Meet the ultimate sheepdog! Springer Spaniel Jess rounds up orphaned lambs and feeds them from a bottle herself


Even to a hungry young lamb, this doesn’t look much like mum. But when teatime strikes and you’re gasping with thirst, who cares?

Three times a day, rain or shine, Jess the springer spaniel goes out on her milk round – to feed orphaned lambs from a bottle she carries in her mouth.

Louise Moorhouse, who has 270 sheep on her 180-acre farm, can’t imagine managing without Jess.



Baaaa, how sweet: Jess the sheepdog feeds an orphaned lamb milk from a bottle held in her mouth on a farm in Devon

Creature comforts: The 10-year-old Springer Spaniel has been trained from an early age to nurture needy lambs

Cheers! Shaun the lamb drinks milk with a helping hand from Jess

‘It’s like having an extra pair of hands,’ she said yesterday.

‘She’s been doing it ever since she was a puppy. I taught her to hold the milk bottle in her mouth and she did the rest. It’s very funny when she runs across the field gripping the bottle.’

The farm, near Exeter, is linked to the Devon Wildlife Trust and specialises in rare-breed sheep. Ten-year-old Jess is currently ‘mother’ to four Dorset Horn lambs which could not be fed by their own mothers. And a young apprentice – Lily the cocker spaniel – is already in training for the day when Jess hangs up her bottle.

Pet rescue: Owner Louise Moorhouse decided to see if Jess had the patience to feed the lambs with a bottle. And after very little practice, Jess now has a job to put the bottle down Barking mad: Louise says it's funny when Jess runs across the field gripping the bottle and squirting the milk everywhere Helping hand: Jess has always wanted to carry things around in her mouth including all sorts of feeding buckets for her flock of sheep

Anything you can do I can chew better: Jess takes great care of Shaun... although there is the odd spillage