When an Australian Shepherd named Jillaroo bit a police officer twice on the leg, she wasn’t acting out of aggression.
She was protecting the little boy she loves, and the officer who responded understood that instantly.
The incident happened when Round Rock, Texas resident Geoff Wightman called police to report a neighborhood disturbance.
Wightman, a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan, let dispatchers know his 4 year old son and their protective family dog would be home while he waited for an officer to arrive.
When Officer Randall Frederick showed up earlier than expected and rang the doorbell, Wightman’s young son reached the door before his father could get downstairs.
As the boy began approaching the officer, Jillaroo immediately positioned herself between them, biting Frederick twice on the leg hard enough to break skin and cause bruising.
What happened next is what stuck with Wightman. Rather than reacting with force, Officer Frederick slowly backed away with his hands outstretched, calmly trying to soothe the dog until Wightman could step in and separate her.
“The Officer did not strike back against my dog during the incident, did not act disproportionately, he did not file charges or wish her punished,” Wightman wrote in a letter to the department, “but instead said, ‘She was just doing her job.'”
Frederick went on to complete the original report calmly and professionally, only mentioning the bite because protocol required Animal Control to be notified for a standard rabies check and 10 day home quarantine. Beyond that, he let the matter go entirely.
Moved by the encounter, Wightman wrote directly to Round Rock Police Command Staff to share what he’d witnessed.
“I want everyone to know that in Round Rock, TX we have some pretty darn fine police officers,” he wrote, adding that he now makes a point of shaking every RRPD officer’s hand when he sees them.
The department recognized Frederick’s composed response by awarding him the Chief’s CHIP Challenge Coin, an honor for community, honor, integrity, and pride.
Round Rock PD also credits its BARK program, short for Be Aware of Residential K9s, with helping officers like Frederick understand and respond appropriately to protective family dogs in the field.
In a media landscape too often filled with tragic stories of dogs and police encounters gone wrong, this one stands out simply because someone chose patience over force.
Do you think more police departments should adopt training programs like BARK?
Source:
roundrocktexas – “Calm response to dog bite earns officer praise from resident”