Long story (for the short version, scroll down): One day, a beautiful white pit bull with black spots came into the shelter as a stray. I fell in love with her and after visiting with her, went about my business. Oddly I heard a lot of loud clapping while she was being processed, but she ended up on our stray row and sat for 7 days.
It turns out the clapping was to test if she could hear- turns out she couldn't! I gave my little deaf girl toys and visited her while she was on stray hold. She was so playful and wiggly! When an animal's 7 stray hold days are up without being claimed, they are evaluated and put up for adoption, marked for euthanasia, or considered for a specific rescue group if they aren't too bad but still not adoptable.
A few days later I happened to be walking down the hallway at the same time my coworker was walking deaf girl, who I named Hellen, into our euthanasia room. I followed her in, shocked, and immediately said, "No! No! Not today!" Coworker agreed with me and my manager considered it. Deaf dogs are apparently hard to adopt out, especially a deaf pit bull, but I knew she was sweet and eager to please, so she would be trainable.
My manager is kind enough to consider my concerns, so she gave me a few days to find a rescue for her (although all the rescues are full as well) and to work with her to see how trainable she was. Things were going well as she was listed "awaiting rescue," but she was marked for euthenize AGAIN !!!
On Thanksgiving, luckily another manager happened to pass the break room where coworker and I were socializing Hellen. She noticed the sweet, happy demeanor and did not second the euth mark. We won again! Hellen was awaiting rescue for weeks, but and then yesterday she went up as "available for adoption" with her special needs noted. :)