Thomas Walsh put his earbuds on his ears, leashed up his dog, Diesel, and went out for a walk in the woods near their Stoneham, Massachusetts home. Since Walsh had music playing through his earbuds, he didn’t hear a man struggling and yelling out for help from beneath a frozen pond of ice. Diesel, however, was on high alert and let his owner know something was very wrong.

Diesel started barking and putting up a fuss, which prompted Walsh to remove the earbuds and see what was wrong. There, in the middle of a frozen pond, was a young man struggling to stay alive. Apparently, the man rode his bike across the ice and fell right through in the middle of the water. Walsh immediately called 911 while attempting to help the panicked man.

“I told him to try to relax, catch your breath because he was panicking, you know what I mean,” said Walsh. “My instinct was to go in and help him, I’m a great swimmer, but you can’t do that in the wintertime.”

Despite Walsh trying to coach the man and telling him to scoot across the ice, he kept falling through. Another person appeared, and the duo was able to rescue the 22-year-old man from certain peril.

“When he fell in that time, there was another fellow walking through the woods, and I tied the dog to a tree, and I grabbed a big branch from another tree, and we threw it in, and he was kinda too weak to grab onto it and pull it,” stated Walsh. “So he finally held on with his other hand, and we kinda just dragged him through the water and got him up on shore.”

First responders transported the man to an area hospital, where he is expected to fully recover. Thanks to Diesel, the hero dog, the man is alive and has the alert pooch to thank for saving his life! Good boy, Diesel!