It’s a relationship that could cause a few ruffled feathers in the animal kingdom, but Marmaduke, the 120 pound Great Dane, doesn't think anything about playing mother hen to a brood of chicks.
"We took some out of my sister’s coop and incubated them for the kids and it ended up being for the dog,” says owner Sue Paull.
The family dog went from being simply curious to passionately protective of the 30 fluffy chicks, even grooming his adopted family and sleeping near them this last week.
“He was always cleaning them and doting over them especially when the kids had them out on the couch,” she says. “He’ll make sure that no body's hurting them, or doing something they he didn't like.”
Marmaduke is just over a year old, but has shown an affinity for taking care of young animals of all kinds on the Paull's Kelowna farm.
“We had a baby goat here that we bottle fed and he was the same way with that too,” says Paull. “Great Danes are gentle dogs. They’re characteristics are gentle. But he’s just gone over the edge, I guess.”
“He obviously thinks he’s human. He has his own bed-couch and wanders the house like it’s his own.”
Rather than take chase, Marmaduke gave up charge of his adopted family today as they transitioned into their real home: the chicken coop.
His short lived job as doting dad is done, even if his celebrity status as an unlikely mother hen lives on.
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