A plucky seal threw caution to the wind on Valentine’s Day for a shot at romance with a passing dog on the beach.

After a tentative approach yielded a quick nose rub, the pair went their separate ways, reports independent.co.uk.

The brief encounter was caught on camera by Wendy Pike as she walked along Scarborough Beach, a resort town on England’s North Sea coast, with her daughter.

The canine in question was enthralled, she said, adding: ‘It was magnificent.’

The pairing was not as outlandish as it could have been however. Seals and dogs come from the same group of animals known as caniformes — which literally means dog-like.