ASHBURNHAM, Mass. (WHDH) -- A 17-year-old lifeguard is being called a hero after pulling some double duty.

The young lifeguard was working a little side job for a family reunion on Sunset Lake.

The next minute he was something he's never had to do before, swim nearly a half mile in this water to save a dog - and then save a man who was trying to save the dog.

"She was like can somebody help my dog, and was like yeah, I’ll go swim after it,” said Jeremy Lessard.

Lessard quickly realized he couldn't catch up to the dog at Sunset Lake in Ashburnham, so he swam to another shore and asked to borrow someone's canoe.

“I paddled out. There was a pontoon boat traveling on my left and I was like, 'hey, go and help me get that dog,'” said Lessard.

The man in the pontoon boat jumped into save the dog, but missed its leash.

“I got to the dog, I could see that it was struggling. It was starting to go underwater a little bit. It was really tired so I grabbed it on my left hand, tried to scoop it up. I didn't know heavy it was."

The dog, understandably frightened, bit him.

“Just reached in again, I didn't want the dog to drown. I grabbed the dog again and it bit me twice as I was getting back in the boat. I got it in the boat.”

Now Lessard had another rescue on his hands. The man on the pontoon boat "who" jumped in the water was out of breath.

His wife worried that her husband could be having another heart attack.

"I was kinda like adrenaline high at that point.”

“He was panting. He was really pale. Holding on to the lifejacket, he wasn't moving,”

Lessard rescued the 60-year-old man and they all made it, including the dog named Kera, back to shore.

“I don't feel like I was any sort of hero. I was just doing what I was trained to do,” said Lessard.