Bird Takes A Piggyback Ride on the Puppy Express [Video]

• Mourning dove becomes the sweetest friend to a tiny puppy that has a cleft palate, hydrocephalic, and has a heart condition.
• Dove and puppy are the same size, color, and stay away from the other dogs in the house.
• Dove rides on the puppy’s back while hooting softly and pecks at the puppy’s fur.

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Love blossomed between two smallest members of a household.

A mourning dove and a tiny puppy have developed a special bond for some reason.  When the bird was abandoned by its mom after a construction crew moved its nest on a parking ramp that they were working on, Sue Rogers took the bird in.

As the founder of The Mia Foundation Rogers, a nonprofit that takes in animals born with birth defects, it was an easy decision.  She named the bird Lovey and thought that after a few weeks when it learned how to eat and fly, it would fly away back into the wild.  But Lovey kept coming back to Rogers’ deck whenever she was released.

When fall came, she had to bring in Lovey inside and Lovey would just fly not minding the other animals in the house.  But a tiny puppy named Alfie changed all that.

Rogers said, “Alfie is 8 weeks old, but he’s the size of a newborn. He has a cleft palate, I’m 99 percent sure he has hydrocephalus (which is water on the brain), and possibly a heart condition as well.”

Alfie was only 15 ounces and she was pint sized compared to the other dogs. He was allowed to run around the house but he needed to be watched carefully. But to Lovey, Alfie was just the right size.

Rogers recalled, “Lovey is out flying around the house all day long, and I just noticed that every time I put the puppy down, she would immediately fly over to him.”  Rogers  thinks that maybe Alfie is just another bird like her as they have the same size, color, and do not play with the other dogs much.

As proof, Lovey piggybacks on Alfie while pecking at his fur and hooting softly.  They have their own special language, play style, and bond.

For now, they love the company that they keep and Rogers is grateful that the two are happy together.  But with warmer weather, she plans on releasing Lovey to find her own flock.  Until then, she’s letting the unlikely pair to be as they are.

Source: The Dodo