We don’t often pounce on amazing cat and dog videos because, well, it’s a bit hard to argue that an animal is Irish. But this one you have to watch. There's never been a braver cat!

Tara the cat, who belongs to the Triantafilo family of Bakersfield, CA, is officially a hero after saving four-year-old Jeremy from a terrifying attack by a neighbor’s dog.

Surveillance video caught the whole thing. Jeremy is quietly playing in front of his home when the dog, an 8-month-old labrador/chow mix, sneaks up behind him and bites into his leg.

As the dog tries to drag Jeremy off his tricycle, Tara leaps into action like a cat out of hell, throwing herself at the dog and chasing him away.

Jeremy, who has mild autism, told local news station ABC 23 “Tara is my hero.”

His mother, Erika, who was watering a tree nearby, came running when she heard Jeremy’s screams.

Jeremy needed stitches, but his parents confirmed that he is doing fine.

"I've never seen a cat do that," said Roger Triantafilo, Jeremy's father. "Especially ours. It just shows how much she really has a family-oriented mind set."

Tara joined the family in 2008, making her two years older than Jeremy.

For more about cats in Irish lore, click here.

* Originally published in May 2014.