Maternal instincts kick in whether you’ve had a child or not. Dr. Catherine Monk says, “the idea of maternal instinct implies that there is an innate knowledge and set of caregiving behaviors that are an automatic part of becoming and being a mother.”

This idea that your maternal instincts are innate and cannot be taught is what leads us to our German Shepherd of the day.

While this mama has never had puppies she still firmly believes she is a mama. To a bunny rabbit that is.

The owner cannot use the word “baby” around this pooch or she takes off toward one of the bedrooms in the home to find the rabbit.

The video starts with the Shepherd sitting in front of the camera but looking off in the distance.

She seems anxious to go wherever it is she is looking. Turns out she was looking for her b-a-b-y.

As soon as the owner asks the Shepherd if she has a baby she takes off down the hall. She knows exactly where her baby is.

The rabbit is in a cage on top of a tall chest of drawers.

When she is asked if she wants to say hi to her baby she puts her front paws on the dresser and gets up close and personal with the rabbit cage.

She’s clearly done this before.

The behavior from this pup isn’t all that uncommon either.

Dogs have been known to adopt other non-canine animals into their pack and raise them as their own.

“All mammals have certain pheromones—simply biological scents—they give off, and they have a certain communication value,” Dr. Stanley Coren explains to Rover. “Pheromones indicate if an animal is young and often we find female dogs respond to that and start to mother these animals very much as if they were their own pups.”

Once the two animals start a bond, a permanent bond can be formed and the female dog will often continue the mother/child relationship.

“Dogs feel very uncomfortable when they’re isolated, so they would much prefer to be with other dogs, but they’ll settle,” Dr. Coren explains. “It’s a companionship kind of a thing.”

Since dogs are social creatures, they behave similarly to small children. While children will carry around a stuffed animal for comfort, dogs will adopt other animals, children, and stuffed animals for their own comfort. This is why we’ll see dogs with a favorite stuffed animal.

Whats we view as sweet, the dogs actually view as necessary for their pack.

“Dogs have similar emotional capabilities to that of a two or three-year-old human—basic emotions, but nothing too complex,” according to Rover.

How does this work in the odd pairings we’ve seen? For instance, the Shepherd is very much capable of eating this rabbit and wouldn’t be out of the question but the intention for harm isn’t existent because the bonding process took place.

That’s the key with these odd pairings, the whole adopting process from the dog.

It seems this Shepherd and her bunny baby have figured it out and will live a happy mother/child bond forever.

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Source: Rumble Viral, Rover, Healthline