A heartwarming video showing a couple’s golden retriever caring for an abandoned baby deer has gone viral after it was revealed the dog ‘adopted’ the fawn as its own baby
Alice Sjöberg Social News Reporter
22:01, 18 Jan 2026
The dog and fawn quickly got inseparable after the dog ‘adopted’ the abandoned baby deer (stock image)(Image: Connect Images via Getty Images)
Animal rescue is a common occurrence, with veterinarians and other experts often stepping in to aid wild animals that are ill or in poor condition. These animals are then released back into their natural habitats once they’ve recovered. But what happens when one of your pets unexpectedly ‘adopts’ the animal you’ve rescued?
This might sound like something straight out of a storybook, but it’s precisely what happened to a couple in Missouri, US. They took in an injured and seemingly abandoned fawn after its mother left it due to signs of illness. The couple, who frequently share videos of their life on their Missouri farm under the username ‘@brownhikingtrails’, recounted the moment when one of their dogs became the fawn’s ‘surrogate mother’.
The couple regularly encounters wildlife on their farm and had developed a close bond with a doe they named Belle. In 2024, Belle gave birth to a fawn at the residents’ gate, much to the family’s delight. However, this joy was short-lived.
Immediately following the birth, the fawn was swarmed by flies. Initially, the couple chose not to intervene, hoping to avoid disrupting nature’s course and risking the mother rejecting her baby. However, upon discovering the fawn in a dire state three days later, they decided to step in.
“Baby was ridden with maggots in all its’ orifices and a wound in knee, we quickly intervened,” the couple revealed on TikTok. Yet following their personal care of the young deer, using a vinegar and water solution to treat the maggot-infested wounds, Belle refused to reclaim her baby.
This proved no worries for the pair, particularly given their Golden Retriever Junie’s maternal instincts, who promptly adopted Biscuit the fawn as her own. In a video shared on 3 January showed two golden retrievers circling the baby deer, who had settled onto one of the dog’s bed.
Content cannot be displayed without consent
Fast forward a few years, and the deer, now fully grown, remains contentedly integrated into the household alongside her two golden retriever companions. The footage captured both dogs resting in a shared bed, while Biscuit – sporting a coordinating collar identical to the pups – gently squeezed into the remaining space, despite an unoccupied bed positioned mere inches away.
“When they say ‘he needs his own bed’. Yeah he doesn’t want his own bed, he wants their bed,” the couple noted in the post’s caption.
Additional content shared across their social platforms allows their 440,700 followers to witness the deer participating in everyday family life, from accompanying the household on woodland rambles to snuggling up on the settee. Reassuringly for concerned viewers, he continues venturing out to socialise with the local deer population, invariably finding his way back home afterwards.
The video from 3 January quickly went viral, amassing over 72.3 million views at the time of writing. Thousands of people flocked to the comments section to express their astonishment.
“I love how dogs just adopt anything that breathes,” one viewer wrote, while another commented: “The collar on the deer has me cracking up.” “Omg domesticated deer,” someone else said.
Another person added: “So I CAN have a pet deer… I need to speak with my husband.”
