San Francisco dog may be world's most famous deckhand

When Bear reports for work on the docks of San Francisco’s touristy Pier 39, he’s all business. On the decks of the Kitty Kat, the catamaran for San Francisco Whale Tours, he quickly grabs the untethered ropes, tugging in one rope line before racing to the next.

On most mornings, a crowd of onlookers forms along the rails to watch Bear do his rope work in tandem with the ship’s captain, Joe Nazar — because — well - it’s not every day you see a German Shepherd working as a deckhand.

“Get it Bear!” shouted Nazar as his dog Bear grabbed a rope tossed from the dock in his jaws and firmly yanked it into the boat. “Yeah good boy.”

Thanks to his TikTok account, Bear may be the world’s most-watched deckhand. The dozens of videos of him pulling ropes on his site have generated millions of views - one video topping the five million mark. These days, Nazar, who has run San Francisco Whale Tours for fifteen years, wonders if customers are coming to see whales or Bears.

“I think that’s why we’ve had an incredible number of people coming,” Nazar said, sitting on the deck of the Kitty Kat with Bear sitting dutifully at his side. “I think they do want to see Bear.”

While some might dismiss Bear’s feats of rope hauling as a gimmick, Nazar insists his dog is a bona fide crew member, assisting with tasks a single person couldn’t do without difficulty. As Nazar unties the boat, he pitches the ropes onto the boat and Bear’s waiting jaws. The boat’s tether lines were pockmarked with numerous chew spots, evidence of Bear’s prowess.

“He became really a lot of help during the pandemic,” Nazar said. “Because when we were short-staffed, how would you throw a line to yourself?”

Bear’s even taken over some of the the jobs other crew members aren’t keen to do.

“He’ll pull in all the wet ropes,” said Olivia Belair, one of two ecologist sisters who help run the whale tours. “That’s not the most pleasant job for a crew member and he does it with such gusto.”

Bear came into Nazar’s life not long before the pandemic. His wife and daughter found the dog through a Craigslist ad and gave him to Nazar as a Father’s Day present. Nazar said Bear’s previous owners just didn’t want him.

Bear was six weeks old when Nazar first brought him to the boat. Crew members immediately started throwing him ropes and playing tug-a-war during whale-watching excursions — which helped hone his skill for hauling in the ropes used to fasten the boat to the docks. Seeing his burgeoning deckhand’s penchant for the job, Nazar began to train him.

“Now he can do the boat by himself,” Nazar said. “He can untie the boat by himself in the morning and he can untie the boat at night.”

Nazar is impressed by Bear’s ability to learn. Some days, Nazar hauls in the rope lines out of sequence to test whether Bear merely repeats rote routines. But Bear adapts, following Nazar’s commands to take in line two or line one.

Even before the work starts, Nazar fastens Bear into his own lifejacket, which was given to him by a recent sponsor. Unlike most deckhands Nazar has encountered in his career in the maritime world, Bear is happy to go to work.

“I was drinking my coffee, I put his lifejacket on and next thing you know I saw everyone cheering,” recalled Nazar. “And he was out on the dock untying the boat.”

Although Bear is best known for his rope work, Nazar claims his real talent is spotting whales. Nazar said Bear will sometimes paw the floor of the boat or even bark when the Kitty Kat is in the vicinity of whales. A sign on the dock in front of the boat boasts Bear the Whale-Finding Dog.

During a recent outing near Pacifica, Bear was fast asleep beneath Nazar’s seat when the captain witnessed what he interpreted as a sign from the sleeping dog that there were whales nearby. He informed passengers that Bear had issued his alert — and soon enough, someone spotted a pair of whales spouting a couple hundred yards away.

“The whale dog did it again!” shouted Nazar through the craft’s loudspeaker, sounding like a side-show barker.

Laughing later at the dog’s somewhat dubious whale-finding alert, Nazar said he believes there is some truth to Bear’s whale of a sense.

“I truly believe with all my heart Bear is aware of the whales,” allowed Nazar. “And fact or fiction he brings a sense of finding whales.”

Crew member ecologist Sophie Belair started Bear’s TikTok page, which features numerous videos of the dog’s rope fetching skills and has helped boost the popularity of the whale tours.

“I saw an opportunity and people on the internet love watching him,” said Belair. “And people actually really do love his lifejacket. The videos with his life jacket always go the most viral.”

Beyond the rope-pulling and whale spotting, Nazar said Bear’s greatest talent is as a loyal companion, shadowing him wherever they go, be it land or sea. Nazar hoped Bear’s feats might inspire dog adoption, giving them a second chance, even if the owners don’t have a boat to work on.

“He brings friendship,” Nazar scratching the head of his famous crew member. “You’re definitely never alone if you want a friend.”