Yeager, a 3 year old Labrador retriever, is a service dog. He helps owner, Sharon Yunker-Deatz, with everyday living tasks which are now difficult due to multiple sclerosis. Besides being a hero to Sharon, he’s one to the community where he saved a boy’s life.

Yeager is a lifesaver, too, for a 10-year-old boy in Michigan. The boy might have drowned in Lake Michigan last summer had Yeager not alerted others by barking and paddling toward the struggling child.

The incident happened when Yunker-Deatz took Yeager to the beach last summer. He was playing in the water in a designated dog area on the beach.

Noticing the undertow had become strong owners started calling in their dogs. Yeager, instead of swimming towards shore started heading out into deeper water. Over to where a group of boys were playing and one was now in danger of drowning.

Thanks to Yeager actions some men on shore noticed what was happening and went in to save the boy.

Yesterday Mayor Jerry Abramson presented Yeager with Louisville’s Distinguished Citizen Award — the first time in 19 years as mayor that Abramson has given the honor to an animal, he said.

“He had risked his safety for someone he didn’t know,” Abramson said. “He had no relationship whatsoever with the 10-year-old youngster.”

Wow, what an amazing and heroic dog Yeager is. His brave act also won him the Valor Dog of the Year award presented by the Humane Society of the United States. He beat out hundreds of other contenders for the award. Way to go Yeager!