It’s a very relatable situation: You’ve had a stressful day, maybe nothing goes right at work. So you decide to just blow off the rest of your day and buy yourself a little treat. I like to go to Target, but maybe you’re more of a Bed Bath & Beyond person. But our friend Bentley here? He’s a Dollar General boi.
Employees at the location in Bradenton, Fla., first took notice of the gentle guy—perhaps a Saint Bernard—when he wandered into the store of his own accord on the evening of May 31. Store employees went on with their work, not really minding the large dog, right up until it was time to close. At that point, they contacted Bradenton police because they didn’t want to just turn the sweet 135-pound pooch back out onto the street.
After police arrive, body camera footage shows officers patiently following Bentley around the store as they wait for a leash big enough to corral him.
Dollar General is no stranger to dog-based shenanigans—a North Carolina location was the site of an adorable burglary last March. But unlike Sisu, Bentley was just browsing the store, apparently killing time with some new friends until he could reunite with his human.
That turned out to be a relatively easy, thanks in large part to Bentley’s microchip. Police scanned Bentley’s chip and contacted his human via that information, which is how they discovered that the pooch had broken through a gate and gone on a walk around the neighborhood, eventually winding up at the Dollar General. A short time later, Bentley’s human arrived to take him back home.
Microchips are incredibly useful tools for reuniting lost pets with their homes because they can’t be lost like a collar, and—as long as you keep your information updated—they can still be scanned months or even years after your pet goes missing. In this case, Bradenton police reunited Bentley and his human in about 11 minutes. (Not including Bentley’s shopping time.)
Happily for Bentley and his human, the time apart lasted only a few hours and the big boi is now safe and happy back at home, no worse for the wear and possibly with a few new Christmas gift ideas in mind thanks to his scouting trip.
