From the moment his new baby brother was born, Bentley knew they were destined to be best friends.

“At the hospital, we wrapped our baby in a blanket then passed [the blanket] on to my parents who had Bentley to let him sniff and get familiar with his scent,” Kelly Madsen, Bentley’s mom, told The Dodo. “When we finally brought our baby home, we kept him in his car seat, and Bentley ran right over to sniff him and wag his tail excitedly. Bentley has been very, very gentle with him and seems to understand already that he is part of our pack.”

Now that Bentley is a big brother, he takes his new responsibilities very seriously. He’s so protective of his little brother and insists on being with him as often as he can.

“Whenever he hears a cry, he runs over and begins whining to alert us that the baby needs us,” Madsen said. “We have a bassinet where he takes naps, and Bentley gets very upset when we put him in it because he’s unable to directly see the baby.”

If the baby ever needs anything, Bentley is there to make sure it happens. If there’s ever a new activity happening involving the baby, Bentley is there to supervise. He is his little brother’s best friend and protector. Period.

One day, Bentley’s parents decided they wanted to do a newborn photoshoot for the new baby. As they got everything ready, Bentley was there to investigate and immediately decided he needed to be involved. Bentley is used to posing for pictures and loves being the star of the show, and of course loves being right next to his baby brother at all times.

It wasn’t the original plan to have Bentley involved in the photos — but he didn’t really give his family a choice.

“Bentley insisted on being right by the baby, so there was no option to take them without him — and they turned out better because of it,” Madsen said.

Madsen was able to get a bunch of adorable photos of Bentley and his baby brother, and as soon as she saw the results, she was so glad that Bentley insisted on being involved.

“I love the pictures; it’s incredible to see the bond between our two kids, even if one is a little bit furrier than the other,” Madsen said. “Bentley was our first child, and it warms my heart to see how welcoming and loving he is with him!”

Bentley absolutely adores being a big brother and can’t wait until his little bro is big enough to crawl around and cause all kinds of trouble with him.