Dogs are man’s best friends. There’s no doubt about it. No matter how distant some of them may sometimes seem, they are always on the guard. The fact that they live for their owner is very touching indeed. Here are some incredible stories of 5 hero dogs Lassie would be proud of.

1. Shana the digging dog

Shana is a half wolf dog/half German Shepard who saved an elderly couple from a treacherous snowstorm. When Shana found Norman and Eve trapped by snow, she went to work, digging out a tunnel through which she would pull the couple back to the safety of their home. After Shana tunneled all the way to the house, it came back, grabbed the sleeve of Eve’s jacket, and threw the 86-pound woman over her back and neck, which Eve described as “as wide as our kitchen shelf.” Norman grabbed Eve’s legs, and the dog pulled them through the tunnel, under the trees and through an opening in a fence to the house. She than kept them warm, as electricity in the house was not working.

2. Honey the very young rescuer

Honey was eventually awarded with the 2006 Dog of the Year, for saving her owner from a violent car accident. When she and Michael Bosch found their SUV rolled over and stuck upside down in a deep ravine, Bosch was trapped and knew that Honey was his only hope. He managed to release the dog and hope that she would somehow find help. Keep in mind that the 5-month-old English Cocker Spaniel got the attention of a man about a half-mile away and brought him to the scene of the accident. Rescuers concluded that had it not been for this, Bosch would have died.

3. Bear saved his young owner from drowning

Patricia Drauch was walking to her garage when her 14-month-old, Stanley, disappeared from her sight. She finally went to her pool and found Stanley all blue and lying on his back. But her dog, Bear, was keeping Stanley’s head above water by balancing him on his back. Bear refused to move, or even bark, until Patricia got in the pool to retrieve her son. Bear saved Stanley’s life that day.

4. The stray dog that kept a lost boy warm

When a 7-year-old boy in Siberia was trying to rescue a stray dog from a nine-foot deep roadside service bank, he accidentally slipped in himself. No one could find the missing boy until more than 72 hours later when road workers heard the exhausted barks of a dog from the pit. The dog had wrapped itself around the boy and prevented him from getting hypothermia, therefore saving his life. The dog was rescued alive, too, though its current whereabouts were unclear. Hopefully the animal was given proper medical treatment, a home and regular meals.

5. Orlando helped his blind owner to survive on subway tracks

Cecil Williams, a visually impaired man, was waiting on a subway platform in Harlem when he began to feel weak. His guide dog, Orlando, barked to alert others, and tried to keep the man standing, but both toppled onto the tracks. A metro employee rushed over and instructed them to lie down between the rails, as a train was coming and there was no time to pull the two up. They both survived, and Williams credited Orlando with saving his life. He was afraid he might have to give the dog up when he retires at age 11 next year, but people were so touched by the story, that enough donations piled up for the man and his dog to stick together.

There are hundreds of other stories about how dogs saved their owners from death, learned how to perform the Heimlich maneuver or even dial 911. These are just five of the bravest ones. So go to your dog and give him a big kiss.