A pit bull who greeted trick-or-treaters on the eve of Halloween is breaking hearts across the globe, because nobody would pet him.
Dublin the dog had dressed up for the occasion and was helping to greet people on 31 October, but they were too scared to give him a fuss.
“I hate that people think he’s vicious because he’s a pit,” his owner tweeted, along with a series of photos of his pooch looking “sad”.
Twitter users immediately responded with heartfelt sorrow and love for the little grey pooch, retweeting the story to spread the message that not all pit bulls are violent.
William, Dublin’s owner, said he was at college when he received a phone call from his mum saying they were passing sweets to trick-or-treaters, but none of them would pet the dog because they were scared.
William said it was the stigma surrounding pit bull dogs that had put these people off petting Dublin.
He told Buzzfeed: “They are great, loving dogs, and the stigma around them being violent needs to end. They will act as you raise them, just like any other breed.”
When William shared photos of Dublin looking glum online, the hearts of Twitter users everywhere shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.
Some said his story was sadder than that of Pawpaw, the grandfather who was stood up by five of his grandchildren when he’d made them burgers.
Others shared selfies of themselves crying.
William later added that his aunt told trick-or-treaters they could pet the dog to receive sweets in return.
“He got lots of pats by the end of the night, and was a happy camper,” William added, before saying he hopes his tweets will end stigma surrounding the breed being violent.
In the UK, pit bulls are one of four breeds of dog that are banned, according to Pets4Homes. This means owning them, breeding them, importing them or selling them is forbidden by law.