In a Northamptonshire breeding centre, a young reindeer named Lars has spent his first two years navigating the oldest of philosophical puzzles: who am I, and where do I belong? Hand-reared in a family home after his mother could not nurse him, Lars bonded so deeply with three pet spaniels that he absorbed their mannerisms entirely, becoming something the natural world rarely produces — a creature caught between species. His story is a quiet reminder that identity is shaped not by biology alone, but by the warmth of those who surround us in our most formative moments.
UK's first hand-reared reindeer thinks he's a dog after growing up with spaniels
He still thinks he's a dog. That's why we had to move him back outside.
Mark
So this reindeer genuinely thinks he's a dog because he was raised with spaniels?
Mimi
That's what the owner is saying. He spent his early weeks in the family home being bottle-fed every two hours, living in the front room, surrounded by three pet spaniels. He bonded with them completely.
Luke
But how do we know what he actually thinks? We're taking the owner's word that he "thinks he's a dog." He might just be comfortable around humans and dogs. That's not the same as identity confusion.
Mimi
Fair point. What we know for certain is that he behaved like a dog—playing, snuggling with the spaniels, preferring to be around them. Whether that's identity or just learned behavior is harder to pin down.
Mark
And they moved him back outside because of this?
Mimi
Yes. Angie said he needed to be with the herd and learn reindeer behavior. Keeping him in the house would have prevented that.
Luke
So the experiment worked, in a way. They successfully hand-reared him, but then had to undo it to make him functional as a reindeer.
Mimi
Exactly. It was necessary but also bittersweet. She described the hand-rearing as intense—the constant feeding, the family integration. It created something unique, but it also created a problem they had to solve.
Mark
And now she thinks he'll pull a Christmas sleigh?
Mimi
She's joking about it, but there's something to it. A reindeer that's been socialized to humans from infancy, that's bonded to people—that might actually be easier to work with.
Luke
That's speculation though. We don't know if he'll be suitable for sleigh work. We just know he's the first hand-reared reindeer in the UK and he's being reintegrated with his herd.
Il Polso
- Lars arrived in the world in May with an immediate crisis — his mother couldn't nurse him, and without intervention, his survival was uncertain.
- The solution was radical: bring a reindeer into the family front room, bottle-feed him every two hours through the night, and let him grow up alongside three spaniels.
- The bonding worked almost too well — Lars adopted canine behaviour so thoroughly that he could no longer function as a reindeer within a herd.
- Owner Angie made the hard call to move him back outside, recognising that love had given him life but also accidentally given him the wrong identity.
- Lars is now reintegrating with his biological siblings, slowly learning to be a reindeer again — though Angie suspects his deep comfort around humans makes him a natural candidate for Christmas sleigh duties.
In a Northamptonshire breeding centre, a young reindeer named Lars has spent his first two years navigating the oldest of philosophical puzzles: who am I, and where do I belong? Hand-reared in a family home after his mother could not nurse him, Lars bonded so deeply with three pet spaniels that he absorbed their mannerisms entirely, becoming something the natural world rarely produces — a creature caught between species. His story is a quiet reminder that identity is shaped not by biology alone, but by the warmth of those who surround us in our most formative moments.
At Real Reindeer UK in Northamptonshire, a two-year-old reindeer named Lars is quietly rewriting what it means to grow up wild. Born in May, Lars faced an early crisis when his mother proved unable to nurse him. His owners, rather than leave him to struggle, brought him into their home — bottle-feeding him every two hours, day and night, in the family front room.
What followed was unplanned but transformative. Sharing his days with three pet spaniels, Lars absorbed their world entirely. He played like them, snuggled like them, and somewhere along the way developed an unlikely fondness for Shreddies cereal. He had become, in every behavioural sense, a dog.
Owner Angie eventually recognised the problem. A reindeer that identifies as a spaniel cannot integrate with a herd. She made the difficult decision to move Lars back outside, reuniting him with his siblings so he could relearn reindeer behaviour from the inside. "He still thinks he's a dog," she told ITV. "He needed to be with the herd."
The hand-rearing had been exhausting and unprecedented — no reindeer in the UK had ever been successfully raised this way before. Angie credits the outcome not to technique but to something simpler: "The key was the love. He needed to be part of a family."
Now reintegrating with his kind, Lars carries an unusual distinction and an uncertain future. Angie, for her part, is already imagining him at the front of a Christmas sleigh — reasoning that a reindeer so thoroughly at ease with human life might be perfectly built for it. "How can he not?" she said. Whether Lars leads a sleigh or simply learns to be a reindeer again, his story has already made him the most singular deer in Britain.
At a reindeer breeding centre in Northamptonshire, a two-year-old named Lars has developed a peculiar identity crisis. He was born in May at Real Reindeer UK, but his early weeks took an unexpected turn when his mother struggled to nurse him. The owners faced a difficult choice: leave him to suffer or bring him inside. They chose the latter, moving the young deer into their front room so they could bottle-feed him every two hours around the clock.
What began as medical necessity became something stranger. Living in the family home meant Lars spent his formative weeks surrounded not just by humans, but by three pet spaniels. The reindeer and dogs bonded closely, and somewhere in those early months, Lars appears to have absorbed canine behavior entirely. He began acting like a dog—playing, snuggling, and adopting the mannerisms of his spaniel housemates. His owners even discovered he had developed a taste for Shreddies cereal, a preference that emerged during his time as a house pet.
Owner Angie recognized the problem before it became permanent. A reindeer that thinks it's a dog cannot function within a herd. She made the difficult decision to move Lars back outside, reuniting him with his biological siblings so he could learn to behave like an actual reindeer. "He still thinks he's a dog," Angie told ITV. "That's why we had to take the decision to move him back outside. He needed to be with the herd and learn reindeer behaviour."
The hand-rearing itself had been grueling. Angie acknowledged they had never successfully raised a reindeer this way before. "The key was the love," she explained. "There was no point having him out in the stable going out every two hours to see him. He needed to be part of a family." The intensity of that commitment—the round-the-clock feeding, the constant presence, the household integration—created something unprecedented: the first and only hand-reared reindeer in the UK.
Now that Lars is reintegrating with his kind, Angie has begun thinking about his future. She has plans for him come Christmas, joking that a reindeer with such an unusual upbringing and such a strong bond to humans might be perfectly suited for sleigh work. "I have a feeling he is going to be one of those reindeer that's going to be leading a sleigh," she said. "How can he not?" Whether Lars will actually pull a Christmas sleigh remains to be seen, but his journey from bottle-fed house pet to herd member has already made him one of the most unusual reindeer in Britain.
Citazioni salienti
He needed to be part of a family. There was no point having him out in the stable going out every two hours to see him.— Angie, owner at Real Reindeer UK
I have a feeling he is going to be one of those reindeer that's going to be leading a sleigh. How can he not?— Angie, on Lars's potential future
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Health & Medicine