(Image Credit: WABC/ABC News)

A family dog saved a toddler who fell into a backyard swimming pool in Michigan.

Patricia Drauch of Marcellus Township was doing yard work Sunday when 14-month-old son Stanley fell into the swimming pool, ABC affiliate WBND-TV reported.

"Stanley usually follows us around and I went into the garage to put away some stuff and came back out," Drauch told WBND. "Just in a moment he wasn't behind me."

But Drauch's 4-year-old black Labrador retriever Bear was there for the rescue.

"Bear put his back underneath Stanley's back to keep him from going under any farther," she told WBND. "I don't know where I'd be if Bear didn't go in for him and keep him up out of the water before I could get to him."

Drauch pulled Stanley from the pool but he had turned blue and wasn't breathing. Her cellphone couldn't find service to call 911 so Drauch drove her son to the Marcellus Fire Department. Stanley was taken to the hospital and released later that day. Drauch told WBND that X-rays show her son hasn't suffered any ill-effects from his near-death experience.

She hopes the incident will remind other parents to never turn their back on their children, even for a second.

Drauch isn't just lucky to have Stanley safe, she's lucky to have Bear, too.

"He's my hero," Drauch said of her dog.