{"id":129486,"date":"2026-01-11T20:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T20:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/129486\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T20:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T20:39:09","slug":"rescue-dog-greeted-by-whale-in-heartwarming-encounter-off-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/129486\/","title":{"rendered":"Rescue dog greeted by whale in heartwarming encounter off San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Updated Jan. 11, 2026, 1:21 p.m. ET<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Humpback whales occasionally swim to boats as if curious about their human occupants. It&#8217;s a behavior described as mugging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">But on Saturday off San Diego, a humpback whale seemed more curious about a furry rescue dog named Fin \u2013 and vice versa.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"gnt_em_img_i\" style=\"height:372px\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/88131168007-finny.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Fin enjoying visit by curious whale.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The accompanying <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DTWgsSugfpc\/\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">footage<\/a>, captured by Gone Whale Watching San Diego, shows Fin enthusiastically greeting a humpback whale that surfaced just feet from the vessel\u2019s bow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><a href=\"http:\/\/ftw.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/outdoors\/2026\/01\/10\/gray-whale-passes-between-surfers-shore-southern-california\/88121155007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">RELATED: Footage shows gray whale passing within feet of astonished surfers<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Dominic Biagini, owner of the company, stated via Instagram: \u201cWatching my dog fall in love with whales has been one of the great joys of my life!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The heartwarming interaction occurred after Jess Aubry, a Gone Whale Watching San Diego captain, encountered a large pod of humpback whales during a five-hour excursion. Biagini traveled to the location with his partner, Erica Sackrison, and Fin.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"gnt_em_ig_bl\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DTWgsSugfpc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" aria-label=\"view Instagram post: \"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Sackrison commented via Instagram: \u201cWho\u2019s watching who?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Aubury remarked: \u201cThat tail is going a mile a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">One follower observed that Fin seems to be the boat&#8217;s only occupant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Fin, a mixed yellow lab\/golden retriever, was rescued by Biagini near the U.S.-San Diego border.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated Jan. 11, 2026, 1:21 p.m. ET Humpback whales occasionally swim to boats as if curious about their&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[243,74,76,75,65609,65610,4808,45896,11980,24239,508,1349,7844,4811,246],"class_list":{"0":"post-129486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-san-diego","10":"tag-san-diego-headlines","11":"tag-san-diego-news","12":"tag-sstssportsoutdoors","13":"tag-sstsnoutdoors","14":"tag-taganimal-welfare","15":"tag-tagdogs","16":"tag-tagearth-sciences","17":"tag-taginstagram","18":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","19":"tag-tagoverall-positive","20":"tag-tagsan-diego","21":"tag-tagwildlife","22":"tag-typestory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}