This is the moment a clever dog drags a youngster away from a pond, where he is trying to recover a toy.

The innocent scene begins with two children, an older girl and a younger boy, throwing the toy between themselves while being watched by an Alsatian dog at a garden in Shenzhen, a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China.

But after a particularly enthusiastic throw, the little girl, who is being watched by the dog, throws the toy into the fishpond, where it disappears into the water.

While she runs to get the attention of her mother, the little boy rushes over to the pool and attempts to fish it out.

At that point, the dog runs over, peering into the pool to see if it can reach the toy, and when it clearly cannot and also risks falling in itself, the clever dog grabs the boy by his clothes and pulls him back to safety.

The dog, which has been dressed by the kids in a football shirt, then grabs a fishing net and stands at the side of the pool, where it successfully fishes out the ball and dumps it on the floor – earning itself a pat on the head by the impressed youngster.

Netizens praised the clever dog for getting the child out of harm’s way and recovering the toy without incident.