Dogs are known as man’s best friend because of the incredible amount of love and loyalty that they show to humans. Now, a story is going viral that shows just how much dogs really do love people!

Max is a 17 year-old blue heeler from Australia who lovingly guarded his 3 year-old companion recently when she wandered into the Australian bush.

When Aurora wandered out of her grandmother’s home, Max went with her and refused to leave her side. The little girl was reported missing at 3pm on a Friday afternoon, and an initial search turned up nothing. The search was called off because it started to rain, and after it resumed the next morning, Aurora and Max were finally found at around 8am.

They were heard after Leisa Bennett, Aurora’s grandmother, heard her granddaughter faintly from a mountaintop about two kilometers (1.24 miles) from the house.

“She found the dog first. Max led her to Aurora,” Leisa’s partner said.

Leisa described their reunion as an emotional one that involved “a lot of tears.”

“When I heard her yell ‘Grammy’ I knew it was her,” Leisa said. “I shot up the mountain, and when I got to the top,, the dog came to get me and led me straight to her.”

Rescue officials said that it was a miracle that the two were found.

“The area around the house is quite mountainous and is very inhospitable terrain to go walking in, so she’d travelled quite a distance with her dog that was quite loyal to her,” SES Area Controller Ian Phipps said. “The search was actually quite hard where the volunteers and the police were, amongst the very steep slopes full of lantana and other vegetation.”

Aurora was left with only a few cuts, but other than that, she was uninjured.

“With the weather last night it’s quite lucky she is well because it was cold, it was cold and raining,” Ian said. “She’s a very hardy young lass to survive that without any ill effects and everyone, all the volunteers are extremely happy.”

God bless Max for staying by this little girl and protecting her til she was rescued!