Sure, your dog keeps the letter wielding postman from attacking, but would he take a bullet on your behalf?

Dog owner Osmar Persisco of Garibaldi, Brazil, knows the answer is “yes” after his pet Max leapt to defend him from armed robbers, taking three bullets along the way.

Persisco was parking his truck near Max’s favourite field when two armed robbers approached him and demanded the keys to his vehicle.

Persisco resisted and the thieves opened fire, drawing blood after grazing the 47-year-old’s forehead with a bullet.

That’s when Max lost his cool.

“He saw the blood and was furious,” Persisco told Brazilian newspaper Globo. “He left like a rocket to attack the thieves. One of them ran away, but Max dominated the other one. To defend himself, the thief ended up shooting the dog. Max thwarted the assault and saved my life.”

Max was hit twice in his chest and once in his leg, but by then he had scared off the potential thieves.

Persisco rushed the heroic pet he had adopted three years earlier to his local vet. Max is expected to make a full recovery.

“If I didn’t have my dog around, they would have killed me,” Persisco told the paper. “He’s my hero.”