Cheeta's hopes can only be encouraged with the knowledge that the legendary hounds of the silver screen were inducted into the world's first Dog Walk of Fame.

Canine stars such as Lassie - the best known faithful collie out there, seen here with a young Roddy McDowall in the 1943 classic 'Lassie Come Home' - were commemorated in 2007 with a plaque and bench around the Battersea Park's bandstand in south London.