BATMAN
10-12-2005, 10:00 AM
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/assetpool/images/0591320751_squirrel.jpg
Birds of a feather may flock together, but what about two different animals all together? One First Coast Family is finding out first hand. Their dog is nursing a baby squirrel back to health.
Roxanne Tripp's stepson found the abandoned infant squirrel in late August. He brought it home, where the family cared for it and named it Chipper. One day, the family's eight-year-old Terrier-Schnauzer mix, Pepper, started sniffing around.
"She kept putting her nose in the bin and she kept wanting to mess with it. I just decided i would hold it with my hand, let her sniff it," Tripp says.
The pair bonded almost instantly. Pepper, who hasn't had puppies in four years, started producing milk again.
"To be an eight-year-old dog, and hadn't had puppies in four years, the motherly instinct was still so strong," Tripp says. "It's crazy cause she's been a mother too long. She probably thinks it's a puppy."
Now Pepper is nursing Chipper back to health. She even grooms her newest friend.
"She's got a lot of love that she just keeps on giving it. Her babies are grown, she's got grandbabies and she still nurtures them. I wonder what she's gonna do next," Tripp says.
The Tripps hope to train Chipper to use a litter box and keep it as a new addition to their family.
Birds of a feather may flock together, but what about two different animals all together? One First Coast Family is finding out first hand. Their dog is nursing a baby squirrel back to health.
Roxanne Tripp's stepson found the abandoned infant squirrel in late August. He brought it home, where the family cared for it and named it Chipper. One day, the family's eight-year-old Terrier-Schnauzer mix, Pepper, started sniffing around.
"She kept putting her nose in the bin and she kept wanting to mess with it. I just decided i would hold it with my hand, let her sniff it," Tripp says.
The pair bonded almost instantly. Pepper, who hasn't had puppies in four years, started producing milk again.
"To be an eight-year-old dog, and hadn't had puppies in four years, the motherly instinct was still so strong," Tripp says. "It's crazy cause she's been a mother too long. She probably thinks it's a puppy."
Now Pepper is nursing Chipper back to health. She even grooms her newest friend.
"She's got a lot of love that she just keeps on giving it. Her babies are grown, she's got grandbabies and she still nurtures them. I wonder what she's gonna do next," Tripp says.
The Tripps hope to train Chipper to use a litter box and keep it as a new addition to their family.