He knew the risks when he pinned on the badge...that one day a dog might walk up to him, wanting its ears scratched.
Some years ago we went through a national fashion that had police automatically shooting any dogs encountered in their work even on the other sides of fences. It happened twice here but the local sheriff has oversight, I don’t know how formal, of the local city and town police. He had meetings with each force and explained to the men that hey had all been trained in how to deal with dogs and if any other non provably rabid dog should get shot by a police officer that officer would be immediately terminated. There have been no incidents of that nature since. That sheriff has retired but his predecessor and his replacement were and are Constitutional Sheriffs and our local police are all very professional.
The first pup he sort of brushed away. The second one was more playful, like, “ Hey human, what you got there. Throw it, and I’ll bring it back to you”.