Believe it or not, some animals are able to sense whether other beings are suffering pain. We are not talking about whales, but dogs as well. Zip is an Australian cattle dog that forms an unlikely friendship with Tye the foal, who lost his mom days after birth.
Zip’s mom, miss Karla Swindle, rescued the dog when he was just a puppy and raised him with other animals on her farm. Despite living with some horse siblings, Zip had never shown much interest in them – according to Swindle – until that fateful night in March.
Tye’s mom became sick after birth, and couldn’t make it through after 9 days in treatment. That night, Swindle stayed beside Tye and his mother, and as always, Zip followed her to their cage.
“I spent the night at the barn taking care of the mama horse, hoping that I could pull her through,” she told The Dodo. “Zip stayed with me in the alley of the barn all night — the foal was laying in the alley, and he just lay there beside the foal.”
“He (the dog) was whining. You could tell that Zip knew something was wrong that night.”
Tye lost his mother the next morning, but at the same time, he gained an unexpected friend, who accompanied him throughout the rest of his life.
Zip didn’t leave the little animal, comforting him with his gentle manner. Zip’s presence filled something inside the foal, making him happy and relieved.
“It seemed to me that the foal knew that the dog was trying to help him,” said Swindle, “which is so sweet.”
The owner continued telling how their friendship blossomed in the next six months. “Every time I would take off to the barn, Zip would run to the stall, and stand in front of the stall and wait for me to get there. He would beat me to the barn every time.”
Whenever they met, Zip was the first one to greet the little horse, came to him, and laid his head on him. The two quickly became inseparable friends. Zip was very good at childcare because he took good care of Tye and helped him gain weight just in months.
Now, the foal becomes a healthy, playful horse. As Tye grows up, his dad, Zip, believes that the horse needs to test his independence, so the dog keeps himself away from him. That doesn’t make their relationship less special, though.
“The foal is a little rough now,” Swindle added, “raring up, trying to play, so Zip kind of stays away from him now. You could tell that when the foal needed Zip, Zip was there for him. And now Zip knows that the foal is OK, so they kind of went their separate ways.”
If you admire the strong bond between Zip and Tye, please share IT with your family and friends.