The dolphins seem to like their slow, clumsy, furry buddy.

August 23, 2012 6:04 AM

Here's Kira the dog, having fun swimming with wild dolphins. [slyt]
posted by quin (47 comments total)

That was really cool.

My dog would have bitten someone before we even had a chance to get to the dock and then we would have spent the afternoon at the emergency clinic.

I'll make a Youtube video of it next time.
posted by kbanas at 6:10 AM on August 23, 2012 [4 favorites]

"Hey Bob, what a strange looking, slow, seal. Let's go investigate."
posted by MuffinMan at 6:10 AM on August 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

Something about little dog feets swimming is unbearably hilarious to me.
posted by elizardbits at 6:12 AM on August 23, 2012 [6 favorites]

Oh yay a good morning smile. That was so much fun. Something endearing about the clumsy dog paddling contrasted with the supremely silky dolphin swimming. What a lovely face Kira has. Neat to think of dog intelligence meeting dolphin intelligence.

I was hoping they'd kiss and create a dogphin.
posted by nickyskye at 6:14 AM on August 23, 2012 [5 favorites]

It was cute, but I always fear "playing" dolphins are just trying to exhaust their partnervictim before dragging them under. Get out Kira! Get out!
posted by howfar at 6:21 AM on August 23, 2012

That dog will sleep well tonight!
posted by blue_beetle at 6:27 AM on August 23, 2012

After watching the video, my shih tzus are confident that, if equipped with tiny swim fins, they could take down one of those dolphins.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:30 AM on August 23, 2012 [2 favorites]

howfar: "It was cute, but I always fear "playing" dolphins are just trying to exhaust their partnervictim before dragging them under. Get out Kira! Get out!"

Honestly this thought would terrify me. I don't think I could take a dog of mine into that situation. Kira looked like she had a blast though. That tuckered out look of a content well exercised dog brings a smile to my face.
posted by the_artificer at 6:33 AM on August 23, 2012

I loved the dog cam in the beginning when Kira shakes off. Smiles all around.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:39 AM on August 23, 2012

A Labrador's brain map would show that a very large portion--perhaps the majority--of its neurons are devoted to "must fetch the duck," where "duck" is very loosely classified as something moving through the water or flying through the air.
posted by drlith at 6:39 AM on August 23, 2012 [10 favorites]

This video reminded my what a bad idea it is to swim with a dog. The claws keep right on going when they paddle over to say hello. I probably still have scars from our black Labs.

The dolphins knew enough to keep their distance.
posted by CaseyB at 6:48 AM on August 23, 2012 [3 favorites]

Oh this was such dandy fun. Thanks for posting.

Made me think of how much I'm going to miss swimming come Labor Day.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:51 AM on August 23, 2012

And here's Kira's owners, likely violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
posted by jedicus at 6:52 AM on August 23, 2012 [9 favorites]

A Labrador's brain map would show that a very large portion--perhaps the majority--of its neurons are devoted to "must fetch the duck," where "duck" is very loosely classified as something moving through the water or flying through the air.

My mom has a big Black Lab through a sitcom-worthy sequence of events and this is quite correct. One time a low-flying private plane buzzed the house and she spent a good few hours chasing the dog because he jumped the fence and went after it. I assume he thought it was the Biggest Fucking Duck In The World and he was going to win some kind of prize for it.

When he couldn't catch the plane, he headed for the lake and swam around until she managed to wrangle him out.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 6:56 AM on August 23, 2012 [16 favorites]

When the dolphins come to my park to play with my dog, then we'll be talking.
posted by Devonian at 6:56 AM on August 23, 2012 [5 favorites]

I love the legs-splayed-out, sacked, can't move shot at the end. My dog does that when he's beat from a good romp, and he looks positively paralyzed.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:58 AM on August 23, 2012

My family once owned what I think must be the only lab in the world that was afraid of water. We took her to a lake once and tried to coax her in, but she was absolutely terrified. The one time we got her in the water, by picking her up and dropping her in (emphatically NOT my idea), she scrambled out on to what was basically a stick that could barely support her and ran back to shore looking like a contestant in a cartoon log rolling contest.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:05 AM on August 23, 2012

I let my dog play with a salmon once, the dog said it was delicious fun.
posted by HuronBob at 7:06 AM on August 23, 2012

And here's Kira's owners, likely violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Aren't you a lot of fun.
posted by kbanas at 7:07 AM on August 23, 2012 [8 favorites]

Haven't you always wanted to sprinkle magical pixie dust over your child while they sleep? Encounters with dolphins are always magical, and to help you capture this blessing in your child's early years why not purchase some of our guaranteed ground dolphin dust?

