Christmas Special: Reindeer My Pet and Me

-Hi, I'm Fearne.

-And I'm Rory.

And we love meeting you and your pets.

We're decorating our tree with our favourite pets.

Dashing dogs.

Mischievous mice.

And cuddly cats.

I'm off on a special adventure to meet some Christmassy friends.

-That sounds like great fun.

-I'll tell you about it later.

-Would you like to come with me? Bye!

-Bye!

-Come on.

# My pet, my pet and me

# My pet, my pet and me

# Down every street

# Are pets to meet

# Some big, some small

# Some scaly, some furry

# Some keep very still, some are always in a hurry

# Some have four paws

# Some have sharp claws GIGGLES

# Some quack, some bark some purr, some moo

# Some grunt, some squawk Some cock-a-doodle-doo

# My pet, my pet and me

# My pet, my pet and me

# My pet, my pet and me

# Have you met my pet and me? #

GIGGLES

Today, we're in Rugeley to meet Alex and her pets.

I can't wait to see what they are. Let's go meet them.

Alex! Alex!

-Hello, Fearne.

-Hi, Fearne.

-Hi!

-You must be Mum.

-I am!

-Hello, Alex. Who are these?

-Combo and Tide.

-Combo and Tide and am I right in saying they're reindeer?

-Yes.

That is incredible. I've never met anyone with reindeer before.

-You're so lucky. How many do you have?

-150.

150 reindeer, that is so many, wow!

How do you remember all of their names?

They look different and their antlers look different as well.

-And they've got little name tags.

-Yeah.

-What's your favourite thing

-about having reindeer?

-Watching them drink

-and put their hooves in the water.

-They put their hooves in the water?

Yes, cos they think it's ice

-and in the wild they had to break the ice to get water.

-Oh, OK.

-And what else?

-Feeding them. I like feeding them.

-What is your favourite thing to feed them?

-Moss.

-Reindeer moss?

-Yes.

-Is that what Tide is eating now?

-Yes.

Reindeer moss grows in really, really cold places like Lapland

where the wild reindeer live.

It's great that you have so many reindeers

because they like living in big groups.

-Do you know what a big group is called?

-A herd.

-That's right.

-Are your reindeer tame?

-Yes.

-Do you think we can get one out to pet?

-Of course.

Good girl. Shut the door.

-There we go. Good boy, Tide. Combo wants to join in too.

-Cheeky Combo!

-They are cheeky pets, aren't they?

-Good boy, Tide.

-They've got really special fur, don't they, Alex?

-Yeah.

It's thick and it helps to keep them warm

because reindeer can live in the coldest, snowiest places on Earth

so they need special fur to help keep them toasty.

They are perfectly adapted to live where it's really cold.

Rory, can you tell us some more fun facts about

-Father Christmas' sleigh-driving friends here?

-Of course, Fearne!

One - reindeer are very good swimmers and very fast runners.

Baby reindeer can run when they are just a few hours old.

Isn't that amazing?

Two - in the wild, reindeer travel or migrate long distances

in search of food at different times of the year.

Their special hooves help them dig through hard, frozen snow

to find food buried underneath.

Three - both male and female reindeer grow antlers.

The antlers grow really quickly in just a few months.

Reindeer aren't just for Christmas and Alex and her family

have to take care of the herd every single day of the year.

In the summer, they are kept outside in the fields

-but in the winter, they live in barns like this, don't they?

-Yeah.

Tide and the others are behind us because we've got some work to do.

-What do we have to do?

-Scoop out all the poo.

-Shall we get started?

-Yeah.

-Let's go.

-Alex, what is this bedding?

-Straw.

-But in the wild, reindeer don't sleep on straw, do they?

-No.

-What do they sleep on?

-Snow.

Snow, wow, that must be cold.

They don't think it's cold because they've got their nice warm coats.

That's right.

And this is important, isn't it? They need nice clean bedding.

So after we clean out all the straw, what do we have to do?

Put fresh bedding down.

-So do you normally do this with your dad?

-My dad or my grandad.

-So there's always lots of people to help.

-Yes.

-Shall we spread it out?

-Mm-hm.

-Well, this is looking good, isn't it?

-Yes.

-So what's next? Food?

-Yes.

-We'll get them some food. Come on.

-These look great, what is this?

-Pellets.

-Reindeer pellets?

-Yes.

-Where do you get them from?

-My grandad makes them.

-He makes them?

-Yes.

-They're very soft. Why are they so soft?

Because reindeers only have teeth on their bottom half.

-Really, on the bottom half of their mouths?

-Yeah.

So they're just like this...?

-They smell kind of nice. We wouldn't eat them though, would we?

-No.

-Shall we put some in the trough?

-Yes.

-OK.

-Shall we get them in to have a look at their nice clean home?

-Yes.

OK, let's go.

So now that the reindeer have a really nice clean barn,

-what about our hands?

