Dog is dolphins' best friend

Black lab puppy Jackie spent over 30 minutes chasing and swimming with her new best friends this weekend. Photo / Arriane Christie

Dogs may be man's best friend but a Northland woman found out dolphins don't mind them either.

Arriane Christie was amazed when her puppy Jackie made fast friends with three dolphins at Whangaumu Bay, also known as Wellington Bay, on the Tutukaka Coast on Sunday.

"I think she just wanted to see what they were and she is very playful anyway," Ms Christie said.

"She looked like she was swimming over top of them at times".

The 11-month-old black labrador-cross spent more than half an hour in the water with dolphins.

As Jackie chased after the dolphins they would circle round her and even at one point came within metres of the shore. Ms Christie thought she could have reached out and touched them if she had tried.

"For a brief second I thought it was a shark then realised it was dolphins," she said.

"I've never seen them that close to shore before."

Ms Christie had the opportunity to grab some photos and videos which she had shown to friends who described it as a "once in a lifetime" opportunity.

Jackie should have been tired as she had already spent a decent amount of time playing before her new friends arrived, but her energy did not cease, Ms Christie said. Eventually the dolphins lost interest and swam off.

It is not uncommon for dolphins to want to play with dogs because they both hear the same high-pitched frequencies, Bay of Islands dolphin guide Jo "Floppy" Halliday said.

"They definitely both hold curiosity with each other," she said.

"Because they make such high-frequency sounds, the dogs can actually hear them".

Both dogs and dolphins are naturally curious and playful so it makes sense that they would make friends, Ms Halliday said. It was likely they were bottlenose dolphins because they were generally the ones that swam close to shore, she said.