News hounds (6/19/2014)
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The San Diego Zoo Safari Park's 7-week-old cheetah cub Ruuxa is getting to know his new dog companion as the two continue to bond and spend time at the Safari Park's Animal Care Center. The 8-week-old Rhodesian ridgeback puppy was paired with the cub after the cheetah was rejected by his mother and had to be hand raised as an animal ambassador. The cheetah and puppy will be raised together and the dog will serve as a lifelong companion to the cheetah. Safari Park cheetahs selected for training as ambassadors are paired early in life with a domestic dog. As the two companions grow up together, the dog's body language will communicate to the cheetah that there's nothing to fear in new or public surroundings, which relaxes and calms the cheetah. The Safari Park currently has four cheetah ambassadors all of which are trained to participate in the Park's Cheetah Run experience. (AP Photo/San Diego Zoo Safari Park)