A little boy and his dog were playing in the front yard when a neighbor’s dog came running over at top speed alarming the boy and putting the German Shepherd on high alert. The German Shepherd’s quick protective response is earning the dog accolades from dog lovers around the world.
In the now-viral video the German Shepherd named Tank protects the boy from the charging dog. Sensing danger, Tank does two remarkable things – he pushes the boy down to get him out of the direct path of the dog. He then stands over the boy before confronting the other dog.
After chasing the dog to the driveway, Tank quickly breaks off and pivots back to his family to check to see the boy is safe, which he is after his mom came running out and grabbed him.
The father described in further detail what happened on ViralHog’s YouTube channel:
“Our 6-year-old son on Nov 8, 2022, was playing with his best friend, 1-year-old German shepherd Tank, in the front yard in South Florida. The front door neighbor’s dog got loose and charged at our son, Tank pushed our son down and stood over him to protect him, and chased the other dog until the threat was gone.”
He added, “You can see our blue nose pitbull run out of the garage for backup but Tank had it under control. Our son was fine and the other dog was taken back home by his owner.”
Some viewers thought that the neighbor’s dog didn’t look to be aggressive and may have simply been running over to say hello and play, as his body language appears to indicate he was more curious than attacking. However, as it’s unclear what the other dog was intending to do it’s understandable that Tank and the boy responded as they did.
Many viewers admired Tank’s discipline and remarked on his actions. One wrote, “I love that your dogs didn’t attack the other dog, they just scared it away and protected your little boy. Those are GREAT dogs you have.”
Another admired, “Your German Shepherd push[ed] your little boy away from that dog and pounced that dog! Such great protection!”
“Bruuuhh, u notice how he (dog) slapped his brakes when he realized he was getting too far away from his baby (kid),” wrote another TikTokker. “My boy did a full 180 and checked on the kid.”