Perhaps it was “professional” respect for each other’s wicked speed that made friends of a Cheetah and Borzoi in a Czech Republic zoo a few years back ↓

It wasn’t an isolated friendship. In 2012, CBS News reported on a pair of BFFs at the Columbus Zoo ↓

Also in 2012, Busch Gardens Tampa celebrated the anniversary of a very special relationship between a Cheetah and Labrador Retriever ↓

Think Cheetah love is only for big dogs? Witness this “battle” between Cheetah and the mighty Jack Russell Terrier ↓

The San Diego Zoo has similar pairings, including the Rhodesian Ridgeback who was chosen to be the companion for a newborn cheetah rejected by his mother shortly after his birth.

The Cheetah Conservation Fund offers donors the chance to protect Cheetahs by sponsoring an Anatolian Shepherd Dog and/or Kangal Dog to be placed with Namibian farmers. The dogs protect livestock from cheetah attacks by barking loudly and scaring the big cats away, and the result is that farmers no longer feel they need to kill Cheetahs to protect their livelihood. 

Friends are family you pick for yourself. (Paraphrase of a quote by Jess C. Scott, The Other Side of Life)