Animals often surprise us with their stories of friendship between unlikely species, but one tortoise in particular has moved us because for her a group of orphaned puppies are not just friends, but she has taken them in as true children.

Her name is Goliath and she is showing the world that the only strong thing she has is her shell, because her heart doesn’t resist anything.

Goliath is an 8 year old sulcata tortoise.

The encounter between her and the cubs happened thanks to the intervention of the tortoise’s human, who is an outstanding worker at Second Chances Rescue in Cordona, California. With her animalistic spirit, the woman named Andrea couldn’t help but take in a litter of four puppies that had been abandoned in a garden.

Taking care of the little ones would not be a problem for her, she just felt it necessary to keep them separate from the tortoise for fear that they would hurt each other.

Bringing the two species together was not Andrea’s plan at all.

As she recounted, someone had come to the shelter to give up some puppies but they were so small that she wanted to protect them herself and thought about taking responsibility for them while they were ready to be put up for adoption.

“A man showed up with a case of beer with these four puppies. He claimed he caught them in his yard, but he couldn’t catch their mother.” said Andrea.

The puppies spent those first few days of recovery indoors, but as they regained strength they showed their personalities. The furry ones were mischievous and adventurous, one of them escaped into the garden and it was there that he ran into the tortoise.

That day, Andrea searched everywhere for the furry one without finding him. Until she finally went to investigate in Goliath’s shelter and to her surprise she found him. But not only was he there, he seemed to have cuddled with the tortoise.

That scene moved Andrea who couldn’t help but be surprised.

From that first encounter it became clear to the woman that there was no danger to fear, the escapes to the tortoise’s shelter became more and more frequent and now it was not just one dog, but the whole litter that went to visit Goliath.

Since then the slow, lonely tortoise has had company. Goliath makes a point of feeding the puppies who seem to enjoy fruit and lettuce. But, what he enjoys most is playing with the tortoise.

She slow and they so elusive have known how to understand each other.

This is not the first time Andrea has taken a litter to her home, as a rescuer she usually takes them in before finding them a home. But it is the first time the dogs have not been terrified of the tortoise.

Usually the canines bark and are strangled by Goliath’s presence. In fact, more than one has tried to bite him and for that reason he knew to keep the puppies separated from the tortoise.

However, on this occasion he was wrong and an unusual friendship emerged.

Because of his size, the other dogs used to consider the tortoise intimidating. Besides, Goliath is not exactly the most social being, but these little dogs knew how to bring out their most affectionate side and the new adoptive father does not plan to abandon them.

In Andrea’s house, the days go by between the dogs’ jumps and the slow and sure pace of the tortoise who always wants to follow them. With all their pent-up energy, the puppies even climb on Goliath’s shell, but this is something that doesn’t seem to bother him.

These friends will continue to share a life together, as Andrea is considering not putting them up for adoption. She is sad to see her pets separated.