Sweet Dog Adopts Orphaned Baby Raccoon

Teddy the dog is so gentle when he plays with Francis the baby raccoon. But how did this unusual friendship get started?

“Francis (the raccoon) was orphaned at a very young age,” explains the videographer on YouTube, who shot the video in Maryland at his uncle and aunt’s farm. “My cousins brought her back to their farm to take care of her, and she ended up thinking Teddy (the dog) was her actual mother. She followed Teddy around enough and eventually Teddy ‘adopted’ her. They’re not really fighting. This is more like a parent rough-housing with his child. Makes for a really cute video!”

Note, we are pretty sure these dog guardians know the health risk of wild raccoons pose, but obviously they did not want to leave the baby raccoon to die and it appears Francis was still very young when this video was filmed as she is being bottle fed milk. And it looks like Teddy gets some milk too!