Bulldogs and pit bull dogs are often misjudged to be dangerous and aggressive. But last weekend, a police officer, who responded to a call about a vicious dog roaming around a neighborhood in Texarkana, Texas, gave the benefit of the doubt to a huge dog he encountered.
Office Travis Frost and his companion went to investigate and as they drove through the neighborhood, they saw a pit bull-type dog chilling on someone’s porch.
“He [Frost] gets out of his car, but you don’t know how these dogs are going to react … so he left his door open on his patrol unit in case he needed a place to retreat to,” Shawn Vaughn, public info officer for the Texarkana Texas Police Department, told The Dodo.
Even though this dog looked frightening to the caller, Frost immediately realized the dog wasn’t any kind of threat and just a big gentle pooch.
“He whistled to the dog to get his attention,” Vaughn said. “The dog just trotted over to him with his tail wagging. Obviously, the dog wasn’t aggressive at all, and he figured that out almost immediately.”
Frost gave the dog lots of pets and scratches and snapped some photos when the furry buddy jumped into his patrol car.
The police called animal control officers who helped find the dog’s owner. Luckily, the dog didn’t stay long at the shelter, thanks to his microchip information. Even though it was outdated, the staffs were quick to locate the owner and the American Bully, whose name was Gold, was reunited with his family the next day.
After the incident, Vaughn decided to share it on Facebook and it quickly went viral. “I’m completely blown away by the response that this post has had,” Vaughn gushed. “It’s been phenomenal.”
He hopes that this story will help people see American bullies and other similar breeds of dog in a better point of view.
“Pit bulls have a bit of a bad reputation,” Vaughn said on Facebook. “Travis said that, while you should always be careful around any dog that you don’t know, you shouldn’t automatically assume that all pit bulls [and similar-looking dogs] are bad dogs. They might be really loving like this guy was this morning.”
