MOUNTAIN, Wis. — Be prepared to say “aww” as you read the story of Flame the dog and how she became mom to a bunch of chicks. The Alaskan husky lives with her human Blair Braverman, who is a writer and dogsled racer.
Braverman recently shared the whole story on Twitter.
“As you may remember, we’re chicken-training one of our sled dogs, Flame,” she explained. “In other words, we’re teaching her not to eat them. Which is hard for her.”
The family started with just two chicks. Braverman said they would bring them onto Flame’s bed and supervise her the whole time.
“She quivered and drooled,” Braverman wrote. “After a minute or two, we whisked the chicks away and rewarded her with a delicious ham sandwich.”
It sounded like a decent deal for the dog: hang out with the babies and don’t eat them for a treat. Since it was going well, the family continued the experiment.
“That was a few weeks ago. Since then, every other day, we’ve brought over more chicks for slightly longer periods of time,” Braverman shared. “Flame stopped shaking and drooling. Pretty soon she’d thump her tail when she heard those peep-peep-peeps coming closer.”
Awww.
As the chicks grew, their friendship with Flame also blossomed.
“The chicks loved her. They often jumped on her back and settled in to soak up her warmth, which concerned her, but she tolerated it,” Braverman tweeted.
Braverman said the sweet pup soon became comfortable enough to be friendly with the chickens.
“The first time Flame licked a chicken, I lunged down and whisked it away from her, growling. No taste tests allowed!” Braverman said. “But she kept doing it. A chick would hop up to her, she’d put her nose next to it, and super-quick she’d slip out her tongue for a lick.”
But Flame was just letting her maternal instincts kick in.
“Whereas before she was tense + still, now she’d butt the chicks with her snout and push them around. Gentle, we’d warn her. But she wasn’t listening. She was obsessed,” Braverman
explained
. “Flame is spayed. But her whole life, she’s been obsessed with puppies. All that licking the chicks, and snout-butting them? She was grooming and teaching them. Trying to teach them to be baby huskies.”
It turns out Flame is a very protective mama, too.
“We have 11 chicks, and she counts them constantly,” Braverman said. “If she can’t see one, she’ll go searching and only relax when she finds it.”
Our heart = melted.