(Bycatch only, no dolphins were intentionally harmed in the making of this product.)
posted by biffa at 7:08 AM on August 23, 2012

Oh sure, the people get flippers.
posted by Curious Artificer at 7:25 AM on August 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

Aren't you a lot of fun.

That law (and similar laws in other countries) exists for good reasons, both for the protection of the animals and for the protection of people (and their pets). From NOAA's Dolphin Smart program: "close human interactions with marine mammals may cause them to lose their natural wariness to people and boats. This causes them to be vulnerable to injury or death from entanglement in fishing gear or boat strikes." Wild dolphins are not cuddly creatures, and this 'magical encounter' could have turned out very differently.
posted by jedicus at 7:28 AM on August 23, 2012 [11 favorites]

this 'magical encounter' could have turned out very differently.

Now I want "Dolphin Week".
posted by Reggie Knoble at 7:35 AM on August 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

Wild dolphins are not cuddly creatures

How much I enjoyed watching that man get bitten does not say good things about me.

"I told you you were going to get bit, DAD"
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:42 AM on August 23, 2012 [3 favorites]

I
I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins
Like dolphins can swim
Though nothing
Will keep us together
We can beat them
For ever and ever
Oh we can be Kiras
Just for one day
posted by COBRA! at 7:43 AM on August 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

jedicus I can both understand where you're coming from, and think it's impossibly sad to draw those thick black lines between humans and nature. Sure, everything with fur or fins that isn't outright domesticated might decide to kill us. The impulse in cases like that is to keep anything that isn't made by us miles away from us, which by slow stages suffocates us in coffins of our own design, a man-made, man-smelling environment that we could easily take to be The World.

Dolphins are not, as you seem to think we consider them, "cuddly creatures," (that really belittles out appreciation of the animals). But 90% of animals think we're creepy as fuck and another 9% think we're tasty treats. Of course the animals' natural friendliness means they get hurt when industry (oh, industry, is there anything you can't wreck?) interacts with them, and they deserve protection. But staying completely away from them is really sad, too.

I don't know. It's complicated.
posted by JHarris at 7:59 AM on August 23, 2012 [4 favorites]

My (Border Collie?) mutt is a swimming fool but we're landlocked, so all our adventures are freshwater. I hope she doesn't try this trick with a snapping turtle.
posted by workerant at 8:00 AM on August 23, 2012

It's my understanding that the land-living ancestor of dolphins were somewhat related to canines. Nice video of distant cousins.
posted by Renoroc at 8:05 AM on August 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

After watching the video, my shih tzus are confident that, if equipped with tiny swim fins, they could take down one of those dolphins.

Ok, first off, a Shih Tzu…swimming in the ocean? Shih Tzus don’t even like water.

If you placed it near a river, or some sort of fresh water source, that’d make sense. But you find yourself in the ocean, a 20 ft wave, I’m assuming its off the coast of South Africa, coming up against a full grown, 800 lb dolphin with his 20 or 30 friends. You lose that battle. you lose that battle nine times out of ten.

And guess what, you wandered into our school of dolphins and we now have a taste of blood! We’ve talked to ourselves. We’ve communicated and said, ‘you know what? Shih Tzu tastes good. Lets go get some more Shih Tzu.’ We’ve developed a system, to establish a beachhead and aggressively hunt you and your family. And we will corner you, your children, your offspring. We will construct a series of breathing apparatus with kelp. We will be able to trap certain amounts of oxygen. Its not going to be days at a time, an hour, hour 45. No problem. That will give us enough time to figure out where you live, go back to the sea, get more oxygen and then stalk you. You just lost at your own game. You are out gunned and outmanned.

That go the way you thought it was gonna to go? Nope.
posted by Naberius at 8:08 AM on August 23, 2012 [2 favorites]

(1) I got the distinct impression that the dolphins were sort of toying with the dog. Here she is, struggling to get around, and they're literally swimming circles around her. "Ha ha! Can't catch me!"

(2) That dog is pooped.
posted by valkyryn at 8:08 AM on August 23, 2012

To me the cuteness of the video was surmounted by all the risks and dick moves involved. As someone said above, dolphins are not cuddly creatures that always want to play. They're actually quite efficient killing machines. They're also sentient beings that have a sense of territory.

