Piglet is the deaf-blind pink puppy named for his pink hue
Piglet (@pinkpigletpuppy) is a deaf and blind dachshund who was named for his pink tint. But Piglet is more than just cute—the inspirational pup has learned new ways to face the challenges in his life, all while teaching humans a thing or two about positivity and kindness.
When Piglet’s parents, Melissa and Warren Shapiro, first met the little dog, he wasn’t the happy-go-lucky pooch he is today. “The mom had rejected him and he was screaming all the time,” Melissa tells In The Know. “He was very upset.”
Melissa and Warren took him in and started to find ways to communicate with the deaf and blind dog. “Over time, we connected with him by teaching him tap signals, which is the way to communicate with a deaf and blind dog,” explains Melissa.
But Piglet’s disabilities don’t hold him back. According to Melissa, Piglet takes all his experiences in, and stores them so he can build on them in the future. For instance, Warren says that he can put Piglet anywhere in the yard, and Piglet can easily find his way to the back door after only a few spins to orient himself.
While Piglet certainly has star quality, his animal influencer fame happened by accident. Before adopting Piglet, the Shapiros were trying to find a forever home for the pink pooch, so Melissa made a Facebook page for Piglet so she could network with rescue groups. As those rescue groups started to share pictures of Piglet, the page started to grow and the special dog built a huge following of people invested in his growth.
“They wanted to see Piglet for the first time climbing up onto Warren’s lap without a whole lot of help,” shares Melissa. “They see his personality, they see his disabilities shining, and the way that he copes with his disabilities.”
Piglet’s message of positivity has taken on new life through Piglet Mindset, an educational outreach program founded by a third-grade teacher who uses Piglet’s story to teach growth mindset to her students. The teacher shows Piglet videos to her class to highlight “resilience, perseverance, flexibility, optimism and empathy,” explains Melissa. “And Piglet is a great model for that because he is all of those things, and they learn from it and they then change their behavior towards their peers.”
Piglet even has books (Piglet Comes Home and Piglet) that spread his message of facing challenges with kindness and positivity. “And we also have Piglet’s Book Donation Fund through our non-profit, [where] we are raising money to donate Piglet Comes Home books to children in schools in underserved communities.”
The pink dachshund may be small, but Piglet has a big effect on everyone he meets, not least of all his mom, Melissa! “I get to be the one to inspire people with Piglet to do things in their lives that are positive, and that is inspiring to me,” she says. “It is completely inspiring to be around this dog. I get to be his mom!”
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