CRICCIETH, Wales (UPI) -- A Welsh man shooting video with his dog during a walk on the beach recorded the moment his pet led him to a beached baby porpoise he was able to rescue.

Rich Wilcock, whose video was shared on YouTube, was walking with Leia, his 2-year-old springer spaniel, along the shoreline in Criccieth when the canine brought the distressed sea mammal to his attention.

Wilcock identified the animal as a "dolphin," but officials with the Seawatch Foundation said it actually appears to be a young porpoise.

"I was stood taking pictures and videos of the scenery when Leia started to make a right old fuss," Wilcock told the Daily Post.

"She kept coming up to me, barking and nudging me, she must have smelt the dolphin from a mile off.

At first I thought it was a baby shark, it was only about one and half foot but on a closer inspection I could see the blow hole on top of his head and realized it was a dolphin.

There was nobody around for miles so I did what I could as gently as possible. I lifted him gently under the belly and popped him back amongst the waves and he swam away into deeper water."

Wilcock said he stayed on the beach for about an hour to make sure the porpoise didn't come back.

He said Leia deserves most of the credit for the rescue.

"[Leia] is a very intelligent dog, more intelligent than most," he said.

A Seawatch Foundation spokesman said the porpoise may have become disoriented by the wind.

"With the strong winds we are getting at the moment it is quite possible he just got blown out of the way and stranded rather than having anything seriously wrong with him, so let's hope he made it back out to sea safely," the spokesman told Wales Online.

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