A German Shepherd saved his owner's six-year-old son from being attacked by a neighbour's dog with incredible footage capturing the moment man's best friend stepped up.
The heroic dog, named Tank, was playing with the six-year-old boy outside their home in Florida when another canine approached.
In footage of the incident, a black dog was spotted racing towards the boy and almost reached him, with the child trying to run away.
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Unable to get away in time, it could have been disastrous had the boy's faithful friend not been there, with the German Shepherd seen getting between the boy and the other dog.
Face to face with the other dog, Tank defended the six-year-old boy and made sure the potential attacker couldn't get close.
Keeping himself between the boy and the neighbour's dog, Tank was able to chase the hound away until the neighbour could rush over and grab the dog.
Another dog, also owned by the boy's family, came rushing out to join the commotion at the end of the incident.
Meanwhile, the boy's mother rushed out and scooped up her son, being very grateful to their German Shepherd for the rescue.
She said: "Our neighbor’s dog randomly charged at my son last night & my Tanky saved him from getting mauled or worst."
She later posted more praise for her dog on TikTok, calling the faithful pooch 'a highly skilled professional home security officer'.
People watching the footage have been incredibly impressed by the dog's heroics, suggesting Tank 'deserves a ribeye for that save', and praising the dog for covering the boy from the attack 'like he was his pup'.
Another said they were 'so proud of that dog' and someone else said he had earned 'ALL THE TREATS' for his quick intervention.
There was a general consensus that Tank the German Shepherd was a 'good boy' and a 'real one'.
However, others thought the neighbour's dog hadn't been trying to attack the boy at all and the child was never really in need of defending.
One person suggested the canine which seemingly made a beeline for the six-year-old was actually 'running over to the other dog' to play with it, while another agreed and thought it only wanted to 'play with the boys dog'.
Someone else said it was 'irrelevant if the dog was going to attack or not' as it should have been on a lead where it couldn't run at anyone.
Joe Harker