10 NAT GEO KIDS^ • APRIL 2019
Doggy Care
Day
BEST
BABYSITTER
EVER.Stansted Mountfitchet, England
Fred the Labrador retriever took a quack at fatherhood
when he adopted nine ducklings.
After the ducklings were found wandering the grounds
of Mountfitchet Castle (Fred’s home), the castle’s owners
were worried the youngsters would struggle to survive
without their mother. Good thing 10-year-old Fred was
ready to be a parent! “Fred instantly took to the duck-
lings,” castle owner Jeremy Goldsmith says. The ducklings
napped in a dog bed with Fred and often climbed on his
back, the same way they’d sit on top of their duck mom.
Ducklings that lose their mother sometimes become
attached to the first moving thing they see, animal
behavior expert Mary Burch says. “I would say the duck-
lings adopted Fred,” she says. The ducks are grown now,
but they still see Fred every day. These fuzz balls keep
Fred on his paws! —Alli Dickey