Furry Love: The squirrel eventually became affectionate with the canine ornament and planted it with a kiss

The home-owner said: 'The squirrel became fascinated by the dog; it was climbing all over the statue and seemed to be trying to work out what it was'.

He added: 'At one point the squirrel looked directly into the statue's face as if it was expecting a reaction'.

What are you: The photographer who captured the images said the squirrel looked directly into the statue's face as if expecting a reaction



Fun times: The squirrel enjoyed jumping all over the dog and going on its hind legs to get a closer look

The furry animal even at one point appeared to kiss the statue, leaping from a set of stairs to latch on to dog and pucker up.

With similar looking coats of orange and brown hues, maybe the squirrel felt a deep sense of familiarity with the statue although it was more than five times its size.

Tiring work: Exhausted after lots of acrobatics the squirrel perched on top of the dog to crunch on its nut

The squirrel managed to check out the statue all with a nut in its mouth which he crunched into when he had exhausted his inspection and needed to take a break.

Red squirrels are common throughout Eurasia but its numbers have decreased greatly because of the introduction of the eastern grey squirrel from North America.

They have a life expectancy of 3 years when living in the wild if they survive their first winter.