Texas police got a call about a 'vicious' pit bull — then they got to know him
Officer Travis Frost didn't expect to be making any friends on that call Sunday.
He was looking for a vicious dog, which had been called in by a concerned member of the community, according to a post on Facebook from the Texarkana, Texas Police Department.
When Frost spotted the dog, lying on a nearby front porch and bearing a close resemblance to a pit bull, he left the door to his patrol SUV open when he got out to approach the dog, "so he could quickly jump back in if the dog came after him," the post said.
He whistled at the dog, who trotted over to Frost wagging his tail the whole time. Despite the dog's powerful muscular frame, it wasn't exactly the type of canine approach that strikes fear into police and animal control officers.
"Well, this didn't go like we thought it would," police said in the Facebook post.
As they earned each other's trust , the dog, whom officers later found out is named Gold for his shiny auburn coat, decided he wanted to go to work with Travis, at least long enough for a photo op before returning home.
"While you should always be careful around any dog that you don't know, you shouldn't automatically assume all pit bulls are bad dogs,' Travis said in the post. "They might be really loving, like this guy was [Sunday] morning."
For every vicious pit bull attack story, like this one from New York, it seems, there is a counterweight uplifting pit bull story, like Gold's, or like this one, from Nebraska.
The Texarkana Police Department updated the post Monday, after learning that Gold was picked up by his owner at Texarkana's Animal Care and Adoption Center. He was chipped, which made getting in touch with the owner a little easier for authorities.
And they also found out Gold isn't exactly a pit bull, either. He's an American Bully, which is a combination of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed with the American Staffordshire Terrier breed.
This story was originally published May 1, 2018 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Texas police got a call about a 'vicious' pit bull — then they got to know him."