In 2007, a 9-year-old Jack Russell Terrier called George died after protecting 5 local children from an attack by two pit bulls. He was given a posthumous PDSA Gold Medal, the animal equivalent of the
George Cross, at a special ceremony in Manaia in February 2009. The town has also erected a statue in his honour.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manaia,_Taranaki