A man walking his dog spotted this octopus hunting for food north of Auckland. (Video first published in June 2017)

After escaping the ocean and dashing across land into rock pools, a friendly octopus then greeted a man and his dog north of Auckland.

Stanmore Bay's Craig Evans has crossed paths with this friendly but territorial creature multiple times in the last few weeks while taking his dog for a walk.

Hanging out in the deep water and moving from rock pool to rock pool searching for food, the octopus finally arose from the water to greet Evans and his dog.

"He came right up to me and wrapped his tentacle around my leg to see what I was, " Craig Evans says.

"He came right up to me and wrapped his tentacle around my leg to see what I was. It was quite cool.

"The other times that I have seen him he has sat in the water with its eyes out to keep an eye on us and has waited for us to walk away before coming out of the water."

Evans said the octopus's was body was the size of a football.

"It was quite cool watching him. My dog was pretty funny, he would have a sniff of it then try and move away while crying.

Evans said the area was very quiet and never has many people around.

"I hope that if anyone else comes across it they leave it alone.

"They say octopus have the brains of a dog, why would anyone want to take or hurt anything that is as awesome as that. There are plenty more fish out there to catch," he said.

