Who could stay angry at that face? Monkey becomes best friends with pet puppy... but not everyone is happy about its antics

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A young macaque monkey named Hou Hou has become the unlikely friend to a family's puppy after the kind homeowner allowed it to play around, feed and sleep in her yard.

The primate originally came and went but now spends every moment of the day on the small poultry farm in Guangzhou, south China, looking after its puppy pal, according to People's Daily Online.

When it rains and cold weather draws in on the farm, the monkey is said to have lovingly cradled the puppy while they slept in the coop - although it's not at all popular with the landlord, who has threatened to sell it off for its brain, a popular dish in the region.

Best buds: The monkey and puppy have struck up a close friendship on the farm in Guangzhou, south China

Adorable: When it rains and is cold, it is said that the monkey cradles the puppy to keep them both warm

The young dog is now too big for it to hold properly, but the monkey still spends most of its time in the chicken coop, fooling around with the birds and scrapping over food with the pup. 

Mrs Chen, the farm's tenant, first spotted the monkey coming into her yard roughly two months ago - and began to amicably feed it fruit and vegetables.

Mrs Chen said : 'At the beginning, he would come in the morning and leave in the evening, but now he wouldn't leave at all and sleep with the dog at night.'

'Hou Hou is very smart, he can understand my words! I often tell him if he doesn't hard me, I will give him food every day.'

Forever friends: Although the dog is now too big for the monkey to hold, they remain friends and eat together

Long-term relationship: The monkey has stuck around for 2 months and enjoyed the company of the chickens

However Mrs Chen's landlord, Tu, is increasingly concerned that the monkey might cause damage to their livestock, despite months of harmonious companionship.

Mr Tu said: 'He often does damaging activities in the courtyard. A few days ago, he broke our starfruit tree and destroyed some of our goods. And what if he hurt little children?'

Mr Tu said there are at least five small children living in the compound.

'One day, a motorcyclist came to our compound and asked us whether or not we were willing to sell the monkey.' Tu said the man offered 4,000 Yuan for the monkey's brain, a well-known delicacy in Guangdong. 

Trusted: farm owner Mrs Chen struck up an alliance with the monkey after she found it in her back yard

Spoil-sport: However her husband is worried about the monkey harming their chickens and wants it gone

He believes that the cheeky untamed monkey, who has even entered the couple's home and tried to get into their car, could pose a risk to their five children and sabotage the yard.

After trying to get wardens from a zoo in Guangzhou to take the monkey away, Tu was told he would have to capture the monkey himself if he wanted it brought into captivity.

Tu devised a cunning plan to trap the monkey in a cage, but the cheeky simian had the last laugh - it broke a four-inch gap in the cage and made a grand escape back outside once more.