This is the moment a burly pit bull leaps to the rescue to save a tiny three-month-old chihuahua puppy from drowning in a swimming pool.

CCTV footage of the drama shows Puma the chihuahua slipping into the pool at a home in the municipality of Jardinopolis, in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo on Tuesday, 18th October.

But the pup is quickly overwhelmed and yelps in terror as it cannot get out of the water.

Suddenly, five-year-old pit bull Athena leaps into the pool and delicately grabs Puma in its powerful jaws and brings it back to dry land.

A woman then rushes over to the pool as the footage ends.

The dog’s owner, reportedly named Ricardo Fabri, told local media that Athena has a space that is reserved just for her on the terrace of the house.

When she saw that the puppy was in danger of drowning, she rushed over to save little Puma.

Fabri said: “I put her up there so she doesn’t play with the small dogs, as she is big and heavy and could hurt them if she played with them.

“Athena saw that Puma was at risk, she came down the stairs, through the wooden gate, and she took it in her jaws to rescue it.”

None of the dogs were injured, according to local reports.