Rescued from the slaughterhouse, Goliath the cow has become an internet sensation with a social media profile to rival that of any up and coming celebrity.

The eight-week-old calf was rescued from a dairy farm and taken in by a Californian family, where he promptly bonded with their dogs.

Under the tutelage of the family's Great Dane, Leonidas​, Goliath has started to demonstrate behaviour which is more canine than bovine.

Goliath's owner, 17-year-old student Shaylee Hubbs​ told America's ABC News the new family pet had developed a taste for dog food and regularly sneaks inside the house to make himself comfortable on the couch.

"I'm pretty sure he thinks he's a dog," she said.

"He was raised with our three dogs, and he's around them every day. They chase and play together, he watches how they eat their dog food and drink water from their bowls and copies them and he even lays in their dog beds. He even loves scratches on his neck around his ear."

Ms Hubbs started documenting Goliath's new life on the Twitter account @Goliaththecow which now has more than 1700 followers. A post of Goliath nestled on the couch has been retweeted more than 32,000 times and liked more than 54,000 times.

Only a few days old when he arrived at the farm, Ms Hubbs said Goliath was "so weak and so small that he couldn't stand and you could pick him up very easily.".

Leonidas immediately bonded with Goliath. "He would lick the little cow on the face and try to nudge him to stand up," Ms Hubbs said. "He would lay down with the sick, little cow for hours just to keep him company."

Goliath is a bobby calf, the term used for the offspring for dairy cows. For cows to produce milk, they have to give birth to a calf every year.

According to the RSPCA, the calves are separated from their mothers within 12 hours of birth and around 400,000 are slaughtered each year.

Goliath can look forward to a more rosy future with Ms Hubbs describing him as a much loved "pet and family member" who is welcome to stay on their farm which is already home to horses, sheep, goats, alpacas and chickens.