A yellow Labrador is being hailed as a hero after he dove into chilly South Carolina waters so he could rescue an exhausted man from drowning.

24-year-old Mason Ringer was spending his lunch break drifting along the Okatie River with his friends when someone stood up at the wrong time and capsized the boat.

The group then had to swim against the current all the way back to shore. While Ringer's friends were all able to make it to the docks, he had only managed to swim three-quarters of the way before his legs started to cramp up from being in the cold water for an hour.

"I rolled over on my back and I closed my eyes and said a prayer to God asking him to help me somehow," Ringer told Inside Edition. "Then I heard the dog bark on the dock."

The dog belonged to the owner of the property on which Ringer works. Upon sensing the 24-year-old's distress, it jumped into the water, swam up to Ringer, and towed him back to shore using his collar.

"When I saw that the dog was coming in, I was skeptical thinking ‘I am going to drown this dog while he is trying to save me', [but] it was almost effortless for him to pull me in," said the man.

"I went home and kissed my babies. I was definitely overwhelmed with joy. I saw the dog the next day. He recognized me. He was staying close to me for a little while."

Ringer also says he plans on rewarding the pup with a well-deserved steak the next chance he gets.

Click To Share The Pawesome Rescue Story With Your Friends (Photo by Mason Ringer)