-We need to wash them.

That's a good idea. Come on.

I love your little antlers, they're really sweet.

-I wish I could have some.

-Why don't we make some?

-That is a good idea.

How about we use our hands like this and that will be the antlers?

Could you please trace around my hand?

-FEARNE LAUGHS

-Look at that!

-Alex, are all antlers the same?

-No.

Antlers are just like fingerprints.

-So none of them are the same?

-No.

-Each one is unique to each individual reindeer?

-Yeah.

And then when they get older, they get bigger.

-Cos their antlers fall off?

-Yeah.

-So every single time their antlers fall off, they grow a new pair.

-Yes.

-Right. And it doesn't hurt them, does it?

-No.

-No.

Nice blob of glue.

Now we'll stick on the hair band.

Right, these are looking great. We're finished!

-No, we've got to decorate them.

-Let's do that.

-So real antlers, what are they made out of?

-Bone.

-So are they really hard?

-No.

-What do they feel like when you touch them?

-Soft.

-How are they soft?

-The velvet on them.

-That's right, there's reindeer velvet, isn't there?

-Yes.

Reindeer velvet is a nice soft covering all over the antlers

when they first grow. Then when the antlers are mature,

the reindeer velvet gets scratched off by the reindeer.

Right, we'll get these on you.

Beautiful. They look really good.

-Do you think Tide will like mine too?

-Yes.

Come on, Tide, look at this!

-What do you think, Tide?

-Do you want to swap antlers?

I think he likes our sparkles.

CHILDREN: My Pet And Me!

I think the reindeer really liked our sparkly antlers, do you?

-Yes, they love them.

-Good job.

If your pet reindeer could do anything in the world,

what do you think they'd get up to?

If my pets could do anything,

they would go to the North Pole

and meet Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.

They would have lots of fun in the snow building a snowman

and playing games with the polar bears.

-Hi, Tide. And who's this?

-My daddy.

-Hi, Fearne!

-Hello. What are you doing?

-I'm getting Tide ready for his sleigh ride.

-Can we help?

-Yes, would you like to brush him?

-I would love to.

-Is this all right?

-Perfect.

His fur is very thick and soft.

-It is, it's lovely. You can see how thick it is, can't you?

-Yeah.

Do you have to groom him a lot?

Quite often when he's on sleigh rides,

just to keep him nice and tidy and make him look lovely.

I think he's looking good. Is it time to get his harness on?

-Yes, we can put that on now.

-Brilliant.

That area goes over his shoulders just there

-and that goes over his back.

-Oh.

And then there's a strap that you do at the front.

He's got a big strong neck. It probably has to be like that

-because they've got such big antlers.

-Then he has a centre one.

-Do you think he's excited for his sleigh ride?

-Yes.

-So do I.

Tide, you're being a really good boy.

He is. Do you think he's ready for his sleigh ride now?

Just one more thing to do, Fearne. Perhaps you'd like to do it.

-Oh, wow. Thank you.

-This goes round the top of his neck.

He's going to sound like a proper Christmas reindeer now.

-BELLS RING

-You ready?

Here we go.

He's looking great. I think he's ready to go.

Wow! Some of our friends are here. Tide and his friend Cloud are here

and I think it's time for a sleigh ride.

ALL: Yay!

We've got some leaders here that are going to help us out

and we're going to take it in turns.

So you three are all going to go with Cloud

and myself and Alex are going to go with Tide. Come on.

-You can hear his bells, can't you?

-Yes.

-He sounds super Christmassy.

Alex, I've had such a wonderful time meeting you and your reindeer,

thank you very much.

-Hi, Rory.

-Hi, Fearne.

-Hi, Snowy.

-You're just in time.

-I'm about to turn the lights on.

-Great!

-Let me give you Snowy.

Thank you. Hi!

SHE GASPS

That looks amazing! Good job.

Thank you very much. How was your day?

Oh, it was really special. Let me tell you all about it.

'Today, I met Alex and her reindeer.

'We cleaned out their bedding

'and fed them some reindeer moss as a treat.

'We made our very own sparkly antlers.

'Then we helped to get the reindeer sleighs ready

'for some very special sleigh rides.'

-That sounds like great fun.

-It was!

It's important that before you go touching any animals,

you ask the owner's permission.

One pet you can play with though is ours.

Go to the CBeebies website and play the My Pet And Me game.

We've had such a wonderful day

and we really enjoy meeting you and your pets.

# Today we met OINK OINK

# A lovely pet

# We see how much you care for them

# Thank you so much for sharing them

# Time for us to

# Just remind you

# After you've played with your pet

# Wash your hands

# Don't forget!

# It doesn't matter what pet you've got

# You might have one, you might not

# It's still fun finding out what having a pet is all about

# My pet, my pet and me

# My pet, my pet and me

# My pet, my pet and me

# Come back and see my pet and me! #

BOTH: Merry Christmas!