A dog is a man’s best friend as the old saying goes, and those of us who have grown up with a loving family pet will back up this claim. However, a dog from Ireland has found a new best friend in the most unlikely of places.
Ben the labrador from Middletown on Tory Island, just north of the mainland, runs down to the harbour every morning for a quick dip in the sea and to visit his pal, Dougie the Dolphin.
The two friends spend a short while swimming and playing together most days until Ben gets too cold and tired or Dougie gets distracted and heads back out to deeper waters.
Dougie has come to the harbour every morning since 2006 according to the locals, after another dolphin believed to be her mate was unfortunately washed up on the shore.
The two animals struck up a friendship when Ben went for a swim one day and have remained close ever since.
‘I have never seen anything like it’
This amazing occurrence will feature on BBC programme Countryfile and presenter Adam Henson travelled up to Middletown to witness it first-hand. In the BBC video Ben is seen running down the harbour steps and paddling out into the shallows. Almost immediately Dougie swims over and the two splash and circle round for fun.
Before long though, Dougie is distracted to an outgoing boat and follows it out to sea. So Ben heads back to dry land and shakes himself off before running back to his warm dry home in a hotel on the Ireland.
After watching the two swim together in the harbour Henson commented: “This is absolutely amazing…Swimming around in the water, I have never seen anything like it.”
Here is the amazing footage of Dougie and Ben swimming together.
Dougie is not Ireland’s only celebrity dolphin. Fungie is a bottle nose dolphin that has been swimming around the Dingle harbour for 30 years, and even has a bronze statue in the town.
Click here to read more about Fungie.
