Interspecies friendships – whether they are of the commonplace cat-and-dog variety, or a more surprising combination such as, for example, an elephant and a sheep – are always wonderful to observe. Everyone loves to hear stories about two very different creatures finding common ground and forming a close bond – perhaps because these stories help us to see our own relationships with other animals and with each other in a more caring light.

One particularly heartwarming interspecies friendship we’ve recently caught wind of is that of Tabitha – a female pig rescued from slaughter in England – and Susie – a female boxer who was once exploited as a breeding dog on a puppy mill in Wales. The two first met in December 2011, after being taken into the care of Hillside Animal Sanctuary in Norwich, England.

And as you can see in the above video, they instantly hit it off! The two-minute and forty-three-second clip shows the plucky animals playing together to the tune of Neil Diamond’s “I’m A Believer.” While Susie is the one who first instigates the playtime, it doesn’t take long for Tabitha to get seriously enthusiastic about it! Check out the two fooling around, play-biting, and rolling over, and we guarantee you’ll be smiling long before the music ends.

Tabitha and Susie now live on different sites. Susie is a resident of Hillside’s sanctuary in Norwich, along with their other dogs, while Tabitha lives in their North Norfolk sanctuary with other pigs, horses, and cows.

The most recent photo of Susie and Tabitha together was taken in August 2013. Hillside says that on this occasion, “Tabitha certainly seemed to recognize Susie, but as the picture shows, Susie decided that Tabitha was now too big to play with and gave her a wide berth.”

Hillside Animal Sanctuary / Facebook 

While the two may not be able to roll around and play-bite so easily anymore, their story of triumph over adversity still has the power to move us and remind us that when it comes to it, pigs – who receive little respect, and are usually regarded as nothing more than a food source – and dogs – whom most people in the U.S. would never dream of eating – aren’t so different after all. So why love one, and eat the other?

Lead Image Source: Hillside Animal Sanctuary/Facebook