Officer Matt Kade was nearing the end of a grueling 10-hour winter shift when dispatch sent out a call:
“Aggressive dog spotted on an old service road.”
He expected a dangerous situation.
What he found instead stopped him cold.
Curled against a snowbank was a dog so thin and exhausted it hardly looked alive. His coat was patchy, his face was irritated from the harsh weather, and he wore a heavy collar far too big for his fragile body. Every breath he took seemed like an effort.
But what struck Kade most were the dog’s eyes — wide, frightened, and full of the kind of worry that only comes from being let down too many times.
Despite the report, nothing about the animal felt aggressive. He wasn’t baring teeth or growling. He wasn’t defending territory.
He was simply… giving up.
Protocol said to wait for animal control.
Kade’s instincts said the opposite.
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