Tiny Chihuahua And Gigantic Great Dane Become Unlikely BFFs

A tiny chihuahua puppy and a huge great dane have formed an unlikely bond after meeting at an animal rescue centre.

The adorable friendship began when Shirley Zindler - the founder of Dogwood Animal Rescue in Sebastopol, California - gave little chihuahua Bianca a home six weeks ago, after her mum sadly died in labour.

The five inch long, 2lbs pup bonded instantly with gentle giant Shelby - a blind three year old great dane weighing 8st 5lbs who Shirley had adopted back in 2017.

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And it wasn't long before the doggy duo became an inseparable double act.

As Bianca grew, the pawsome pair began engaging with each other more and more - and Shirley's super cute videos of them playing together online have since gone viral.

Mum-of-two Shirley, 51, a retired animal control officer who now runs the rescue full time, said: "Bianca is five and a half weeks old and we took her in. She was first introduced to Shelby when I started bottle feeding her from birth, and Shelby would just sit and watch us both."

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"When Bianca started to grow, she began playing and engaging with Shelby more and it was so endearing.

"Shelby is very sweet and gentle but also has a wild and playful side to her, whereas Bianca is a little terror!"

Shirley added: "Shelby is quite patient with Bianca but will push her away to make her stop if she's biting.

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"They clash in size and personality but they have become friends - at the rescue we have a saying that goes 'big or small, we love them all'!

"Their friendship is so unique and it's unusual to see different sized dogs that manage to play with each other."

Shirley looks after 12 adult pooches at her home - five which are pets of her own, four visiting dogs from the rescue project and three more permanent rescue dogs which she is fostering.

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She also cares for 10 to 20 pups and other animals, such as cats.

She adopted Shelby two years ago when she was surrendered to the shelter by her previous owners, as she was blind due to an eye defect, and had to go through four gruelling surgeries and have six lots of eye drops every day.

The pooch was nursed back to good health and has now taken on the new role of looking out for the tiny but feisty Bianca.

Shirley said: "It's very important for puppies to grow up with a mum and to be around other dogs, but Bianca doesn't have a mum and I think Shelby naturally warmed to her.

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"We've raising another litter of five puppies that were found in a bag on a porch, and we have a house full of generous aunties waiting to look after them.

"Bianca has already got a home waiting, so unfortunately the two friends will soon part ways and Shelby will move onto the next puppy.

"I think they'll both do fine - it's like kids at camp who spend all summer together but go their separate ways once it's all over."

JUST LOOK AT THEM. Hopefully they'll still be able to visit each other when they part ways.

Topics: Dog, Life News, Pets, Real, Animals

Joanna Freedman

Joanna is a journalist at Tyla with a particular interest in highlighting women's issues and telling inspiring first person stories. She's also their resident foodie, and loves covering exciting new beauty launches, too. Contact her at [email protected].

@joannafreedman