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Meet the reindeer that thinks it is a dog

Getty Images
Getty Images

"Meet Aatu, Lapland's most house-trained reindeer, who seems to think he is a dog.
Aatu does not live a conventional reindeer life, he has his food served at dining table and occasionally likes to indulge in a bit of TV watching with his owner Pia Tuukkanen. Aatu was abandoned by his mother when he was a small calf in the northern Finish wilderness and was rescued by a young boy, before he found his way to Ms Tuukkanen. The reindeer was bottle-fed and grew up largely in the house which is where he learnt how to interact with humans. "Normally reindeers don't want to hang out with people. They don't want to be touched; they don't want to be around people. But this one -- he thinks he's a dog," Ms Tuukkanen said. Now at six years of age, Aatu is a fully-grown male reindeer weighing around 100 kilograms, and he still likes to be taken for regular walks by his owner."