These are the heart-warming images which show an unlikely friendship between a dog and an orphaned baby deer.
The fawn was rescued after being found abandoned close to a hop field by some farmers in Regensburg, Germany when it was just one-week-old.
Unable to fend for himself the baby deer would likely have died had he not been found. But luckily the farmer took him to a family he knew had raised deer before.
The family took the baby deer into their home where they bottle-fed him, nursed him to full health and named him Hansi.
Adorable: 12-week-old Australian Shepherd puppy Lia is inseparable from Hansi the fawn, taking him under her wing since he was rescued
Feeding time: Hansi and Lia share a bottle at the farm in Regensburg, Germany, near where the baby deer was found abandoned
Affection: Hansi has been nursed back to health by the family who took him in – but it is Lia the dog who has really taken him in as one of her own
Missed a spot: Three weeks after Hansi was found, he spends his days playing with and cuddling up to Australian Shepherd puppy Lia
But it was the family’s 12-week-old Australian Shepherd puppy Lia who really took the fawn under her wing.
Lia immediately cared for Hansi and treated him as one of her own. Now just three-weeks later, the pair are inseparable and spend their days playing and cuddling up to one another.
Pet photographer and microbiologist Anna Auerbach, 28, captured the pair’s special bond on camera in this series of cute snaps.
In some shots, Lia can be seen trying to take a slurp from Hansi’s milk bottle and playfully nibbling his face.
Anna, from Regensburg, said: ‘The two of them get along really well. Hansi sees Lia and the other dogs she is being brought up with as family.
‘The shoot only took about 30 minutes. All I had to do was lie on the grass and wait for the right moments – there were so many.’
Inseparable: Pet photographer and microbiologist Anna Auerbach, 28, captured the pair’s special bond on camera in this series of cute snaps
Playtime: Lia playfully nibbles Hansi. Photographer Anna said: ‘The two of them get along really well. Hansi sees Lia and the other dogs she is being brought up with as family’
Hold still: Photographer Anna said: ‘The shoot only took about 30 minutes. All I had to do was lie on the grass and wait for the right moments – there were so many’