"Pit bull?"
Sounds like a bigger dog from reading the article. Pitbulls are not that big. Compared to a Lab or something.
One thing is for sure, any large dog barking in front of someone can be intimdating. I`d look for the tail wag, if it wasn`t wagging, shoot to kill......
Another thing that wasn`t mentioned is maybe the officer was very afraid of dogs. I had an incident at my house once where the police came, and one police officer wouldn`t get out of his car because my Alaskan Malamute was in the yard. It was almost comical.
I guess the humor would have faded a little if the officer fired three rounds into your Malamute.
Okay rant time for me. It is not okay for the public to just go around shooting Innocent people's dogs. It's not okay for meter readers or postmen to shoot dogs. Unless the officer was serving a no knock warrant and actually being attacked by the dog, it's not okay to go around killing peoples beloved pets. If he is that afraid of non life threatening situations, he needs to find a line of work that he feels safer doing. I would suggest something that does not involve carrying a weapon. A certain responsibility comes with that.