Abandoned piglet is lost and farm dog saves baby pig's bacon by adopting it as one of its own A giant farm dog and a tiny piglet cuddle up as if they were family after the baby runt was dismissed by its own mother. Surrogate mum Katjinga, an eight-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback, took on motherly duties for grunter Paulinchen - a tiny pot-bellied pig - and seems to be taking the adoption in her stride. Lonely Paulinchen was luckily discovered moments from death and placed in the care of the dog who gladly accepted it as one of her own. Thankfully for the two-week old mini porker, Katjinga fell in love with her at first site and saved her bacon. 
Motherly love: Baby piglet feeds on its new surrogate mum And the unlikely relationship has made the wrinkly piggy a genuine sausage dog. In these adorable images Paulinchen can even be seen trying to suckle from her gigantic new mum. The two animals live together on a huge 20-acre farm in Hoerstel, Germany, where Katjinga's owners Roland Adam, 54, and his wife Edit, 44, a bank worker, keep a pair of breeding Vietnamese pigs.
No place like home: The baby piglet nuzzles up to its new mum Property developer Roland found the weak and struggling piglet after she was abandoned by the rest of her family one evening after she was born. He said: "The pigs run wild on our land and the sow had given birth to a litter of five in our forest. I found Paulinchen all alone and when I lifted her up she was really cold."
Feeding time: Piglet's new canine mother has no problem providing milk for the youngster "I felt sure some local foxes would have taken the little pig that very night so I took it into my house and gave her to Katinga. "She had just finished with a litter of her own, who are now 10 months, so I thought there was a chance she might take on the duties of looking after her. "Katinga is the best mother you can imagine. She immediately fell in love with the piggy. Straight away she started to clean it like it was one of her own puppies. Doting:
Caring pooch checks up on her new addition. Mum of the year? Quite possibly. - This lovely story was received via e-mail -
It was a special time doing that ad. I got a call from the breeder and we met the animal trainer, Julia, with my Induna and Ikana who is Induna's sister - they were just 4 months old. Ikana would have nothing to do with yellow tents and little boys but Induna , being a boy, was seriously impressed with pretty Julia, the trainer, who gave him lots of treats. She clicker trains and within a few hours he was performing for the camera like an old hand. The night of the ad was hectic as they worked from 4 in the afternoon to midnight. In the shot where the dog and the boy are silhouetted against the tent, Induna is being held up as he was too sleepy to sit up by then. We did another photo shoot in the studio and then that was it. The most positive spin off was meeting Julia and being introduced to clicker training. Induna still runs twice a week with Julia and her dogs and has learnt impeccable doggie manners as well as the usual obedience training. I would really recommend this style of training as the results I've had with Induna are terrific. It's so positive and so happy. The dog not only learns in an atmosphere of fun but as his own "personality" emerges the human/animal bond strengthens - there is no negative pressure at all. by Carolyn Logan
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