posted December 02, 2012 07:22 PM            

The tiger cubs--two male and one female--were born on Nov. 14 at Oktyabrsky Zoo in Sochi and soon abandoned by their tigress mother, Bagira, who had done the same thing with a different litter earlier this year.

Zoo officials posted an ad online seeking a temporary tiger mom, but a white Swiss Shepherd named Tallim was chosen to fill the surrogate role.

The tiger cubs initially resisted the setup, baring their claws and hissing at Tallim, according to London's Telegraph. But the pooch eventually won them over, "lavishing her new brood with attention and nudging them playfully."

Video from the zoo shows Tallim licking the trio, allowing them to climb over her and, importantly, feed.

It's not terribly unusual for dogs to adopt tiger cubs as their own--particularly in Russia.

In May at the same zoo, in fact, two Siberian tiger cubs abandoned by their mother were treated like pups by a wrinkled, sand-colored Shar Pei dog named Cleopatra.