TWO orphaned lambs are jumping for joy after finding unlikely surrogate parents to look after them -- two sheepdogs!

Larry and April the lambs, aged eight and four months, have become devoted to border collies Shandy and Gyp.

Volunteers at the Only Foals and Horses Sanctuary off Haslingden Old Road, Oswaldtwistle, were astounded when Larry and April started following the dogs on their walks.

Now the lambs have left any ideas of being sheepish behind by following the dogs when they jump over horse jumps.

An animal expert said the unusual behaviour was down to the lambs having their normal upbringing interrupted, leading them not to be fearful of dogs.

Olive Lomas, co-ordinator of Only Foals and Horses, said that the two lambs lost their mothers in the first few months of their lives.

Larry was found wandering around in Baxenden and was taken in by a man. He contacted its farmer who agreed to let Larry be kept as a pet as it had been orphaned.

Larry was bottle fed goat's milk around the clock but the man then found it wasn't practical to keep Larry in his house and gave him to the sanctuary.

Olive said: "We had to buy up all the goat's milk in the immediate area - every supermarket is running out thanks to Larry."

April was born at the sanctuary after her mother, a moorland sheep, was found stray in Haslingden just before Christmas.

April's mother was put to sleep soon after birth as she developed internal problems.

But April and Larry became best friends as soon as they met.

Olive said: "They are just inseparable now.