SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash — Opal, an Australian Shepherd that is blind and deaf due to a genetic disorder, continues to gain fame on various social media platform.
KREM first told Opal's story in October 2018 when a heartwarming video of her welcoming her dad, Forrest Hutchings Bray, home from work in Spokane Valley went viral on Instagram. The video of Opal at just seven months old also garnered millions of views on various sites.
"It's the same thing she does every day when I come home. She paces and waits for me, and then she catches the smell, I think, of probably my exhaust or car or something like that, and then just starts doing leaps and bounds throughout the yard," Hutchings Bray told KREM last year.
Hutchings Bray and his wife Christine adopted Opal from The Double J Dog Ranch in Hauser, Idaho, which takes in blind and deaf dogs.
It appears the interest in Opal, now almost two years old, and her unique story isn’t dying down any time soon. More videos of her have gone viral on Reddit in recent months and an Instagram account devoted to her story and that of her sister Pearl, a dog that is also deaf, has drawn more than 20,000 followers.
A video of Opal posted to a Reddit thread devoted to “things that make you go AWW!” has received nearly 75,000 upvotes and more than 1,000 comments in less than a month. It shows her enjoying a game of fetch like any normal pup her age.
Another video of Opal posted to the same thread about a month ago shows Opal snuggling on the couch before playing with her dad. It has more than 12,000 upvotes and hundreds of comments.
Opal even has her own picture book written by her mom, Christine Bray, and illustrated by Anna Shawver. A portion of all sales will be donated to Double J Dog Ranch.
