When a Texas police department sent an officer out on a vicious dog call, they did not expect him to return with a bunch of friendly photos.
Police in Texarkana got a report on Sunday about a scary dog on the loose. When Officer Travis Frost went to check out the scene, he found a hulking pit bull on a resident's porch.
Frost approached the scene warily, leaving the door of his police car open in case he needed to jump back in, cops said in a Facebook post.
"The unique thing about this one was the dog was so darn friendly," police spokesman Shawn Vaughn told TODAY.
As soon as Frost whistled, the dog, an American bully named Gold, ambled over with his tail wagging and jumped into the police car. Animal control was alerted, but before they arrived, Frost and Gold hung out like old pals and shot a few photos.
The police department's post about the incident caught the eyes of about four million people, according to Vaughn. More than 45,000 Facebook users shared the post and about 91,000 people liked it.
As many dog-lovers know, pit bulls are often stereotyped as vicious. The dogs are banned in the U.K., and hundreds of cities and counties in the U.S. have similar restrictions.
"If you are judging the dog based on the breed then you are probably doing yourself a disservice," said Vaughn, adding that the only time he was bitten on the job was by a Chihuahua.
After a short stay with animal control, Gold was reunited with his owner the next day. He'd been implanted with a chip, but the owner's information was expired, leading to the delay, police said.
Vaughn called the encounter a learning experience for his department.
"I think that universally that there are some that are very fearful of these dogs," Vaughn said. "But at least in this case here, this dog was as gentle and as loving as could be."