we could learn a lot from dogs," Sierra adds, saying that Maisy is nurturing.
"She does this thing where she'll put her head over his neck if he's anxious," Sierra says. "She'll comfort him."
Both owners say that the dogs are inseparable from one another. "They're inseparable," she says. "They have to have each other. Even when we let them out in the morning, if Maisy goes first, she'll look behind and make sure that Levi's coming."
According to the owners, Maisy watches out for Levi when the two are out and about such as when they go to the beach.
"Whenever she comes out of the water, he'll go up to her and wiggle his little nub, and I feel like they're communicating like, 'You good?' 'You having fun? Are you okay?'" she continues.
Both dogs have gone viral on social media bringing attention to their loving relationship
"It makes me so emotional thinking about it because everybody just loved them," Sierra says. "We've gotten so many cool opportunities and talked to so many people who also have dogs that are blind or deaf or have other disabilities, and even their cats, too."
"They're just saying how good of a job that we've done and how much he trusts us," Sierra adds. "And how much Maisy trusts us and him."