Going out into the middle of the ocean and throwing your dog into a pod of wild dolphins seems like a pretty easy way to piss off those dolphins for no good reason. Even if the dog wasn't at any significantly heightened risk, annoying a bunch of wild animals for your youtube video seems entirely unnecessary.
posted by triceryclops at 8:36 AM on August 23, 2012 [3 favorites]

Has the cat kissing dolphins video been posted on the blue yet? For fans of domestic pet/dolphin interaction it's a must see.
posted by yoink at 9:00 AM on August 23, 2012

I loved watching this first thing this morning even if the owner broke the law and endangered their dog. I agree with poster upthread who thought the dolphins were playing with dog.

Thanks for posting.
posted by cairnoflore at 9:03 AM on August 23, 2012

Folks, do not let your dogs play with cetaceans. This dolphin is NOT PLAYING A GAME.
posted by drlith at 9:17 AM on August 23, 2012

But 90% of animals think we're creepy as fuck and another 9% think we're tasty treats.

Side note: 9% is really really high. Animals that will actively hunt humans have very short life expectancies and have done for thousands of generations.

In the case of mammalian predators we're usually a food of last resort for the starving and infirm, and in every recorded case it is a single animal or pack that gets a taste for humans as opposed to it being a species thing.

Some of our amphibious friends, however, do seem to view us as tasty tasty treats no matter what.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:56 AM on August 23, 2012

I like how they named the dog after the boat. also - do they make fins for dogs? looks like he could use them.
posted by thetruthisjustalie at 10:07 AM on August 23, 2012

A sea lion came to play with me open water a few years back. At least I think he was playing, he may have been trying to teach me how to swim. He showed me a variety of techniques.

In the end though he spent some time making head on torpedo runs at me and then veering away at the very last second. Somehow I came away with the message "Hey, how are those opposable thumbs working out for you? Not so great out here, huh? Go get some fins, snorkel boy!"

If he thought I was pathetic, I can only imagine what the dolphins were thinking about the dog.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:07 AM on August 23, 2012

jedicus: Wild dolphins are not cuddly creatures, and this 'magical encounter' could have turned out very differently.

Given the power of its jaws and sharpness of teeth, that was a trifling gesture to say, "Stop doing that." Hardly horrifying, and the man was asking for trouble: putting his hand near a wild carnivore's mouth, while making noises.

They simply aren't the dangerously unpredictable predators that you imply. There's literally hundreds of stories of them being cuddly, for every harmful instance you can find - dogs and cats are worse than that. Heck, so are domesticated rabbits.
posted by IAmBroom at 10:27 AM on August 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

Especially cats...
posted by Naberius at 10:37 AM on August 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

Side note: 9% is really really high.

Yeah, but if I really aimed for accuracy there I wouldn't have been able to use the 90%/9% construct, and I like that one. I haven't actually seen any statistical measures of which animals run from us vs. those that want to eat us. But, statistically, most animals are bacteria.
posted by JHarris at 11:49 AM on August 23, 2012

Tory Island dog swimming with dolphin
posted by homunculus at 12:22 PM on August 23, 2012

This video reminded my what a bad idea it is to swim with a dog. The claws keep right on going when they paddle over to say hello. I probably still have scars from our black Labs.

Ah, but it's great fun to lift your dog out of the water and see him still paddle in the air until you put him back in.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 1:20 PM on August 23, 2012 [2 favorites]

Dammit. Came in to watch the video and thought, "Awwww, nature, I need more of you in my life! Look at that awesomeness, animals getting along! It's so beautiful!"

And then it got shit on. Metafilter: Where the comments are turning into youtube, only more high brow.
posted by youandiandaflame at 4:37 PM on August 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

More interspecies snorgling. Cat and dolphin have a little love affair.
posted by nickyskye at 8:20 PM on August 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

Dear god, that video with the cat. That must be the most laid back cat in the world, to countenance that much proximity to the Anti-Cat Substance.
posted by JHarris at 1:36 PM on August 24, 2012 [2 favorites]

What's best with that video is to realize that both sides are thinking "I'm going to eat you soon."
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 1:49 PM on August 24, 2012

Tracking a Subtle Scent, a Dog May Help Save the Whales
posted by homunculus at 2:38 PM on September 2, 2012