{"id":402308,"date":"2026-01-12T04:17:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T04:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/402308\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T04:17:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T04:17:06","slug":"rescue-dog-greeted-by-whale-in-heartwarming-encounter-off-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/402308\/","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\/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":402309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[182817,79,191603,191604,189190,194133,186366,183419,183293,182822,191608,186364,182820,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-402308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-sstssportsoutdoors","11":"tag-sstsnoutdoors","12":"tag-taganimal-welfare","13":"tag-tagdogs","14":"tag-tagearth-sciences","15":"tag-taginstagram","16":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","17":"tag-tagoverall-positive","18":"tag-tagsan-diego","19":"tag-tagwildlife","20":"tag-typestory","21":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}