Here’s one more fantastic reason to buy a dog: he might one day rescue you from a shark attack.

James White was fishing in Sonoma County, California from the coastline when he felt an extreme tug on the line. He spent about 10 minutes battling to reel the line in, only to regret it. There was a 6-foot-long seven-gill shark at the other end.

James went to eliminate the hook from the shark, but rather, the animal twisted and fell to the ground before sinking its teeth right into James’ ankle.

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” Instantly there was blood anywhere, the first bite punctured an artery. The stress was extreme,” White informed NBC Bay Area

White yelled out for help, and fortunately, someone heard him: his one-year-old pitbull Darby, that was waiting in the car parked a few yards away.

Hearing his human’s cries for help, Darby in some way managed to open among the car doors. He came rushing down to James to save the day.

Initially, Darby bit into the shark’s gills, however that had the unintentional effect of making the shark bite down even harder.

” I told him, ‘No, back off,’” James remembered. ” And after that he repositioned and grabbed it by the tail. He actually ran up the hill with it and pulled it off my leg.”

Then, James tossed the shark back into the water, and it swam away. If it weren’t for Darby, he says, he would certainly have been a lot worse off, as the shark can have potentially severed an artery.

Needless to say, Darby is now a family hero