After Isaiah Lenotte’s older sister left for college, he started becoming closer with their family’s rescue pit bull, Athena, who was upset and confused over her sister leaving for college. The pair found comfort in each other and began spending more time together, becoming closer by the day.

“She never really leaves my side at home and is always waiting for me when I get home,” Lenotte told The Dodo. “There’s no dog I trust more.”

Last weekend, Lenotte decided to take Athena fishing with him. They spent a wonderful afternoon together, relaxing and bonding, until finally it was time to head home. It seemed like the perfect day, and the pair were just driving over the final hill before home when suddenly Lenotte felt faint — and before he realized what was happening, the car was veering off the road and straight into a boulder, and then a tree.

“It wasn’t until I hit the tree that I blacked out,” Lenotte said. “I woke up right after to the car filled with smoke from the airbags and half in water. I then proceeded to try and get out of the car, as I thought it might’ve been on fire.”

Despite being bruised and cut up, Lenotte knew he had to get himself and Athena out of the car and out of harm’s way as quickly as possible. Moving was a struggle, though, and as he was opening the car door and attempting to get himself and his best friend out, Athena decided to take matters into her own hands.

“I opened the rear right-side passenger door and was then pulled out by Athena,” Lenotte said. “She slipped out of [her leash] while pulling me out of the Jeep but stayed by my side even though she wanted to get away from the car as bad as I did.”

The car crash had definitely scared Athena, but she refused to let her fear get in the way as she pulled her brother to safety. She knew he needed her, and so she did everything she could to make sure he was OK, and the pair managed to make it across the street and away from the car. As soon as Lenotte’s parents arrived at the scene, his mom tried to put Athena in her truck and away from all the commotion — but she wasn’t done protecting her brother yet.

“When I got there she was sitting pretty but shaking,” Jennifer Lenotte, the pair’s mom, told The Dodo. “I picked her up and put her in my truck, but I had to take her back out because she kept looking for my son.”

Athena refused to leave her brother’s side even as people arrived to help him, and finally only allowed herself to be separated from him when the paramedics arrived to take him to the hospital to get checked out.

“She surprisingly was unfazed by the amount of people and chaos that was around us and was sure to comfort me as I was comforting her,” Isaiah Lenotte said. “She seemed to know everyone was there to help.”

Athena was shaken up by the whole ordeal, but was miraculously completely unharmed by the crash. She could obviously sense that she was OK and her brother wasn’t, and knew she had to be the one to take charge. Athena’s parents took her home where she waited for her brother to get back from the hospital — and as soon as he was home again, she resumed staying by his side.

Luckily, Lenotte only sustained minor injuries from the crash, and he and Athena are both doing wonderfully. If Athena hadn’t been with him, the whole thing would have been a lot harder to handle, and Lenotte is eternally grateful for his best friend.

“I couldn’t be more thankful for such an amazing companion,” Isaiah Lenotte said.